Uncovering ‘Mysteries of the Nile’

Andrew Edwards

An advance preview for a new movie will include scenes of white water

rafting, crocodiles and automatic weapons -- a typical Hollywood

adventure, right? Wrong. The filmmakers behind this new film left

studios behind to spend four months capturing an unprecedented

expedition along Africa’s Nile River.

“Mystery of the Nile,” will be the next project from Laguna Beach

production company McGillivray-Freeman Films, who teamed up with

Spanish production company Orbita Max to shoot what the filmmakers

have called the first-ever journey from the Blue Nile’s Ethiopian

headwaters to the Mediterranean sea.

“It’s something that’s never been done before,” camera operator

Brad Ohlund said. Ohlund has worked with McGillivray-Freeman Films

since the company was founded in 1976, and he said he has worked on

all the company’s films, many of which are nature adventures filmed

in giant-screen format. The company’s filmography includes Coral Reef

Adventure (2003) and Everest (1998). The company is led by Greg

McGillivray, who was unable to be interviewed for this article

because he was in Greece.

McGillivray is scheduled to attend an early screening of the film

on Wednesday in Irvine, said Mary Fegraus, executive director of the

Laguna Canyon Foundation. The screening will be a fundraiser for the

construction of the James and Rosemary Nix Nature Center in Laguna

Coast Wilderness Park.

The Wednesday showing will be the third time McGillivray has shown

an early cut for the foundation, Fegraus said. In 1997, McGillivray

showed an early cut of “Everest,” and in 1999, he screened “Dolphins”

for the group. After the movie, the audience will be able to jot down

their ideas on the film, and the audience’s reactions will be

incorporated into the editing process.

To get to the post-production stage, the film’s crew had to

contend with rollicking rapids, wild animals and jail. The two men

who rafted the entire river for the film, Pasquale Scaturro and

Gordon Brown started out by trekking up to Lake Tana in the Ethiopian

Highlands. At this early point in their journey, Scaturro and Brown

were spotted by the Ethiopia’s armed forces, Ohlund said.

“The military noticed these bright yellow rafts coming to them,

and it’s not something they see everyday,” Ohlund said. “So they

pulled them over and took them into custody.”

Ohlund was never arrested himself, but the Ethiopian incident was

not the only time crew members found themselves behind bars. When the

expedition crossed the border from Sudan into Egypt, the Egyptian

SWAT team arrested the rafters and briefly imprisoned them.

“As they crossed the border, out of the blue, came six large

inflatable boats with large men who were obviously waiting for them,”

Ohlund said. Egyptian officials had been tipped off by spies across

the Sudanese border, who warned the Egyptian government, which is

preoccupied with terrorism, that rafters equipped with high-tech gear

was approaching the border.

But for the filmmakers who had to do time for their art, being

taken into custody wasn’t all bad, Ohlund said.

“By the time it’s over, you’re best friends with the people that

arrested you,” Ohlund said.

Just getting a shot was often a challenge. Ohlund and other crew

members lugged heavy equipment through the African countryside and

rigged themselves up with ropes to be lowered down from cliffs to get

the camera angles they wanted.

“With Imax cameras, we’re always taking them where they don’t want

to be,” Ohlund said.

The crew was not able to shoot every scene from the riverbank,

Ohlund said. Brown hooked up a camera to his raft while navigating

extremely difficult rapids, and water wasn’t the only natural danger

Brown faced, Ohlund said. During the journey, Brown was attacked by

crocodile and a six-foot monitor lizard jumped over him.

When the reptile lunged at Brown, the camera was unfortunately

turned off, Ohlund said, and the lizard did not do a second take.

The pre-screenings of “Mystery of the Nile” will be at 6 and 8

p.m. Wednesday, at the Imax Theatre in the Irvine Spectrum, 65

Journey Drive. Tickets will cost $40 in advance and $50 at the door.

For more information, call (949)855-7275.