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PEOPLE & ARTS Saturday 14 OctOber 2017
Coming to a movie theater near you: Dubai destroyed, again

By JON GAMBRELL Krall. Dubai was again the
Associated Press target of vengeful aliens
DUBAI, United Arab Emir- in the 2016 film “Indepen-
ates (AP) — As a mammoth dence Day: Resurgence,”
wave from the Persian Gulf in which the gravity-defy-
rises up to drown fleeing ing extraterrestrials some-
beachgoers and wash over how picked up the Burj
downtown Dubai and the Khalifa and slammed it into
world’s tallest building, you London. In the case of the
can be forgiven for thinking “Star Trek” film, its produc-
you’ve seen this all before. ers picked Dubai because
The coming film “Geos- of its space-age look.
torm” marks just the latest “We came searching for
movie in which Western the future and found it,”
filmmakers put the com- Jeffrey Chernov, one of the
mercial capital of the Unit- film’s executive producers,
ed Arab Emirates in their said in 2015. However, the
crosshairs. cast later acknowledged
The UAE offers an attractive, finding difficulty in casting
tax-free shooting environ- a gay husband in Dubai for
ment and Dubai’s futuristic, the character Sulu.
skyscraper-studded skyline Traditionally dressed Arabs
as a backdrop. But amid all often show up for just a mo-
the computer-generated In this Oct. 7, 2016 file photo, people watch the sunset over the skyline, with Burj Khalifa at right, in ment in such films. A family
destruction, viewers are Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Monday, Oct. 7, 2016. Associated Press dines as a Lebanese-made
offered only rare glimpses sports car plunges down
of Emiratis, and learn little of women or all the differ- world being destroyed. The blockbuster. Tom Cruise an Abu Dhabi skyscraper
about the country or the ent stereotypes they have. Dubai Film and TV Com- dangled off the side of the in “Furious 7.” But that mo-
surrounding region. It just kind of normalizes it.” mission offered an excit- newly built Burj Khalifa in the ment, like a brief refer-
“It’s just kind of like this fu- In “Geostorm,” opening on ed, exclamation-pointed 2011 film “Mission Impossi- ence to Abu Dhabi being a
turistic city that exists only Oct. 19 in the UAE and star- tweet about the footage ble 4: Ghost Protocol.” The global city on a map in the
to be destroyed in a very ring Gerard Butler, satellites of the Persian Gulf tsuna- world’s tallest building es- 2011 plague thriller “Con-
dramatic way,” said Dale stop all natural disasters un- mi, in which the spire tip of caped being destroyed in tagion,” separates the UAE
Hudson, an associate pro- til something goes wrong. the world’s tallest building, that film, but the city-state from the “chaos” Mideast
fessor of film and new me- Dubai is then apparently the 828-meter (2,716-foot) was engulfed in computer- stereotype seen in other
dia at NYU Abu Dhabi. swamped by the Persian Burj Khalifa, is visible in the generated sandstorm of films, Hudson said.
“For audiences in the U.S. Gulf, despite the fact that background. epic proportions. “It puts (the UAE) on the
used to Hollywood, it’s just its warm waters are rarely The commission did not In 2016’s “Star Trek Be- same political side as Lon-
another city... It’s not the deeper than 90 meters (295 respond to a request for yond,” Dubai stood in as don and New York,” he
Middle East, where they feet). comment. Starbase Yorktown and said. “It definitely tries to
assume it’s going to be reli- Previews for the film show It’s not the first time Dubai was attacked by the forces make to make it a global
gious conflict or oppression major cities around the has featured in a Western of the lizard-like dictator player.”q
Wildfire burns home of ‘Peanuts’ creator Charles Schulz

SANTA ROSA, Calif. (AP) — home in recent years be- ta Rosa and to Sonoma
The home of “Peanuts” cre- cause he lives more than County. He and his first wife,
ator Charles Schulz burned 300 miles away in Santa Joyce, built a home in the
to the ground in the deadly Barbara. city of Sebastopol in 1958.
California wildfires but his He wasn’t sure what might The airport in Santa Rosa
widow escaped, her step- have burned. Airport is officially titled the
son said Thursday. “Obviously stuff from my Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma
Jean Schulz, 78, evacuated dad and their life together, County Airport and fea-
before flames engulfed her all gone,” he said. tures bronze sculptures of
hillside home Monday and Schulz usually worked at the Peanuts characters.
is staying with a daughter, an outside studio and most Its logo is Snoopy flying on
Monte Schulz said. of his original artwork and top of his doghouse.q
The Schulzes built the Cali- memorabilia are at the
fornia split-level home in Charles M. Schulz Muse-
the 1970s and the cartoon- um and Research Center Like us on
ist lived there until his death in Santa Rosa, which es-
in 2000. caped the flames. Facebook
“It’s the house he died in. But the loss of the house it-
All of their memorabilia In this Feb. 12, 2000, file photo, cartoonist Charles Schulz displays self is painful, Monte Schulz
and everything is all gone,” a sketch of his beloved character “Snoopy” in his office in Santa said.
Monte Schulz said. Rosa, Calif. “I had memories of being in
He had not heard from his Associated Press that house.
stepmother and learned “The fire came by at, like, fornia wine country have I never lived there but I vis-
about the disaster from his two in the morning,” Monte killed at least 26 people ited all the time,” he said.
brother, Craig Schulz, who Schulz said. “Everything’s since they began Sunday. “That time of our lives is now
also lost his Santa Rosa gone.” Monte Schulz said he had completely erased.” facebook.com/bondianoticia
home in the fire. Fires in the Northern Cali- not visited his stepmother’s Schulz had long ties to San-