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Cast Of Russo Brothers’ New Movie 'Mosul' Receives Death Threats From ISIS

The action-thriller is based on a true story of how a Nineveh SWAT team rescues two police officers in Mosul, Iraq.

Source: IMDb

The action-thriller Mosul that released in November last year made a high-profile Thanksgiving debut on Netflix. The film became one of the most viewed movies on the platform in Europe and the Middle East. The Iraqi-language movie is based on the true tale of an Iraqi SWAT police squad made up of local men who had either been injured or had a family member killed by ISIS. The team took to the streets to wipe out ISIS members to avenge the deaths of those they lost to the extremist terror organization. The film, written and directed by Matthew Michael Carnahan, was a major success for Netflix. 



 

Unfortunately, the team behind the film has received threats. In a new interview with Deadline, producers Joe and Anthony Russo and the star of the film Suhail Dabbach who plays Colonel Jasem revealed that there were threats from alleged members and loyalists of ISIS. “When I posted on my social media that the film was going to come out, the first day there was a lot from ISIS,” Dabbach said.

“They put on a lot of videos and bad words. Like, they have said, now we know you, and you have to watch yourself. Every day, touch your head to make sure it is still on. They said, ‘We know where you live and we will reach you.’“ Dabbach's co-star Adam Besa’s Instagram was hacked and he received threatening messages over WhatsApp as well.



 

"It was certainly an unnerving experience for the actors,” Joe Russo told Deadline. “It’s never a comfortable feeling to have your privacy violated, and it’s terrifying to receive death threats from anonymous sources. We feel it has been handled expertly by Netflix and by our own security team.” “I will only say we’ve treated this very seriously,” Anthony Russo told the outlet.

“We knew the movie was provocative and potentially dangerous for anyone involved. We took the highest security measures we could think of and we were familiar with that process after working on the Marvel movies. This was a whole new level in terms of secrecy. We didn’t distribute scripts, we had a code name for the movie and pulled every reference of ISIS out of scripts when we did have to distribute them, so they were never explicitly mentioned as they were in the film. We had the best security people working with us but still, there was danger, but we had to be in a Middle Eastern country to make the film like we did. We were exposed and had to do as responsible as we could but everyone felt it was worth the risk.”



 

Matthew Michael Carnahan, who wrote and directed the drama, added, "The idea these people are now threatening us, I guess it comes with the territory. That Suhail’s family in the Middle East would be threatened, that they would hack into his wife’s phone, or that Adam’s Instagram page would disappear and he would get these WhatsApp threats, none of us knew it would get to that level. In one way, it was terrifying, in another, we thought, man we must have hit close to home. We must have hit a nerve, in what remains of ISIS, or at least that ISIS mind-set. It would be great if the world realized these guys – and Suhail was working in a retirement community when I cast him, that he is now on the radar of some very bad people."

“I want him to be acknowledged for the risk that he has taken, I want Adam to be acknowledged for the risk he’s taken, and I want people to think about this movie and see it knowing there are very dangerous people out there, who hate that they’re watching it. Who hate that somebody has depicted this struggle, with a narrative they have no control over. I think 48 hours after we came out in Iraq, ISIS puts out this 44-minute response to the movie but uses a pirated Netflix logo that runs over the top of it. I want people to know what these guys did, how crazy this movie was from inception, when they’re watching, Yes, it’s a movie, but that it has carried physical risk for everyone involved, and especially those actors. It’s testament to how good they are.”

Mosul is available to stream on Netflix now.