LONDON , England ( CNN ) -- When David Whitney traveled to Pakistan to shoot his film about a man forced to flee Afghanistan after falling foul of the Taliban he did n't expect fiction to turn into reality . A still from `` Kandahar Break . '' Production of the film was halted after the crew were fired upon by suspected Taliban militia . But that 's exactly what happened three weeks into shooting political thriller `` Kandahar Break '' in late 2008 . Gunmen attacked the first-time director and his crew near the Afghan border . Four Pakistani crew members were shot and wounded in the incident and the entire crew was forced to flee the region . Pakistani authorities later told Whitney that the gunmen were affiliated with the Taliban and were in fact targeting the Western members of the team . `` I was very upset . It was terrifying to know that somebody was trying to attack us , trying to shoot us , '' Whitney told CNN . With the help of local security forces the team was immediately evacuated to Islamabad and put on a flight out of the country in 24 hours . Whitney had only managed to film three-quarters of the script and the film 's future lay in the balance . `` When I heard that the crew members who had been shot were going to be fine I started to think like the businessman and the producer , '' says Whitney . `` I thought , 'How are we going to finish this film ? We 're not just going to give up . ' And to a man everybody involved agreed to finish it . '' After six months spent organizing financial backing , the original cast and crew flew to Tunisia to complete the movie and has been attracting interest from distributors . Despite the danger caused by shooting so close to the actual conflict zone , Whitney says he would shoot in the region again if he had the chance . `` Every place you point a camera there 's a great shot . You do n't have to go very far to find fantastic authentic Afghan architecture and beautiful landscapes . `` All the people are in the same sort of authentic costumes , so you do n't have the problem of trying to find authenticity -- it 's all around you . '' Whitney hopes the authenticity will help `` Kandahar Break '' enjoy the same level of success as Kathryn Bigelow 's `` The Hurt Locker '' -- the first film about the Iraq war to make a profit at the U.S. box office . Bigelow 's thriller tells the story of an elite army EOD bomb squad who battle insurgents and each other , as they disarm a innumerable roadside bombs on the streets of Baghdad . Bigelow shot `` The Hurt Locker '' in Jordan , as close as she could get to the actual conflict zone . She also made use of local actors . The film is based on screenwriter Mark Boal 's first-hand experiences gathered whilst embedded with a bomb unit in Iraq . `` Because it was based on real life , we wanted to keep it as realistic as possible and keep it accurate , '' Bigelow told CNN . `` I mean this is a conflict that 's still on-going so we felt responsible to the troops still there and the situation on the ground . '' The cast faced grueling shooting conditions : Temperatures ranged between 115 and 120 degrees Fahrenheit ( 46 and 49 degrees Celsius ) . It was even hotter in the authentic bomb suit worn by Jeremy Brenner , who plays Staff Sergeant James . The suit weighed 60 pounds . `` You really ca n't explain the heat and the weight of the suit , '' Brenner told CNN . `` That certainly helped the realism of it all . There were a few moments I felt like ... I 've been as close as I could 've come to war without actually being in the military . `` The heat was real , the dust was real , the costumes and everything was so real that the tension [ was already there ] , '' Anthony Mackie who plays Sergeant JT Sanborn told CNN . `` Kathryn would come to us before every scene and say , 'Remember at any moment you can die . ' And we kept that in mind throughout all the scenes . '' While `` The Hurt Locker , '' has made over $ 11 million in the U.S. , previous movies dealing with conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have struggled to make money . Observers have attributed this to `` war fatigue '' suffered by audiences due to an abundance of war-stories in the media . Bigelow and Whitney are confident that cinema audiences have a thirst for knowledge about volatile regions like Iraq and Afghanistan that goes beyond what is reported on the news . `` I think the conflict [ in Iraq ] has been somewhat abstract for the general public , certainly speaking for myself , '' Bigelow told CNN . `` The film provides kind of a window , a lens onto what this particular conflict might be like , and gives it some specificity . '' David Whitney hopes `` Kandahar Break '' can have a similar effect . `` Afghanistan is at the moment quite central to global security . I think it 's good that people are looking at Afghanistan , questioning it , asking all sorts of questions . If my film can play any part in that , any small part , then I 'm pleased . ''
Four Pakistani crew members shot during construction of ` ` Kandahar . '' Despite this , director David Whitney says it was a great film location . Director of ` ` The Hurt Locker '' says it was similar to being in the US .