Trivia / Sahara (1983)

• Box Office Bomb: Budget, $25 million. Box office, $1,402,962.
• Fake Nationality: French Lambert Wilson as an Arab sheikh.
• Fatal Method Acting: Narrowly averted. Brooke Shields was injured during filming when she was thrown from a car she was driving, landing on her back and bruising her ribs. She stated that this incident was the closest she'd ever come to death.
• Follow the Leader: The film came about due to the box office success of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
• Short Run in Peru: Partial example. The film is a British-American co-production, and it was released in December 1983 in the United Kingdom, but wasn't released in the United States until March 1984. An MGM/UA spokesman that it was because "we couldn't get the theatres we wanted at Christmas so the decision was to wait," but other reports said that the release date was pushed back after poor previews.
• What Could Have Been:
  • At one point, Guy Hamilton was attached to direct.
  • Several actors were considered for the role of Sheikh Jaffar, all of which were vetted by Brooke Shields's mother and manager, Teri. Among those considered were Ted McGinley ("I darkened his hair and had him grow a beard, but he couldn't get the accent", said Teri); Khaled Khashoggi, son of Saudi businessman Adnan Khashoggi ("He is a gorgeous boy, but he's not an actor"); and John F. Kennedy Jr. ("He's dark, handsome as hell and what a physique, but can you imagine the press if he co-starred with Brooke? The film would get lost. Besides, I didn't think his mother would let him"). Vincent Spano, who had played a character called "The Sheik" in Baby It's You said he was offered the role but turned it down. ("I wondered if it would be good for my career to play another sheik. Also, didn't want to be standing around in the Sahara Desert waiting for Brooke to fix her eyelashes.") Eventually Lambert Wilson got the role.

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