When Oliver Reed taunted Saddam Hussein with one hell of a bender
Oliver Reed holds an interesting and colourful place within the British film industry, recognised by the public for his performances in Women in Love and The Curse of the Werewolf, but known by those in the industry for his egregious drinking habits and consumption of various cocktails during early hours of the morning. While this was viewed as a comical quirk and, at worst, a slight inconvenience by directors in the UK, it began to cause him a fair amount of trouble when working on a bizarre project with the Iraq President, Saddam Hussein.
In 1980, Hussein was on a quest to replicate the success of the American film industry in Iraq, looking to create a thriving industry that would match up to the legacy of the blockbusters produced in Hollywood. The film was called Clash of Loyalties, a story about the creation of modern Iraq, with a budget of £25million that producer Lateif Jorephani oversaw. However, its sticky fate was destined from the start, with intense pressure from Hussein to achieve enormous success, with a war happening at the heart of the shoot and a leading actor with a drinking problem.
Upon arriving in Iraq, many of the actors became wary of the project, expressing concern at the nearby conflict and the effect this would have not only on the production but on their safety. However, Reed’s way of coping with this (or perhaps, just his usual on-set routine) was to sit by the pool all day drinking champagne and sangrias, encouraging his cast mates to join him despite having scenes to rehearse and shoot.
However, his drunken behaviour allegedly began to aggravate Hussein after he escalated his fun to new levels and reportedly peed in a wine bottle at a restaurant and asked the waiter to serve it to the guests at the next table. As well as this, he began arguing with the crew members, who became frustrated at his nearly non-existent professionalism, with a crew member even allegedly dangling him over the 20th floor of their hotel during an argument, with Reed taunting them to drop him.
Hussein was outraged by his behaviour, with high hopes for the project to simultaneously put Iraq on the cinematic map and take them to new levels of stardom and success. He demanded that Reed be replaced, but somehow, the producers managed to acquiesce the situation and maintain a sense of vague order for the duration of the production, with Jorephani stating, “I couldn’t get rid of the main star. Olly might have been drunk the night before but by 6am he would be on set and he would know his lines.”
It’s almost unbelievable that Reed could maintain any of his verbal motor skills and perform to Hussein’s standards, but miraculously, he was. Despite Hussein’s dreams for Clash of Loyalties, the movie never found a distributor, and his plans for a new Hollywood were quickly thwarted. The film reel from the shoot even remained unseen in Jorephani’s garage for many years. However, the film was eventually released, and you can now witness the chaos of it for yourself, although it was perhaps for the better that Hussein didn’t persevere with his creative passions – it is always better to stick with what you know.
