Hot Spots: Ridley Scott’s ‘Napoleon’ Producer & ‘Foundation’ Producer Talk Shooting In Malta & Why Its Rebate Is The “Most Generous Cash Rebate In The World”

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Ridley Scott and his executive producer Aidan Elliott were in Rome working on House of Gucci when the two were discussing locations for Scott’s upcoming historical epic Napoleon for Apple when the director thought Malta, where he’d famously filmed Gladiator, would make for a great location for a beginning scene in the film for the siege of Toulon. “The siege of Toulon was Napoleon’s first military victory where he really showed his potential as a future expert in the field,” says Elliott. “There was a very specific geography needed to achieve this and Ridley, being someone who likes to do things practically as much as possible as opposed to visual effects, remembered Valletta and the port there, which is a spectacular Napoleonic port.”  They decided to fly from Rome the next day to take a look at Valletta’s suitability and, says Elliott, “it was almost a no-brainer.”  The cherry on top came when they found that Malta, at the time, was about to introduce an enhanced cash rebate, stipulating more attractive incentives that included a new hybrid above-the-line cap and opening up below-the-line expenditures to all international crews.  “There was a beta version of it flying around, an unapproved white paper that was doing the works in the government and the idea was that we’d be the first film to actually take advantage of it, which we happily did,” says Elliott. “It just absolutely cemented our decision to go there because not only did we have this great location and backdrop, but we also had this incredibly, incredibly generous cash rebate.”  He adds, “I would go almost as far to say it’s probably the most generous cash rebate in the world, and I don’t say that lightly.”  What’s so attractive about this rebate, from an