20 More Foreign Movies Filmed in Morocco which I Have Seen.

20 movies filmed in Morocco which I’ve seen - How many have you seen?

I’ve been moving around a lot of Europe over the past 2 ½ years. An unexpected side benefit is that it has changed my movie viewing from loving the exotic locations, to recognizing them, and knowing what’s around the corner from the scene being shown. As a movie buff, I find it thrilling to go to locations used in favourite movies.

The Eiffel Tower isn’t just a photograph any more. I had lunch (on a dreary wet day) looking at it. I spent 5 months roaming and becoming familiar with central London which is the setting of dozens of movies (albeit a much emptier London than the norm).

And now a place I’ve wanted to visit for years as the European end of the Silk Road (in my mind, anyway) – Istanbul. Hagia Sophia is no longer a photo in picture books or on film – it’s a place I know. I know how to get there, which ways to walk to get around it with all the security checks, and the nice cosy coffee shop-restaurant near its exit which comes with cats.

Hagia Sophia at night

I know about the Blue Mosque which is perhaps even more beautiful, just across the square from Hagia Sophia, and which way to look to see the bell tower of Taksim, which is actually across the river. And I know where the cistern is that was used in Inferno (just across the street from Hagia Sophia), possibly my favourite Dan Brown story – though I’m always changing my mind about that, depending on whether I’m thinking about the books or the movies.

The cistern used in Dan Brown’s Inferno, across the road from Hagia Sophia

There are a surprisingly large number of movies filmed in Morocco – it works well for movies in Arab and middle eastern settings, a place which is safe, includes desert, mountains as well as beaches, ocean, and the sea. It offers locations which fit culturally and are within easy reach of each other, and Morocco has made the paperwork far less of a logistical nightmare than the previous favourite - Egypt. Here are some favourite movies of mine, all of which were filmed at least partly in Morocco.

I found it exceptionally hard to put these into an order, and have now had endless arguments with myself over this, changing them many times. So I will settle with this order, and post this before I start arguing with myself again!

Meanwhile, besides the medinas including Tangier’s where many movies have been located – they were filming the next Indiana Jones in Fes in December, 2021!!!! – the Hollywood of Morocco is in the desert near Marrakech in a place called Ouarzazate. The beautiful beach town of Essaouira on the Atlantic coast is also frequently used for film locations.

Series which have also been filmed here notably include The Game of Thrones which has many scenes set in Essaouira, and Ait Ben-haddou near Ouarzazate. The Spy, based on Israel’s most prominent spy, Eli Cohen (played by Sacha Baron Cohen) was filmed in locations in Rabat, Kenitra (the train change when I go to Fes) and Fes. Also the excellent series Night Manager with Tom Hiddleston was filmed in Morocco. This is set around the revolution in Egypt and based on a book by spy-thriller writer John le Carre.

The Wheel of Time movie trilogy series from the books by Robert Jordan is filming part of season 2 in Ouarzazate.

But this list is about the movies filmed here which I have seen. And as before, not 10, but 20 - and still not a complete list. There are so many - if you know of one I’ve missed, add it in the comments!

 1                     Spy game: 2001.

Two greats – Robert Redford and Brad Pitt. This is a brilliant spy story which really works on dual themes. Nathan (Brad Pitt) is in trouble in China, while his CIA boss Robert Redford battles for him on the home front in Washington, and through it tells Nathan’s recruit story. The Beirut scenes were filmed in Casablanca, and the Vietnam scenes were an oasis near Ouarzazate, Morocco’s Hollywood located in the desert nearMarrakech.

2                     Bourne Ultimatum: 2007.

Gran Cafe de Paris, opposite the French embassy, and little changed since this photo was taken. Perhaps more western dress, and the cars aren’t quite as cool. I have frequented this cafe since I first arrived in Tangier..

The third movie of the Bourne Identity ones, starring the underrated Matt Damon. Where do I begin? I rewatched this movie just after leaving Tangier in 2019, not realizing how much was filmed here. My favourite café – Gran Café de Paris – was the setting for a big scene in the middle, set in front of a coffee shop. I was most impressed at how they made it look like a steep street corner.

The view today from one of those tables at the front on the footpath - usually a lot more of the little blue mini taxis (there’s one stopped on the far curb on the right). The tables no longer have the white table cloths, but they are still there.

Then I went on a roller coaster ride. After two months of walking all over the city centre, I recognized every single location used in the film. That was an unbelievable buzz!!! I’ve now been back in Tangier for a year, walking the streets every day. It’s time to watch it again – possibly my favourite of the series anyway – I love the set up at the beginning in London around Kings Cross station – also now familiar territory to me.

3                     Sahara: 2005.

I love Matthew McConaughey – this is the movie where I got to know him, being a fan of Clive Cussler’s earlier books (yes – this is the sort of stuff I write – action adventure mysteries seated in real history, and travelling across different countries and cultures). It was partly set in Ait Ben-Haddou near Ouarzazate. And also of course, Penelope Cruz. This story is of a hunt for an American civil war battleship lost in the western African desert.

4                     The Mummy: 1999.

I love, love, love this movie, love Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weis. It’s a remake of two earlier series – one made in the 1940s, and one through the 1960s.  (So far, as per recommendations, I’ve resisted the temptation to watch the Scorpion King). But I also loved the new Tom Cruise one released in 2017. The 1999 movie was filmed in the Sahara near the desert city of Merzouga near the Algerian border.

5                     The Jewel on the Nile: 1985.

On site at Ouarzazate, Morocco’s Hollywood… Mollywood?

I loved Romancing the Stone where I first ‘met’ Michael Douglass and Kathleen Turner, so this one gets included. Also starring Danny DeVito, it was filmed inOuarzazate and Ait Benhaddou, and Meknes near Fes, an even older capital than the old capital of Fes. In Romancing the Stone Kathleen Turner is a writer – it was always such a fake image, but one I have always loved (fluidly writing out the story, and on reaching the last word typing ‘The End’, as if the task is then completed). After all, I don’t watch movies for a glimpse of real life. Real life is what we live. When I watch a movie I want to be entertained, and transported to another world.

6                     Inception: 2010.

Tangier Gate into the medina and souk where Inception was filmed.

Wow. What a movie! Directed by Christopher Nolan, with Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Michael Caine. There are scenes in the souks of Tangier – in Souk Barra at Grand Socco at the top of the old medina where I shop almost daily. It’s also time I watched that one again.

7                     Allied: 2016.

Allied, Casablanca

WWII movie with Brad Pitt, a thriller about a spy, directed by Robert Zemeckis. A nice little story about a happy couple takes an interesting turn when the spy played by Brad Pitt is told that they think his wife is a German spy and his assignment is to kill her if this is true. Filmed in Casablanca.

8                     The Unknown Saint: 2019.

The shrine on top of the hill - built after he buried his money.

An intriguing story line – this one is actually set in Morocco – not just filmed here. And on Netflix at the minute. With the police hot on his tail, a thief buries his stolen goods on a hilltop and makes it look like a grave before they catch up with him. Years later when he gets out of jail he goes back to claim his treasure, only to discover that it’s now a revered pilgrimage site to ‘an unkown saint’. Before you tell me it’s on the other list, that’s because I’ve now seen it. It was quirky - had a similar atmosphere to some of Australia’s movies. Very strange - but if you like slightly odd, I’d highly recommend this one. It was full of bizarre scenarios, and I loved that about it. Filmed in Marrakech.

9                     Hologram for a King: 2016.

Morocco changed Tom Hanks stereotypes of Muslim countries.

Not a well-known movie, but Tom Hanks will always get me in. Set in Saudi Arabia, a businessman is trying to make a deal in a culture he doesn’t understand. Based on a book written in 2012, the city is a blend of Morocco’s capital city Rabat, Casablanca, and Laayoune, another Atlantic coastal city.

10                 Queen of the Desert: 2015.

Starring Nicole Kidman – an actress who I think has received a lot of unfair bad publicity. I think she’s an amazing actress. This less well-known movie is based on a true story about Gertrude Bell, an English writer, traveler, spy and archaeologist in the middle east around 1900 when little was understood about the area by the western world. Her path crossed with that of T.E. Lawrence whose story is told in Lawrence of Arabia. Much of the movie was filmed in the desert in Merzouga as well as Erfoud near it, Marrakech, Ouarzazate and Ait Benhaddou.

11                 The Man Who would be King: 1975.

Ait Benhaddou

I watched this many years ago – probably not long after it was released, lol, and before I knew who Sean Connery and Michael Caine were. It was filmed in Ouarzazate, originally a story by Rudyard Kipling about two adventurers.

12                 The Last Temptation of Christ: 1988.

Volubilis, ancient Roman ruins near Meknes (near Fes)

Filmed by Martin Scorsese, with Willem Dafoe and David Bowie, it was filmed entirely in Morocco, in the Atlas Mountains, and the ancient Roman ruins of Volubilis near Meknes (near Fes). Volubilis was a Berber-Roman city established in the 3rd century BCE. Naturally, the movie was controversial. It portrayed Jesus as a real person with normal human conflicts.

13                 Ishtar: 1987.

With Dustin Hoffman. This may not have been a brilliant movie, but I still remember it and think of it whenever I think of Morocco. Two New York singers get booked  into a Marrakech hotel for a gig, but end up caught up in a plot to overthrow a powerful leader in Ishtar. Filmed in Marrakech.

14                 Sex and the City 2: 2010.

Marrakech

Not what I’d rave about as a brilliant movie, but I enjoyed (most of) the series, and this was part of it. And it was filmed in Marrakech.

15                 Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation: 2015.

With Tom Cruise – a great actor, and another favourite, Simon Pegg (Hot Fuzz, Shawn of the Dead). Filmed in Agadir, Rabat, Casablanca and Marrakech.

16                 Rock the Kasbah: 2015.

Bill Murray, Kate Hudson, Zooey Deschanel and Bruce Willis. A strange little Bill Murray movie (ok, so most of his movies are a bit offbeat) about a has-been music producer making a new discovery when he becomes stranded in Afghanistan. I couldn’t find the locations used in Morocco, so feel free to one-up me on that.

17                 Hanna: 2011.

Essaouira

This stars Eric Bana (an Australian, an excellent actor, and originally a comedian who I watched extensively on the comedy show Full Frontal, the excellent comedy movie The Castle about people fighting back when they are kicked out of their homes for an airport extension, biography of a major crime figure in Chopper, and the movies Munich and Troy), and Cate Blanchett, also an Australian actor, in a heap of movies. A 16-year-old girl has been raised in isolation in Finland to be an assassin. As she is chased across Europe she learns some strange details about herself which question who she really is. In Morocco, filmed in the beautiful beach town of Essaouira.

18                 Prince of Persia: 2010.

Building the set at Ouarzazate

Directed by Jerry Buckheimer. with Jake Gyllenhall. Filmed in Marrakech and Ouarzazate. A prince and princess in medieval Persia have to save the world from a villain wanting to use a dagger containing sands with the power to reverse time.

19                 Contagion: 2011.

The huge mosque at Casablanca, with a backdrop of the Atlantic Ocean

With cast including Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne and Gwyneth Paltrow, filmed in Casablanca. The title explains it all – I believe the word means something like a pandemic. Lol. I watched it before 2020, and thought it was a good movie.

20                 Whisky Tango Foxtrot: 2016.

Set in Afghanistan, filmed in Ouarzazate, it is based on the true story of a journalist in a man’s world looking for a rather dramatic change of scene.

Update: I have now also seen MIB International, The Unknown Saint and The Prince of Persia. I am in the process of watching Lawrence of Arabia – yes, at nearly 4 hours long, that is a process.

And I am reading the book The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles, who lived for many years in Tangier, and will watch that movie as soon as I have finished reading the book. As it turns out, the final scene of the movie is set inside the cafe I go to every single day at the bottom of my street - Cafe Colon, as I described it in my blog Come Walk With Me.

Inside Cafe Colon from where they filmed the last scene of The Sheltering Sky

And from the outside, where I usually sit. Until I saw this scene I didn’t know there had been a tram here .

I invite you to find more foreign movies which have been filmed in Morocco, and if you have seen them, how did you like them?

For anyone interested, I want to acknowledge one particular site I have come across frequently in checking the information. He has extensively researched movie locations, especially from the point of view of actually travelling to see them, with a lot of interesting details and trivia.

https://moviemaps.org/movies/c7