Is it dangerous...?
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If you're doing it metaphorically, you better make it easy to tell that it is metaphorical. If not people might not get it, and the movie would bomb. And that would suck because they don't have alot of movies concerning that topic.
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Peace to all,
Latifah, good luck with your filmmaking career,
Thank you, Kurt.
I made a few short movies recently, it kinda became a hobby about a year ago so I went and bought some cheap equipment and taught myself some basics, it was alot of fun. The movies didnt turn out too good quality wise but I think my story was pretty cool.
I?m curious to know how you taught yourself those basic things? By reading books or did you take a course? If you read books, could you please share some titles and/or authors of those books? I want to collect all useful material to improve my ?skills?.
Im interested to know what your movies going to be about, is it a Quan alone type movie, that would be great if it is
My movies/documentaries would, God willing, not only be about the Quran, but it would also be about almost all different religions in the world, since they all came from one source, the Almighty Itself. I?m therefore not only interested in theological subjects, but also the cultural and scientifical ones.
I think that if you did portray Prophet Mohhamad it would probably cause many traditional muslims to overreact and protest, which would be perfect, the more they protest it the more media you would get, the more attention and press your movie gets the more our Quran alone idea gets out there,,,please keep us informed.
I?m at the moment still busy collecting all the information that I can get to write a script in the near future. I?m still hesitate about portraying Muhammad, since I prefer a peaceful life wherein I don?t want to offend people or bring myself into danger. I?m not interested in Quran Alone anymore, since I don?t want to ?stick? myself to just one source, because I prefer my movie to be about the Almighty and It?s messages to humankind, so basically everything that has to do with the Almighty.
I will keep you guys informed, God willing.
Personally, I dont se anything wrong with portraying prohet Mohammad in a movie, why cant you, where does it say we cant in the Quran, he was just a human like the rest of us, all other prophets are portrayed in movies, its Gods message that is important not Mohammads depiction,,, I say go for it, it could be great for everyone.
I also don?t see any problem in portraying Muhammad in a movie, but there will be people who will take big offence to such a movie! Which I think is quite weird also, since he was a breathing human being just like us. I understand people who would get offended if some filmmaker would portray the Almighty in a movie as a human being or any other living creature, because no one knows how He/She/It looks like. But a prophet?! It?s quite strange that people can take offence to that! Opinions differ though! It just means that I have to be very very very very careful. )
peace
Latifah
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Salam,
The movie Bruce Almighty, in which Morgan Freeman plays God was accepted in some Arab countries. They made a minor adjustment to the subtitles, and translated the word God as "master", if I remember correctly. They also censored the word "God" whenever Freeman's character said it on the screen. "I am ----<censored>-----".
Haha! They didn?t get offended when someone portrayed God in a movie, but they would threaten to kill me if it was prophet Muhammad? Isn?t that ignorant? I mean, for example? if you, as a believer, would choose to take offence of something, why not the portraying of God?! Why a human being from we have heard a lot of stories about and could put ourselves in his/her shoes and imagine how his or her life must have been? In the case of God? nobody can put himself into the ?shoes? of God the Almighty. It?s like God shows all of us how ignorant some people are, by letting us see how quickly such people get offended when a prophet, a human being, gets portrayed and basically put God on second base. )
DArgento's suggestion gave me a thought, I noticed that I might be moving to Reno, Nevada from Pheonix, Arizona. From my estimates they are close in distance. Why not do it as a copy of Muhammed's story but in america. An american is told by God to "Send the Quran across your nation."
I love Dargento?s suggestion! It?s a very smart one. Kinda jealous that I didn?t came up with it myself! p (just joking Dargento) It did let me think also. I could write a script for a religious/spiritual movie, but I could change the names of ALL prophets and make it a fictive story inspired by the Scriptures. People then can create their own opinion about it. This makes it more ?neutral? I think?
Many fanatical assasins will came after you, they believe; by killing you will certainly earn a front-seat in the paradise.
Haha! People forgot all about the preaching that the Almighty does in all Scriptures wherein He/She/It tells us to not aggress.
What does it matter if you are a "starting filmmaker" or a seasoned one.
Maybe because I?m new to filmmaking?
I believe if you are serious to taking on such a task as making a so called "spiritual/religious" film your greater concern would not be the fear men.. but of Allah!
The Almighty also tells us to use our power of thought. Which basically means that we first have to think things through before stepping into a new ?scene/adventure of life?. I do fear men more then I fear God, because I know how evil men can be. God is all LOVE, I don?t have to fear Him/Her. The only fear that I have for Him/Her/It is not doing the ?right? thing in God?s ?eyes?.
peace
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Salam all,
As a starting filmmaker I was curious to know if it's dangerous to use an actor to characterize prophet Muhammad in a spiritual/religious movie. How do you think most of the sectarian "muslims" would react to such a movie wherein prophet Muhammad is being played by an actor?
Muhammad is a dead human being long gone and no one today knows his true life's tenure in which he lived. He is not going to bite you for creating a film about him. Your only concerns are essentially four 1) if you are absolutely certain about the truth of Muhammad (which I am certain that you don't), 2) if your film will ever get approved, 3) you may run for your life, or 4) get slaughtered. -
The Almighty also tells us to use our power of thought. Which basically means that we first have to think things through before stepping into a new ?scene/adventure of life?. I do fear men more then I fear God, because I know how evil men can be. God is all LOVE, I don?t have to fear Him/Her. The only fear that I have for Him/Her/It is not doing the ?right? thing in God?s ?eyes?.
Salam,
I agree with you that we aught to use our power of thought, also use our talents to spread the love! This is what I meant about not fearing men. In the story of the Prophets we learn that they did what they Believed to be Right without concern or fear of men, simply because if they did not do Right, they feared God more. I agree God is love, and the fear of God is not the same as fear of men.
If you truely Believe in your film and the ideas that it contains, then please do not fear men and speak your truth. Please forgive my language in these posts (as in "so called" etc) it's only because I have no idea what you mean by "spiritual/religious movie". These days "spiritual/religious movie" can mean just about anything. Thererfore I still think it's best to fear God instead of men for what you are about to do. After all and at the end of it all.. it's God who you'll have to answer to...
As far as the the image of Prophet Muhammad goes in this context, I would think this is a mute point these days for the wrong reasons. Why? Simply because the idea behind not showing or having pictures of the Prophet was so people do not "idolize" him. But that seems to be a mute point today as I'm sure I don't need to go into why.
I also understand it to be as how we see the Prophet Isa portrayed today. We see many pictures of him and all may be different depending on how it suites the people who portray him... some show Isa to be blond with blue eyes.. some show him to be black.. all of which is just hearsay really.
All in all.. My personal belief is I would rather not see a image of any Prophet because for some reason... which I'm sure is beyond human understanding ... when I think of Moses.. I think of Charlton Heston.. lol!... When I think of the Prophet Muhammad.. I don't have any image in my mind of him.. and that's actually kinda nice! You know?
Anyway... all the best to you on what you're doing and good luck... + if you need some soundtrack work.. hit a brotha up!
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DArgento's suggestion gave me a thought, I noticed that I might be moving to Reno, Nevada from Pheonix, Arizona. From my estimates they are close in distance. Why not do it as a copy of Muhammed's story but in america. An american is told by God to "Send the Quran across your nation."
I just noticed I left out a big part of my post, I was compairing the distance between Reno and Pheonix to Mecca and Medina.
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Salam all,
As a starting filmmaker I was curious to know if it's dangerous to use an actor to characterize prophet Muhammad in a spiritual/religious movie. How do you think most of the sectarian "muslims" would react to such a movie wherein prophet Muhammad is being played by an actor?Salam.
I can tell you this sister please be careful because they can be truly dangerous as we have seen this danger coming from them from tv and live. There have been cases where i have even put myself in danger and i know people who are still in danger so when you decide to direct this movie, God willing, make sure that you are safe and secure, ask God to protect you, He always hears prayers and helps us.
I will pray for you.
Good luck in directing a movie.
I'm also planning to direct a movie soon, a road movie and later on, Islamic one, God willing.Peace.
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Is there any information known about Muhammed at around age 14 that could be in the movie? !
I would go for it, I heard that after given a knighthood/death threat by Ayatollah Komieni (sp?) that Salman Rushdie's book sales almost tripled. Even though most people had no clue what it was about. My father said he thought it was proving Islam inccorect, I still dont know where he gets his sources.
Peace Lost philosopher
So was he not proving Islam inccorect?
I haven't read the book nor researched it that much.
But my fathers actions implies that the book is proving Quran to be false. -
All I was able to find was a summary of the book, and to me it didn't have anything implying anything about, Islam eccept that the two main characters I believe it said they were muslim and the plane they were in was blown up by a terrorist. What I read was a very short and confusing summary. Im going to go to wikipedia and see if I can find a summary there.
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Hi Alen & Latifah,
Have you actually written, produced and directed any movie seen in theaters or even acted in one? Can a name a few please? Thanks.
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Peace Latifah, Pazuzu, all
What Pazuzu said makes a lot of sense. Matter of fact, when all the danish cartoons came out, that came to my mind. Why is it that Muslims get mad at pictures of Muhammad compared to that of someone acting as God? If anything, there should have been a bigger backlash for Bruce Almighty. Just proves much on how much they venerate Muhammad more than God.
Peace
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Hi Alen & Latifah,
Have you actually written, produced and directed any movie seen in theaters or even acted in one? Can a name a few please? Thanks.Salam.
Yes, i have written 11 scripts over the past 3 years and this will be my first year as a director, God willing, i have already sent a letter to the UK Film Council in London and i'm waiting, gotta be patient, right?
I do intend to be an actor, director and a producer one day, God willing, in the States because of the market and therefore i can be a better Muslim. God willing.
Peace.