In Remembrance: Moustapha Akkad

     Moustapha Akkad, the Syrian-born producer who backed the Halloween slasher franchise, has passed away on November 11, 2005 in Amman Jordan. He was 75.

     Born in July, 1930 in Aleppo, Syria, Akkad came to the United States in 1950 to study filmmaking, earning a degree in theater arts from the University of California, Los Angeles. It was while pursuing a master’s degree at USC that Akkad met director Sam Peckinpah, who became a mentor figure to him, hiring Akkad as a consultant for film about the Algerian revolution which he ultimately never made. Akkad would eventually serve as a production assistant on Peckinpah’s western Ride The High Country (1962).

     In 1976, Akkad directed his debut feature The Message, the story of the Prophet Muhammad and the beginnings of the Islam religion. Akkad shot the film twice, using an English cast headed by Anthony Quinn as Muhammad’s uncle Hamza for the version to be released in a majority of the world and an Arabic version (al Risalah) to be released in the Middle East. Since Muslim teachings prohibit visual representations of Muhammad, his wife, daughters and son-in-laws, the film was shot from Muhammad’s point of view, with actors speaking directly into the camera and then nodding in response to unheard dialogue. Although the High Islamic Congress of the Shiat in Lebanon and the University of Al-Azhar in Cairo were consulted to ensure the accuracy of the film, it was still met with criticism from many Middle Eastern Muslim clerics who objected to the idea of the life of Muhammad being portrayed in a film.

     Akkad released the only other film he directed, Lion Of The Desert, in 1981, which reunited Akkad with Message star Anthony Quinn as a Muslim fighting against Italy’s invasion of Libya during World War II. Akkad strove to make his story as authentic as possible, right down to hiring the same barber who shaved Mussolini to shave Rod Steiger, who was portraying the Italian dictator in the film. Although made for a cost of approximately $35 million, the movie was a financial disaster, only grossing $1 million worldwide.

     Akkad teamed with rising director John Carpenter to produce the surprise hit Halloween in 1978. The movie, which centered around a masked killer stalking teenagers, helped launch the career of actress Jamie Lee Curtis. Made on the shoestring budget of $300,000, Halloween would go on to gross $47 million at the box office, an amount which would inspire the explosion of horror films in the 1980s. Halloween would itself spawn seven sequels, all of which Akkad served as executive producer for.

     Akkad also served as producer for the horror film Appointment With Fear (1985) and the comedy Free Ride (1986).

     At the time of his death, Akkad was reportedly making progress on his lifelong ambition to bring the story of Saladin and the Crusades to the silver screen.