Erdo?an biopic to hit Turkish screens: Producer

Shooting will start next week on a feature film tracing the early career of President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an from his childhood in a poor district in Istanbul to his rise to become the city's mayor, its producers said Jan. 15.

"Reis" ("The Chief") will star well-known Turkish actor Reha Beyo?lu as the Turkish strongman and show his life up to 1999, Turkish media quoted producers Evrensel Medya as saying.
 
The film will take in Erdo?an's childhood in the Kas?mpa?a district on the shores of the Golden Horn in Istanbul, his spell as Istanbul mayor from 1994-1998 and his imprisonment in 1999, producer Ali Avc? said, according to Anadolu Agency.
 
It will be shot in the town of Yeni ?skele (Trikomo in Greek) in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), where a detailed reconstruction of Kas?mpa?a is being built.
 
The director is Hüdaverdi Yavuz while child actor Batuhan I??k Gürel will play Erdo?an as a boy. According to Turkish media reports, well-known Turkish actress Özlem Balc? will play his wife Emine Erdo?an.
 
"These days we see characters from global cinema like Spiderman and Superman, who have never lived, on the T-shirts of our children and sometimes in books," said Avc?.
 
"But we have our own heroes who are alive! The process of this film began with the thought 'how did they become heroes'?  

"Instead of seeing him as the president, people will see Erdo?an as a man who grew up in Kas?mpa?a and lived in Istanbul," Avc? added.
 
Beyo?lu described playing the president as a huge responsibility. "Hopefully I will not put myself to shame, and I will give a good portrayal."  

With shooting taking place at the breakneck speed typical of Turkish TV series and films, the...