I dont think it would have been possible to make A Mighty Heart without filming in Pakistan, said Winterbottom. The whole point of making the film would be lost. We want the audience to trust that they are seeing an accurate account of what happened.
Pakistan is a challenging environment for filmmakers, as Winterbottom and producer Andrew Eaton learned in 2001 while shooting In This World. It wasnt a pleasant time to be there, said Eaton. There was a real fear among Pakistan authorities for the safety of Western people working there.
Eaton knew the pitfalls as he began the process of obtaining official permissions for A Mighty Heart. Our best ally was Kamal Shah, Secretary of the Interior Ministry, said the veteran producer. Shah was head of Sindh (state) police in Karachi when Danny was kidnapped. He understood what the film was trying to do, and felt the portrayal of the collaboration between Pakistan and US authorities ultimately shed a good light on Pakistan.
The Pakistani actors agreed. When you read the script and the book, you see a very fair representation in terms of the people who were helping, said Mikail Lotia, who plays Captains young computer expert. I felt it was worth trying to bring that across on screen.
Principal photography began with filming in Karachi, Islamabad and Rawalpindi, on the cusp of monsoon season. We filmed on the streets and in the real locations that Danny went to - the Village Restaurant where he was to meet Imitaz Siddique, the CPLC offices, Cybernet and the Hotel Akbar where he met Bashir, said Winterbottom. We stayed at the Sheraton in Karachi (as John Bussey and Steve LeVine did during the search for Daniel Pearl).
India would serve as the setting for Asra Nomanis house, the storys central location. Danny and Mariane stayed there when they visited Karachi, and later, the team searching for Danny made it their headquarters. The house for the film was found in a community called Sindh Society in the city of Pune, home to many Pakistanis. The production spent five weeks at the Pune house, before moving west to Mumbai for several more weeks of work.
