Gideon Raff has made a career out of politically-charged thrillers. Between Homeland and Tyrant, he’s always pushed boundaries and taken audiences on dangerous and provocative journeys. For his latest film, The Red Sea Diving Resort, the talented writer/director explores the true story of how a group of Mossad agents evacuated thousands of refugees who were displaced during the Ethiopian civil war.
The Red Sea Diving Resort boasts an all-star cast, including Chris Evans in the lead role of the bold Mossad agent who refuses to give up on his mission to bring the displaced Ethiopian Jews to freedom in Israel. Michael K. Williams, Greg Kinnear, Haley Bennett, and Ben Kingsley co-star in the film, which is being distributed by Netflix.
While promoting the release of The Red Sea Diving Resort, writer/director Gideon Raff spoke to Screen Rant and discussed the film, from balancing the tone of the film to hiring Mychael Danna to compose the movie’s marvelous score, which infuses Ethiopian flair with a strong synth backbone. Perhaps most importantly of all, Raff shares his thoughts on Chris Evans’ beard.
First off, thanks for this awesome movie!
One thing that really struck me about it was how it so effortlessly balances its tone. It goes back and forth from flashy spy thriller action to historical drama and intimate character dynamics, all without any accidental whiplash. How do you balance that when you’re writing or directing?
Thank you.
Yeah, that scene, early on, where they’re crossing the river and the woman just gives up, she can’t take it anymore, and just lets go of the group and drowns almost immediately, and is lost under the water and just doesn’t come back up, it gave me chills.
Not without effort! (Laughs) One of the things that was challenging about this movie is the fact that it’s a true story. These Mossad agents were in Sudan, operating a hotel. This allowed for so many moments of levity. But at night, they would go and help the Jewish community smuggle itself to Israel. In telling the courageous story of how these Ethiopians left their homes and marched through the desert… Some died on the way, and some died in the camps in Sudan. While I was listening to the real people tell this story… I met with the Mossad agents, and I met with Ethiopians who did this journey. I realized, we’re crying and we’re laughing. That is the story. That’s what’s so unique about real life operations like this. It had all of it.
You always hear about these movies that are based on the “unbelievable true story,” but this one feels particularly special. Were you always aware of this moment in history? When did you first get the idea to turn this story into a movie?
The suicide of the woman is something that came from my storytelling, but the people who went through this journey told me about the executions they witnessed. Men and women who had been left for dead, they would pick up and carry with them on the way. There was a horrible civil war raging through Ethiopia. The Jews who were running away, crossing the desert, making their way to Sudan, they saw horrible people to horrible things. They tried to help the people left behind.
You never shy away from geopolitics in your stories. People who know you from your TV work know this, with Prisoners of War and Homeland. And now this, of course. Do you ever get pushback from studios or producers who would rather you just make straight action thrillers with no real-life politics?
I was very well aware of the bigger story of the Ethiopian journey to Israel. I grew up on those images, of the stories… But I was not aware of the hotel until my producer, Alexandra (Milchan) called me and asked if I had heard of this. Then we flew over to Israel and I met with the guys who ran the hotel. I met with the commander who thought of this idea, and he was partnered with the real life man who inspired the Michael K. Williams character, who, at the time, was the one who started this whole thing. He said, “This is our time. After years and years of yearning to go to our homeland, this is our time to start walking across the desert.” He recruited the Mossad to help them. I wasn’t aware of that story. I was aware of the bigger ones, later on. But this story, I thought, had such potential to be great, uplifting, entertaining, but with a lot of heart. I really wanted to tell this story.
There is some beautiful underwater photography in this movie. Especially during the Duran Duran scene. Was that shot as part of the main unit on the main location, or did you all go someplace else for that?
I do get a lot of pushback. Sometimes I’ll do it myself, like, “oh, why do I have to open that wound?” But those are the things that are happening to me. Those are the things that can change the world. Sometimes the things that are taboo, the things that are sensitive, they bring about the most interesting and most fruitful dialogue and discourse. I think that’s why I’m so fascinated with these stories.
It’s beautiful. I love underwater scenes in movies like Thunderball and The Creature from the Black Lagoon, so that really jumped out at me.
Part of it was shot in a tank with our main unit and our actors, and for part of it, we sent our second unit to Sharm El Sheikh in Sinai, and they went to the actual Red Sea to shoot that.
So, Chris Evans, your leading man, is America’s sweetheart. Me and my friends, and even my editors at Screen Rant, bicker back and forth over whether he’s hotter with or without a beard. I’ve traditionally been on the “without” side, but this movie might have changed my mind. Did he have the beard when you hired him, was it always going to be part of the character? How does a director decide whether or not to give Chris Evans a beard?
That was a week I wanted to shoot second unit. (Laughs)
You mentioned the 1980s setting, and one of my favorite things in this movie is the score, which is synth-driven and evocative of the era, but without being overwhelming or kitsch. I’m always interested in how a director approaches a composer. Do you give them some notes and let them go wild, or are you involved with the composers during their process?
Well, the story takes place in the 1980s, and these agents went undercover for months at a time. I always knew we were going to have fun with facial hair, with chest hair, with mustaches and beards… Luckily, everybody in our cast, definitely Chris, are hot with or without beards!
This movie started out as a Fox Searchlight production, and then Netflix picked it up. What was that process like for you, and how did the movie end up at Netflix?
I was very lucky to meet Mychael Danna for an FX series I created called Tyrant. Michael is an unbelievably talented composer. The idea here was to… Just like these two communities come together and reunite as a family, what you wanted to do was to take some Ethiopian instrumentation and music, and then on the other side, the electronic 80s synths, and merge them together, so when we become one, the Ethiopian themes are framed by the synths, and the other way around. Michael brought some beautiful Ethiopian instruments and players to the studio. Michael is a person who is a real collaborator, and he always delivers. He’s so talented.
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Part of the development was with Fox Searchlight. By the time we shot the movie, it was already out of Fox Searchlight. We shot it as an independent film. By the time Netflix acquired it and partnered with us, the movie was edited already. But I was jumping up and down in my house when I heard that Netflix bought the movie, because I truly believe it has the biggest potential of reaching the widest audience on Netflix.
The Red Sea Diving Resort releases July 31 on Netflix.
