Film crew endure a real-life drama (From This Is Lancashire)

Film crew endure a real-life drama

11:00am Sunday 5th July 2009 in

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A FILM crew flew out to Pakistan to shoot a movie about the Taliban — but ended up being shot at for real by gunmen.

Director David Whitney, from Horwich, was forced to cut short filming and his team were given a police escort out of the country.

Four of the production’s Pakistani crew members were shot as they made their way to filming in Balochistan close to the border with Afghanistan.

They escaped with minor injuries — and 12 months on, the former Rivington and Blackrod pupil still has no regrets about travelling to such a dangerous region.

He said: “Some people might ask why we took the risk, but this is why I am in film making. When I found a crew around me who wanted the adventure, we just went for it.

“We wanted the experience and we wanted to make the film as realistic as possible.”

The 31-year-old finished filming his movie, Kandahar Break, in Tunisia in November, and is now looking forward to the premiere.

The feature length movie, set in 1999, is a fictional story about British bomb disposal experts, working to rid deserts surrounding the ancient Afghan city of Kandahar of land mines. But when their lives are put at risk, the team is forced to escape across the border to Pakistan.

Although the Horwich director was working with a relatively low budget, he managed to secure Life On Mars star, Dean Andrews.

He added: “It was great that we got Dean. He loved the script and wanted to be a part of what we were doing.

“There’s no doubt the Taliban were targeting us. A western film crew would have been a big coup for them. Thankfully, none of the Pakistani crew were badly injured.”

David studied Media Production at Salford University, before starting as a runner in the industry.

He started directing adverts at the age of 22, and has also made programmes in Afghanistan and Russia for Sky. He won a silver award at the New York Film & Video festival in 2005 for a corporate drama.

Kandahar Break is David’s first feature film and will be premiered next month at a secret location in Manchester in front of a private audience.