“Mosul” was released on Netflix around Thanksgiving Day and became one of the streamer’s most viewed films in Europe and the Middle East.
Joe and Anthony Russo are talking about their Netflix action project, “Mosul,” after cast members reportedly received death threats from ISIS. “Mosul”, produced by the Russo brothers and directed by Matthew Michael Carnahan, premiered on November 26, 2020 on Netflix and became one of the streamer’s most viewed films in Europe and the Middle East. Starring Suhail Dabbach and Adam Bessa, “Mosul” is an Iraqi Arabic-language war thriller that follows the mission of a SWAT police team to eliminate ISIS members who killed their loved ones.
“When I posted on my social media that the movie was going to be released, on the first day there was a lot of ISIS,” Dabbach told Deadline. “They posted a lot of videos and bad words. Like, they said, now we know you, and you have to take care of yourself. Every day, touch your head to make sure it’s still on. They said, ‘We know where you live and we will reach you.’ “
Carnahan said the death threats have been “a terrible by-product” of the film’s high number of overseas views, with Joe Russo adding that “it was certainly an unnerving experience for the actors”.
“It is never a comfortable feeling to have your privacy violated, and it is scary to receive death threats from anonymous sources,” said Joe Russo. “We feel that this has been handled with skill by Netflix and our own security team.”
During the production of “Mosul” in Morocco, the Russo brothers’ AGBO production company used the TigerSwan security service to protect the cast and crew from potential ISIS threats and took extra steps to prevent the film’s ISIS plot from leaking. AGBO again turned to TigerSwan to ensure the safety of the cast after the release of the film and the increase in death threats.
“I’ll just say that we take this very seriously,” Anthony Russo told Deadline. “We knew that the film was provocative and potentially dangerous for everyone involved. We took the highest security measures we could think of and were familiar with that process after working on Marvel films. “
“This was a whole new level in terms of secrecy,” Anthony continued. “We didn’t distribute scripts, we had a code name for the film and we removed all ISIS references from the scripts when we had to distribute them, so they were never mentioned explicitly as they were in the film. We had the best security guards working with us, but there was still danger, but we had to be in a country in the Middle East to make the film like we did. We were exposed and we had to act in the most responsible way possible, but everyone felt it was worth taking the risk.
According to Deadline: “Dabbach’s family received similar scary threats, and his co-star Adam Besa, who plays the police officer who is called up to the SWAT team, saw his Instagram page being deleted and he was threatened on WhatsApp . These threats have been traced back to Turkey. The film’s funders, AGBO, Netflix and 101 Studios, took this seriously enough to direct internal security forces to intervene and ensure that everyone is safe. “
“Mosul” is now being streamed by Netflix.
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