Reconstructing the Road to Frankincense on Film

The Frankincense Road may lead to a theater near you.

A Los Angeles-based expedition made front-page news last month when it announced the discovery of 65 archeological sites in Yemen that give proof of an overland route for the aromatic resin, highly valued in biblical times for its role in religious ceremonies.

Helping to lead the group was George Hedges, an entertainment lawyer and amateur archeologist. He brought along one of his clients, Ben Stassen, a filmmaker specializing in large-format projects, who plans to make an Imax-style movie about the historic trek.

“It was a fantastic adventure on all fronts. Even for the most seasoned archeologist and traveler it was quite baffling. It is a beautiful place and they discovered quite a lot of major things,” the Belgian-born Stassen said from Brussels, where the parent company of his L.A.-based New Wave International is located. “I envision this as a road movie. The first ingredient of any road movie is the road. The Frankincense Road is like Route 66. Only, the places we traveled to are fairly inaccessible and dangerous to reach.”

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Stassen, 38, made Los Angeles his home after getting a master’s of fine arts in film production from USC in 1985. He dived into the film industry and was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1990 for best foreign language film for “My Uncle’s Legacy,” which he produced. Soon after, he became entranced with both computer graphics and simulated-motion films--the kind used on some theme-park thrill rides--and set about to find ways to combine the two. In 1994, he founded New Wave as a fully integrated digital studio--developing, financing, producing and distributing large-format films.

New Wave has produced 17 films used on simulator rides at theme parks around the world, as well as sequences used in large-format films, including “Special Effects: Anything Can Happen,” which played Imax theaters last year.

Stassen’s first complete large-format film, “Thrill Ride: The Science of Fun,” will be released in June by Sony Pictures Classics. It is unusual, Stassen says, in that it doesn’t fit into any of the typical categories in the 60-by-90-foot format: travel, nature or space.

As for the as-yet-untitled Yemen project, New Wave will re-create the ancient Frankincense Road via computer graphics, which will make up about a third of the film.

Stassen “will bring alive the ancient past and create a visual landscape to give a good sense of what it looked like in ancient times,” Hedges says. “It will be vivid and strong, as opposed to cartoony, plus armed with stunning visuals.”

While extensive use of computer-generated images is standard in Hollywood feature films, it is highly unusual for large-format movies because of the expense involved. Nor is it the only added cost factor. “Just to ship the film [to theaters] is really expensive because it is so heavy,” says Charlotte Huggins, producer and chief operating officer for New Wave International.

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The Yemen film is slated for completion in March 1998. Stassen, Hedges and the rest of the group will make a number of trips to Yemen this year to excavate and, of course, to film the entire process. Hedges is convinced that Stassen is the man to tell the unique story that will unfold on the trek. “Our vision at all times has been the same as Ben’s,” he says. “He is a very talented guy.”