War Machine star Will Poulter on the ‘fantastic experience’ of filming in the UAE

Will Poulter walked the red carpet the Global Gift Gala Charity Ball, hosted by Eva Longaria at Dubai’s Four Seasons Resort. Gareth Cattermole / Getty Images for DIFF

Maze Runner star Will Poulter was full of praise for his experience of shooting War Machine in the UAE last year when he appeared at a gala event on the sidelines of Diff on Monday night.

The Netflix-produced Afghan War satirical comedy-drama, starring Brad Pitt, spent three weeks shooting in Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah.

Poulter, whose other film appearances include Son of Rambow and The Revenant, walked the red carpet the Global Gift Gala Charity Ball, hosted by Eva Longaria at Dubai's Four Seasons Resort.

"It was a fantastic experience," the British actor said of filming War Machine in the UAE. "I was very lucky to be involved in that film. I got to work with a lot of people I admired greatly and made some great friends. It's an amazing cast: Brad Pitt, Ben Kingsley, Tilda Swinton – a real dream come true."

The shoot seems to have made a lasting impression on Poulter’s social life.

“My best friend, Kola Bokinni, is here with me tonight, and we met on that job,” he says. “We finished shooting the movie about a year ago and now he’s one of my very best mates. It was such an amazing experience.”

It has been more than a year since Poulter finished shooting War Machine in the UAE, but he still doesn't know what the release date is for the movie, which was written and directed by David Michôd, based on the non-fiction book The Operators by Michael Hastings.

“I don’t know,” he says. “You’d have to ask Netflix.” (We did, but beyond saying the movie is in post-production, they weren’t giving much away – though sometime in 2017 seems likely).

Poulter, meawhile, has just finished shooting a film with a director who, ironically, is one of few other Hollywood big-name filmmakers to have shot in the Middle East, winning an Oscar in the process.

"I've just finished working with Kathryn Bigelow on her new film [an as-yet untitled movie about the 1967 Detroit Riot], which was an amazing opportunity for me," he says. "That should be out next year, too." (Bigelow won the Best Picture Oscar for 2008's The Hurt Locker, about a bomb-disposal team during the Iraq War.)

“Now I’m just taking a little bit of time of, enjoying the sunshine here for a few days then going to spend some time with my family over the holidays,” adds Poulter