EXCLUSIVE: UK director Jon Amiel has signed to direct upcoming feature Sands of Fortune which explores the story behind the discovery of oil in Saudi Arabia and the birth of the country’s petroleum and natural gas giant Aramco.
The feature, being put together by producer Uri Singer under his L.A.-based Passage Pictures banner, revolves around the real-life partnership between American geologist Max Steineke and Bedouin Khamis Bin Rimthan, who together discovered the country’s first oil well in 1938.
The script is written by Bernie Campbell, a long-time strategist and speechwriter who has spent years living in Saudi Arabia and was the first American to write for its ruling royal family.
Prolific director, writer and producer Amiel is best known internationally for the multi-award-winning series The Singing Detective as well as movies such as Sommersby, with Jodie Foster and Richard Gere; Copycat with Sigourney Weaver and Holly Hunter, and Entrapment with Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones.
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