1. Moustapha al Akkad was a Syrian-American film producer and director, best known for producing the original series of Halloween films and directing The Message and Lion of the Desert.
13 Facts About Moustapha Akkad
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Moustapha Akkad was killed along with his daughter Rima Al Akkad Monla in the 2005 Amman bombings.
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Moustapha Akkad is the cousin to television personality star Tareq Salahi.
4.
Al Akkad was born on July 1,1930, in Aleppo in the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon.
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Moustapha Akkad received his high school degree from the Aleppo American College.
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Moustapha Akkad spent a further three years studying for a Master's degree at the University of Southern California, where he met the director Sam Peckinpah.
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Moustapha Akkad faced resistance from Hollywood, which forced him to make the film in Morocco.
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Moustapha Akkad got the Approval from Al-Azhar University in Egypt but was rejected by the Muslim World League in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
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The production took one year, Moustapha Akkad filmed for 6 months in Morocco, but had to stop when the Saudi Government exerted great pressure on the government of Morocco to stop the production.
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Moustapha Akkad saw the film as a way to bridge the gap between the Western and Muslim worlds, stating in a 1976 interview:.
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Moustapha Akkad became best known for his key involvement in the first eight Halloween films, as an executive producer.
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Moustapha Akkad is buried in the Al-Jadidah Cemetery in Aleppo in Syria.
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Moustapha Akkad was honoured by his native city of Aleppo, and the Aleppo City Council has renamed a school and a street after Moustapha Akkad.