In which desert in Africa was Antonion's "The Passenger" (aka
"Professional Reporter") (1975) shot?

Hello.

It was the Sahara desert.

'... in "The Passenger," a top-secret flick directed by Michelangelo
Antonioni last year in London, Munich, Barcelona, Almeria and the
Sahara Desert.'
source: 
JACK NICHOLSON, DOWN TO THE LAST DETAIL
The New York Times, 1974, hosted by moviecrazed.com
http://www.moviecrazed.com/outpast/jack.htm

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search strategy:
passenger antonioni
passenger antonioni nicholson
"the passenger" nicholson "the * desert"

I hope this helps.

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Clarification of Answer by juggler-ga on 22 Jun 2004 13:02 PDT

Additional source:

"However, the film has a wonderful hypnotic atmosphere, mainly due to
Nicholson's excellent performance and to the location photography of
the Sahara..."
from radiotimes.com"
http://www.radiotimes.com/servlet_film/com.icl.beeb.rtfilms.client.simpleSearchServlet?frn=23223&searchTypeSelect=5

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Request for Answer Clarification by naomib-ga on 22 Jun 2004 13:37 PDT

The Sahara desert is spread across many countries. Can you please be
more specific as to where exactly the film was shot?

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Clarification of Answer by juggler-ga on 22 Jun 2004 17:30 PDT

Hi,

As nfpolaris-ga notes below, the specific question was "In which
desert in Africa... ?"

As such, I understood the question to be asking "in which desert in
Africa" (e.g., Sahara, Kalahari, Nubian, Namib, etc.) did Antonioni
shoot the desert scenes of The Passenger.

If the question has been "In which town, country, etc...?", I would
not have answered, as I do not have that information.

I suppose there's a possibility that a specific location is mentioned
in the script.  You might consider taking a look at that. The script
was published as a paperback.

 There's a copy listed for sale on Alibris:
http://www.alibris.com/search/detail.cfm?BID=8180062606

There are also copies at many libraries.  I could direct you to the
nearest library that has a copy if you're interesting in taking a look
at that.  Let me know.

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Clarification of Answer by juggler-ga on 22 Jun 2004 17:36 PDT

Sorry for that typo:
"...if you're interested..."

but, your question specifically asked for what desert....not what
country...seems unfare to give him/her only 2 stars for answering your
question...and...giving juggler the rating so quickly without waiting
to see what else if a clarification could be given....Booo.

Juggler...i think you rock...keep up the good work!

I'm sorry. I'm new to this system and didn't realize the meaning of
the ratings. I didn't mean to judge juggler harshly.

Thank you. You're right, it was a problem with the way I articulated
my question. Really sorry about that.

I was hoping to find out if there are production notes somewhere, or
an article about the production of this movie, or an elaborate review
that might mention this detail. I have two books about Antonioni and
his films but no help in either of them. Perhaps I should indeed try
the script. I think I can find it quite easily.

In any case, if you can tell me how to change the initial rating I
gave, I'll be happy to do it.

Thank you again

No, it can't be changed.  Don't worry about it.

I hope something turns up in the script.  Good luck!
-juggler

"Filming Locations for Professione: reporter":

Spain, UK, Germany and Algeria (Fort Polignanc)

http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0073580/locations
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0073580/


Presumably, "Fort Polignanc" is Fort Polignac (renamed Illizi)
http://users.antrasite.be/ppoisse/Documents/communesanc.htm

http://users.antrasite.be/ppoisse/Documents/illizi.htm

http://www.dta-illizi.org.dz/
http://www.dta-illizi.org.dz/index.htm

Nice work, FP!
-juggler

Thank you, FP. That's very helpful. Also to discover the detailed side
bars on IMDB, which I never noticed.

--naomib