Making Soapies in Kabul
Page 25
Front-row view of a Buzkashi game in Mazar-e-Sharif. It’s not really wise to be this close—these guys have serious attitude.
Hero shot. The Army shoot, Jalalabad. The safest I’ve ever felt filming in Afghanistan.
Just hanging out on a helicopter and manning the machine gun. As you do.
On the set of Secrets of this House—our huge cast outnumbered our tiny crew.
Filming on location for Secrets of this House. Guns, police, bad guys—the usual fodder for an Afghan soapie.
Shooting Eagle Four on the mean streets of Kabul. We didn’t have to worry about adding any gritty authenticity.
Lynchy, me and Muffy with one of our actors on Eagle Four. Shakila’s fabulous handiwork is hard to miss.
Our Eagle Four lead actors busting their moves.
The rubbish-dump shoot. Scratch & sniff would give you a better appreciation of this photo.
Muffy and me as Kuchi bangle sellers.
An Afghan take on the Charlie’s Angels pose. With Lynchy, Damien and two of our Eagle Four crew.
Salam, Season 2: Extras gone wild—it was truly terrifying watching them laying into each other.
The Commandos arrive to save the day! . . . And everybody stops to watch. The guy dashing out of shot is the director.
The Ministry, Afghanistan’s take on The Office. COURTESY OF WAKIL KOSHER.
Sir William Patey on the set of The Ministry.
A fun day out for the girls organised by Moby—an afternoon of bowling at Kabul’s only bowling alley.
Expat life: A glam night out with my girls Sophie and Erin—an evening of wining, fine dining and dancing at the British Embassy Ball.
On stage with the winners at the Seoul International Drama Awards. COURTESY OF SEOUL INTERNATIONAL DRAMA AWARDS 2011
With Sal and Fran at Darulaman Palace, watching Kabul wake. One of my last days in paradise.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to my wonderful mum, Coral, who instilled in me my spirit of adventure and my remarkable dad, Rog, who, although now gone from this world for twenty-seven years, is still with me everyday. To my brother, Adam, and my sister, Jenny, and my beautiful extended family and friends (too many to name) who have always supported me in my many crazy escapades.
Special thanks to the wonderful, wise Richard Walsh who held my hand and guided me through the initial writing process. You patted me on the head when I deserved it, kicked me up the backside when I needed it and never panicked when I went MIA (well, not much anyway).
Thank you to the team at Allen & Unwin, including Claire Kingston, Angela Handley, Amy Milne, Christa Moffitt and Karen Ward, who have been so helpful and enthusiastic about my work. And to Jo Butler, who helped to make perfect sense of my chaotic tale.
And an incredibly heartfelt thanks to my Afghan and expat ‘family’ who made my time in Afghanistan so extraordinary.
Finally to my niece Amy—here’s the shout out I promised you when on that morning not so long ago you said: ‘Trudi, why don’t you write a book about Afghanistan?’ You went out that same day and bought me my first journal, and it came as no surprise to either of us when just a few hours later an email from a ‘Richard Walsh’ arrived in my inbox asking me the very same question.