Israel flag with a view of old city Jerusalem and the KOTEL- Western wall
Israel flag with a view of old city Jerusalem and the KOTEL- Western wall

Get ready to start seeing some of your favourite Hollywood stars filming in Israel as a new initiative by Israel’s Finance Ministry has been announced, with plans to turn the historic country into a hit with American studios.

MK Michael Oren, deputy minister for foreign policy in the Prime Minister’s Office, has dubbed the plan ‘Holy-wood’ and has claimed that with his background in Hollywood – he has worked with Orson Wells and various other production companies – he believes Israel is ready to become the new Dubai or Abu Dhabi.

‘I never understood why Israel isn’t an international film center, as we seem to tick all the boxes to be one,’ he said.

‘We have a large range of terrain conditions such as desert, mountains, cities and villages, all within short driving distances. We have teams skilled in photography and editing, and great hotels that are more than suitable for hosting stars. We have television and film studios, and expertise in military issues, such as explosives.’

Scenes from World War Z set in Embrasure were filmed in Malta

It’s a sentiment shared by Richard Klein, who advises Hollywood film studios on locations, script development, production and marketing and is a former Special Assistant for International Security Affairs at the Department of State.

‘The scripts and locations I am seeing, Israel is going to become a country of real interest,’ he told Metro.co.uk of the next big filming location.

‘It’s got incredible diversity of topography and geography and architecture, it’s got diversity of language, of culture – no one has really made a movie that shows you the old city of Jerusalem, the mountains of the Negev desert, and with the kinds of stories that are coming productions will find what they need in Israel.’

Tel Aviv (Picture: Getty)

He also admitted that ‘on the Israeli side, they’re starting to figure out how to be more attractive to filmmakers’.

‘They’ve got film incentive laws that are out of date, and not competitive at all, plus there’s a perception about safety that’s inaccurare and easy to address. But bottom line it’s got amazing and historical locations that have never been filmed by Hollywood.’

Negev Desert (Picture: Getty)

The ‘Holy-wood’ plan reportedly has three steps that will be put in place in order to gain hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue from hosting big-budget productions.

The first would be to establish a film authority in the Finance Ministry, which would be able to work with the studio as well as local authorities including police, the Nature and Parks Authority and other state bodies that would allow for closures or access to military sites.

Producers would also be offered grants ‘of 25% to 35% of the value of the investment to film in Israel’ while ‘special insurance provisions’ would also be set up in case of security issues that later cause the production to relocate out of Israel.

‘As deputy minister of foreign policy, I think there is diplomatic value to this project,’ Oren added, speaking to Israel Hayom.

‘If Brad Pitt comes here and not Malta [scenes set in Jerasulem in World War Z were actually filmed in Malta], it is a serious blow to the Boycott, Divestment, Sanction movement. If a movie says “Made in Israel” it’s great public diplomacy, an advertisement for Israel.’

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