Atatürk movie to be made in 2009

Fuad Kavur, a London-based Turkish film producer, expects to start filming the life of Atatürk in 2009. Kavur believes that the time is right to remind both Europeans and Turks about the greatness of Atatürk's achievements.

Fuad Kavur, a London-based Turkish film producer, is working on a major film project based on the life of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

Kavur is courting Daniel Craig to play the title role in the $75 million film, with principal filming expected to begin in 2009.

Main theme: Atatürk's reforms

Kavur said the main theme of his screenplay is Atatürk's determination to make Turkey a secular country and to keep millions of people united by emphasizing national sovereignty and modern education. "Atatürk chose the challenging route: To separate religion from temporal government, to educate the people and to make them realize that they are responsible for their own actions," said Kavur.Kavur is a Turkish producer who has been residing in London since 1963. "I was sent here, when my uncle Kemal Kavur was our ambassador, to learn English at a summer school. Obviously, something went wrong, because I am still here," said Kavur. What went wrong was that, instead of returning to Istanbul, Kavur went on to finish his secondary schooling at the French Lycée in South Kensington. Then, he studied International Law at University College, London. "It was, I suppose, expected of me that I should end up joining the Turkish Foreign Office." That would have been a natural career for him, given that Kavur comes from a family of diplomats. His two uncles served, respectively, as ambassadors to Helsinki, Sofia, Moscow, Tokyo, London, Bern, and to Belgrade, Dakar, Stockholm and Lisbon.Instead, Kavur went into the arts. Among his credits as a film producer is "Memed My Hawk" (1984) starring Sir Peter Ustinov, based on the Turkish classic by Yaþar Kemal. "It is a curious turn of fate," said Kavur. "I had two uncles who were ambassadors; and, naturally, both wanted that the family tradition be passed on to the next generation. Instead, both my cousin and I went into films." Kavur's cousin was the late Turkish film director, Ömer Kavur.

Excellent time for Atatürk film

When the idea of making a film about Atatürk came up some 17 years ago Kavur was unsure about its practicality. Nevertheless, he now feels that the time is right to make the Atatürk film. There are two reasons for this. First is the Turkish application to join the European Union. In Kavur's view, it is important for Europeans to learn about Atatürk and his social reforms starting as early as 1923. Secondly, Kavur said "it is important to remind people in Turkey of the super-human effort which Atatürk went through to make us the gift of a modern society."

Kavur's screenplay focuses on women's liberation in Turkey as well. "This was a subject, which was very close to Atatürk's heart," Kavur said. "Atatürk saw that no society can evolve without giving women equal status in every aspect of life: Economic, political and social. Freedom is not a gift reserved only for the male population of any country."

Career in music

Kavur's first love was music. Even at university, he was directing opera. When an opera he staged received great reviews in the daily London papers, Kavur decided to drop the idea of joining the Turkish Foreign Office. Kavur then worked as an assistant director at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, at the English National Opera, and then exclusively with Sir Peter Ustinov at the Scala and at the Berlin, Hamburg, Edinburgh and Paris opera houses. Kavur also staged Wagner's complete Ring Cycle at the Seattle Opera. Surrounded by books on movies and art, at his apartment in London's fashionable Belgravia neighborhood, Kavur said: "Who knows? Maybe, with the Atatürk film, my time has finally come to achieve greatness." Then, he added, "only kidding."

Source: www.turkishdailynews.com.tr

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