Every once in awhile you’ll see a movie that comes out of nowhere and just blows you away. That’s what happened when I watched Mosul. The film, which was produced by Anthony and Joe Russo, is the feature directorial debut of screenwriter Matthew Michael Carnahan (the writer of World War Z, The Kingdom, Deepwater Horizon) and it’s very clear this is just the beginning of his time behind the camera because he’s crafted an edge-of-your-seat thriller that never lets you go.

If you’re not familiar with Mosul, the film is based on true events and follows a rogue SWAT team in the titular city in Iraq that is struggling to save their city from ISIS. As the film opens, we are quickly introduced to an inexperienced Iraqi cop, Kawa (Adam Bessa), who is rescued during an attack by a band of ten brothers-in-arms led by the wise Major Jasem (Suhail Dabbach). Under constant threat of attack, the unit embarks on a dangerous guerrilla operation, determined to wipe out an enemy base and restore order to the lawless territory. Loaded with incredible action, fantastic performances from the entire international cast, and no American actors, I was absolutely blown away by what Carnahan and the Russo brothers pulled off.

Trust me, if you have a subscription to Netflix, you want to watch Mosul as soon as you can.

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Image via Netflix

Shortly after seeing the film I spoke with Matthew Michael Carnahan, Adam Bessa, and Suhail Dabbach. They talked about how the film shows Iraqi people being heroes, what it was like for the cast reading the script for the first time, the challenges of making this movie and filming all the action scenes in only 43 days, why this was such an important story to bring to life, and more. In addition, Carnahan talks about how he was able to make Mosul as his feature debut and future projects at AGBO including one about the earliest days of Formula 1 racing and a spy thriller that takes place in Moscow in 1961.

Check out what they had to say below and further down the page is an exact list of what we talked about. Finally, if you missed my interview with the Russo brothers for Mosul, you can click here to check it out.

Matthew Michael Carnahan, Adam Bessa, and Suhail Dabbach:

  • Carnahan talks about how he was able to make Mosul as his feature directorial debut and shooting it in Arabic.
  • What was it like for the cast when they read the script for the first time and how the movie was going to show Arab people as heroes and not terrorists?
  • Why this was such an important story to be told.
  • The challenges of making this movie and filming all the action scenes in only 43 days.
  • What was it like training to accurately portray these roles?
  • Carnahan talks about what he is working on next which are both with AGBO.
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