A contradictory character

by Eva Dameron

Daily Lobo

Actor Steve Zahn's latest movie, "Sahara," is a fantasy tale based on reality.

The film, co-starring Matthew McConaughey and Penelope Cruz, is based on a book by Clive Cussler.

"It's not all fantasy," Zahn said. "It's based on reality, but at the same time, it's a crazy movie, and we do stuff that's totally not believable."

The story follows a doctor and two members of NUMA, or the National Underwater and Marine Agency, as they hunt for the Ship of Death - a long-lost Civil War battleship that holds a secret cargo. The search takes place in dangerous regions of West Africa.

Zahn plays Al Giordino, the main character's sidekick.

"Al is a really colorful character," Zahn said. "He's really funny and constantly contradicting his environment. We're in the desert riding camels with turbans on, but Al could very well be in Chicago ordering some McDonald's drive-thru. That's what I tried to do - contradict."

Zahn's debut film was "Reality Bites." He was also in "That Thing You Do," "You've Got Mail" and "Riding in Cars with Boys." He won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Actor with "Happy Texas."

Zahn was the director's first choice for the part. McConaughey, also the executive producer, sent him a script along with a letter.

"That's not a traditional way of getting an offer, by a guy writing you a two-page funny letter, excited as hell and offering you the part," Zahn said. "I was like 'Dude, I will do this in a heartbeat.'"

"Sahara" is rare in that nothing in the film is computerized. If one sees 100 horses on the screen, there are really 100 horses. Even the Ship of Death was built from scratch.

"You're driving through the desert, and you come upon a valley," Zahn said. "It was about a mile across. The sand dune that was up against the cliff went up maybe a thousand feet. Inside they had built this Civil War ironclad protruding from the sand dune. I mean it was incredible."

Zahn said the ship is fictional, but the idea that an ironclad during the Civil War could have gone to Africa across the Atlantic is interesting.

There was a setback to the film's production in Morocco. Zahn said every movie has weather insurance.

"But we didn't have insurance, because we were in the desert," he said. "What's it going to do? Rain? Well, we forgot about the sandstorms."

He said sandstorms can blow for days, so they would wait them out by sitting in their trailers and playing golf games on PlayStation.

"The director would come in and go 'Ok, we're going to shoot anyway,'" Zahn said. "So we'd go out there and shoot in the sandstorm, which was kind of cool, but it was also a headache."

Zahn said one of his favorite parts of making the movie was riding camels.

"Oh my God, there were days on camels," he said. "We would not get off them. They'd be doing set-ups and we'd get a half hour or something. We'd be like, 'Yeah!' and just walk around on them. It was pretty fun."