supposedly inspired by the then British Prime Minister's son, Mark Thatcher, who became lost in North Africa in 1982 during an auto rally. It also came about due to the box office success of Raiders of the Lost Ark and Menahem Golan's fondness for the Rudolph Valentino film The Sheik (1921). In May 1982 it was announced Guy Hamilton would direct Brooke Shields in Sahara with a $15 million budget. It was one of the biggest budgeted films from Cannon Films. Shields' fee was reportedly $1 million or $1.5 million. Her mother Teri Shields was executive producer with a fee of $25,000. Teri said she wanted the film "to be cute and light and I wanted a fatherly director, who would play with her, smack her around, have fun. I don’t want anyone looking at her like a woman yet. It’s not time.” There were reportedly eight rewrites at the behest of Shields' mother and two directors quit before filming started. Finding the male lead took over a year. “I wanted someone as handsome as could be with an unusual accent,” said Teri. Among those considered were Ted McGinley (“I darkened his hair and had him grow a beard, but he couldn’t get the accent” said Teri); Adnan Khashoggi's son Khaled (“He is a gorgeous boy, but he’s not an actor”); and John Kennedy Jr. (“He’s dark, handsome as hell and what a physique, but can you imagine the press if he co-starred with Brooke? The film would get lost. Besides, I didn’t think his mother would let him”). Vincent Spano, who had played a character called "The Sheik" in Baby It's You said he was offered the role but turned it down. "I wondered if it would be good for my career to play another sheik," he said. "Also, didn't want to be standing around in the Sahara Desert waiting for Brooke to fix her eyelashes." Eventually Lambert Wilson got the role. "Brooke is the most beautiful creature on earth," said Golan. "She is the genie of the desert and Lambert is a wildman, but educated. He wants to rape her, but he controls himself. We are not afraid here of clichés. I want a beautiful romantic blockbuster where all American kids will identify.” Shooting Filming began in August with Andrew McLaglen as director. Sahara was partially filmed in the Negev Desert of southern Israel near the city of