Moustapha Akkad

{{Infobox person

| name = Moustapha Al Akkad

| image = Moustapha Akkad.gif

| image_size = 175px

| birth_date = {{birth date|1930|7|1}}

| birth_place = Aleppo, French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon (modern day Syria)

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2005|11|11|1930|7|1}}

| death_place = Amman, Jordan

| death_cause = 2005 Amman bombings

| nationality = {{hlist|Syria|United States}}

| alma_mater = University of California at Los Angeles,
University of Southern California

| known_for = Producing the series of Halloween films

| occupation = Film producer, director

| years_active = 1976–2005

| party =

| spouse = {{plainlist|

{{marriage|Patricia Al Akkad|end=divorced}}
Sooha Ascha Al Akkad

}}

| children = 4 (including Malek Akkad)

| parents =

| relatives = Tareq Salahi

| awards =

| signature =

}}

Moustapha al Akkad ({{langx|ar|مصطفى العقاد|Muṣṭafā al-ʿAqqād}}; July 1, 1930 – November 11, 2005) was a Syrian-American film producer and director, best known for producing the original series of Halloween films and directing The Message and Lion of the Desert. He was killed along with his daughter Rima Al Akkad Monla in the 2005 Amman bombings.{{cite web| url = https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna10002363| title = "Hollywood producer, daughter died in bombing"| website = NBC News| date = November 11, 2005| access-date = November 18, 2019| archive-date = January 24, 2023| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230124025233/https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna10002363| url-status = live}}King Abdullah II of Jordan, Our Last Best Chance, New York, New York: Viking Press, 2011, p. 251 He is also the cousin to television personality star Tareq Salahi.

Early life

Al Akkad was born on July 1, 1930, in Aleppo in the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon.{{cite news | title = Moustapha Akkad, 75, Who Produced Religious and Horror Films, Is Dead | date = November 12, 2005 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/12/obituaries/12akkad.html | work = New York Times | access-date = July 5, 2010 | archive-date = November 25, 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121125001652/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/12/obituaries/12akkad.html | url-status = live }} He received his high school degree from the Aleppo American College. His father, then a customs officer, gave him $200 and a copy of the Quran before he left for the United States to study film direction and production at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Akkad spent a further three years studying for a Master's degree at the University of Southern California (USC), where he met the director Sam Peckinpah. Peckinpah became Akkad's mentor in Hollywood and hired him as a consultant for a film about the Algerian War that never made it to the big screen, but he continued to encourage him until he found a job as a producer at CBS.

Career

In 1976, he produced and directed Mohammad, Messenger of God (released as The Message in 1977 in the United States), starring Anthony Quinn and Irene Papas. Akkad faced resistance from Hollywood, which forced him to make the film in Morocco.

While creating Muhammad, Messenger of God, he consulted Islamic clerics, he wanted and tried to be respectful towards Islam and its views on portraying Muhammad. He got the Approval from Al-Azhar University in Egypt but was rejected by the Muslim World League in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The Governments of Kuwait, Libya and Morocco promised to support the film financially, and when it was rejected by the Muslim World League, Kuwait kept its financial support but stopped other kinds of supports. King Hassan II of Morocco gave his full support for the production of the film. The production took one year, Akkad filmed for 6 months in Morocco, but had to stop when the Saudi Government exerted great pressure on the government of Morocco to stop the production. Akkad went to Muammar Gaddafi of Libya for support in order to complete the project, Gaddafi allowed him to move the filming to Libya for the remaining 6 months until the film was finalized.

Akkad saw the film as a way to bridge the gap between the Western and Muslim worlds, stating in a 1976 interview:{{Cite news |title=Moustapha Akkad |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2005/11/13/moustapha-akkad/1fdda78f-df3e-4003-a4af-851ff620d41c/ |url-status=live |access-date=December 3, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231203002759/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2005/11/13/moustapha-akkad/1fdda78f-df3e-4003-a4af-851ff620d41c/ |archive-date=December 3, 2023}}

{{quote|I did the film because it is a personal thing for me ... Being a Muslim myself who lived in the west I felt that it was my obligation my duty to tell the truth about Islam. It is a religion that has a 700 million following, yet it's so little known about which surprised me. I thought I should tell the story that will bring this [history] to the west.}}

In 1978, he helped make low-budget film history when he produced Halloween. Akkad became best known for his key involvement in the first eight Halloween films, as an executive producer (the only producer to participate in all of these films). The series was highly profitable and hugely influential to subsequent horror films.

In 1980 he directed Lion of the Desert, in which Quinn and Irene Papas were joined by Oliver Reed, Rod Steiger, and John Gielgud. It was about the real-life Bedouin leader Omar Mukhtar (Quinn), who fought Benito Mussolini's Italian troops in the deserts of Libya. The movie is now critically acclaimed, after initially receiving negative publicity in the West for being partially funded by Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, who invested $35 million in the movie. This negative publicity may have been the cause of its relatively poor performance at the box office. Clint Morris describes the movie as: "A grand epic adventure that'll stand as a highpoint in the producing career of Moustapha Akkad."Film Threat, July 8, 2010, Review by Clint Morris In 1985, his production company Trancas International Films had inked an agreement with Galaxy International releasing in order to release films for a seven-picture agreement worldwide.{{Cite news|date=October 2, 1985|title=Galaxy To Handle Trancas Features|page=5|work=Variety}}

In the United Kingdom, Akkad once tried to buy Pinewood Studios from The Rank Organisation and also had a studio at Twickenham. At the time of his death, he was in the process of producing an $80 million movie featuring Sean Connery about Saladin and the Crusades, for which he already had the script, that would be filmed in Jordan. Speaking of the film, he said:

{{quote|Saladin exactly portrays Islam. Right now, Islam is portrayed as a terrorist religion. Because a few terrorists are Muslims, the whole religion has that image. If there ever was a religious war full of terror, it was the Crusades. But you can't blame Christianity because a few adventurers did this. That's my message.{{cite book|last=Beverley|first=James A.|author-link=James A. Beverley|title=Islamic Faith in America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nSntqJH8XTAC&pg=PT50|year=2009|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-4381-0254-2|page=50|access-date=October 14, 2018|archive-date=January 24, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124025226/https://books.google.com/books?id=nSntqJH8XTAC&pg=PT50|url-status=live}}}}

Death

Akkad and his 34-year-old daughter, Rima Akkad Monla, were killed in the 2005 Amman bombings. They were both in the lobby at the Grand Hyatt Amman on November 9 when a bomb exploded; his daughter died instantly, and Akkad died of his injuries two days later in a hospital. He is buried in the Al-Jadidah Cemetery in Aleppo in Syria.Resting Places: The Burial Sites of Over 14000 Famous Persons by Scott Wilson

Akkad was survived by his former wife, Patricia Al Akkad and their sons, Taric and Malek, who helped produce most of the Halloween movies, as well as his widow, Suha Ascha Akkad, and their son Zade.

Legacy

He was honoured by his native city of Aleppo, and the Aleppo City Council has renamed a school and a street after Moustapha Akkad. In 2008, a street in downtown Beirut was renamed after Moustapha Akkad. The 2007 remake of Halloween was dedicated to Moustapha Akkad. The 2018 film Halloween, a direct sequel to the 1978 original film, also features a dedication to Akkad in the end credits.

Filmography

class="wikitable sortable"

!Year

!Title

!Director

!Producer

!Presenter

!Notes

1976

|The Message

|{{yes}}

|{{no}}

|a.k.a. Mohammed, Messenger of God

1978

|Halloween

|{{no}}

|{{yes|Executive}}

|{{yes}}

1980

|Lion of the Desert

|{{yes}}

|{{no}}

1981

|Halloween II

|{{no}}

|{{yes|Executive}}

|{{yes}}

1982

|Halloween III: Season of the Witch

|{{no}}

|{{yes|Executive}}

|{{yes}}

1985

|Appointment with Fear

|{{no}}

|{{yes|Executive}}

|{{no}}

1986

|Free Ride

|{{no}}

|{{yes|Executive}}

|{{no}}

1988

|Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers

|{{no}}

|{{yes|Executive}}

|{{yes}}

1989

|Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers

|{{no}}

|{{yes|Executive}}

|{{yes}}

1995

|Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers

|{{no}}

|{{yes|Executive}}

|{{yes}}

1998

|Halloween H20: 20 Years Later

|{{no}}

|{{yes|Executive}}

|{{yes}}

2002

|Halloween: Resurrection

|{{no}}

|{{yes|Executive}}

|{{yes}}

References

External links

{{IMDb name|0002160}}
[https://web.archive.org/web/20051124025526/http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/EE25F3A5-6268-46D9-948C-BBD031AC1884.htm Aljazeera. Firas Al-Atraqchi. An Arab American director's legacy]
[http://www.juancole.com/2005/11/strange-death-of-moustapha-akkad.html Juan Cole. The Strange Death of Moustapha Akkad]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20060209065543/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/11/12/db1203.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/11/12/ixportal.html The Telegraph. Moustapha Akkad]

Category:1930 births

Category:2005 crimes in Jordan

Category:2005 deaths

Category:2005 murders in Asia

Category:2000s murders in Jordan

Category:Film producers from California

Category:American people murdered abroad

Category:American terrorism victims

Category:Arabic-language film directors

Category:Deaths by suicide bomber

Category:Film directors from California

Category:Mass murder victims