SOUTH AFRICA: FILMING OF THE MOVIE "THE GHOST AND THE DARKNESS"

(12 Dec 1995) English/Nat

The US President is in South Africa not Bill Clinton, but screen heart throb Michael Douglas, hot off the success of his latest release: "The American President."

It's a trip from the White House to the game reserve for Douglas, who will compete for attention with a Pride of lions.

These are the stars of the Pride

And these are their human co-stars.

The lions of Africa are to be immortalized on screen -- supported by Hollywood actors Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer.

The two are in South Africa filming a 16.7 (m) million dollar feature "The Ghost and the Darkness" based on the true story of the lions responsible for the death of 130 railroad workers in 1896.

The lions disrupted Britain's plans for an East African railway.

The British hoped the 570 mile railway line -- from Mombasa on the Indian Ocean to Lake Victoria -- would help them beat other colonial countries in their quest to gain a controlling interest in East Africa.

The Brits called in an expert to help them construct the critical connecting bridge over the Tsavo River: John Henry Patterson, played by Kilmer.

The film's being shot at the Songimvelo Game Reserve.

Kilmer plays the bridge-playing engineer who joins an acclaimed big game hunter, played by Michael Douglas.

The two set out to hunt and kill the lions.

But the beasts, nicknamed "The Ghost" and "The Darkness" turn the hunters into the hunted.

SOUNDBITE:
"It's as if through his love for Africa he was met with the greatest challenge that could exist. Certainly in the tradition of tribal cultures the lion is the universal symbol, the clearest definition of power in the bush and it wasn't just one, it was three and then this pair. Everything that they did, these two lions, was unique and so that's what attracted me to the story."
SUPER CAPTION: Val Kilmer, actor

Award-winning South African actor John Kani also stars in the film. He describes it as a colonial-era tale from an African point of view.

The film is directed by Stephen Hopkins from a screenplay by William Goldman.

SOUNDBITE:
"This is the first period piece that I have been involved with for a while. And it was such an extraordinary screenplay that William Goldman wrote. And then Val's interest, I think he should probably talk about it, it's his seventh visit to South Africa - and to talk a little bit about this particular project it has nothing to do with the kind that I've done before or what I've been involved with in production. This is a real period piece."
SUPER CAPTION: Michael Douglas, actor

The adventurers were immortalized in a book by Patterson.

American President Theodore Roosevelt claimed Patterson's work was "the most thrilling book of true stories ever written."

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