After the Gold Rush
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Welcome to Dubai, the new California A century-and-a-half ago, America’s West Coast welcomed a flood of migrants searching for prosperity. The parallels with Dubai are striking, although the emirate’s current gold rush is taking place on an even grander scale. From sun-soaked beaches and palm trees to mega-highways and SUVs, the Arab metropolis and the State of California already have plenty in common. But Dubai’s transformation is just getting started. There will soon be enough life coaches, plastic surgeons and car customisers on the streets of Jumeirah to make Beverly Hills blush. Is this sudden appetite for money, fame, beauty and everlasting life just an acute case of California dreaming? Or is this ambitious boomtown heading towards the perfect Hollywood ending? Here’s J Magazine’s guide to the new Golden State… DULLYWOODLights, camera, action! The casting call is out for Dubai’s first feature film. Anna Putnam talks to those dreaming of stardom… She’s holding an iPhone in one hand, a Starbucks mochachoca latte in the other, boasts hair extensions longer than Lindsay Lohan’s and her fuschia pink talons clasp a Zagliani botox-infused bag (US$2,700 a pop). This is Mai Rabaza, a 19-year-old Emirati who reckons she’s got what it takes to star in Dubai-based Craig Johnson’s film Expats. “I have the UAE look,” she says, desperately trying to balance her phone/latte/ bag combo while flicking a perfectly coiffed tendril of hair out of her face. “This film needs some national influence,” adds the French Fashion University student, eyeing the hordes of hopefuls passing through Media City’s Radisson SAS revolving doors. But Johnson – whose first screenplay Repping is set to hit the big screen in 2009 – is not bothered about nationality. “I have no cash for the likes of Brad Pitt and I’m open to casting everyone from a Moroccan granddad to a Scottish teenager,” says the New Zealander. While the film needs six leads and 22 smaller parts (more than 400 wannabe A-listers applied), the successful candidates, according to the director, will have the “charisma of George Clooney and the acting chops of Dame Judi Dench. “I want local actors to get across the good, the bad and the ugly side of life here,” says the 36-year-old about his ambitious US$680,600 project. “Dubai’s not all beaches and tax-free salaries… There’s loneliness – despite all the partying – and an uneven playing field that favours certain nationalities. It’s about cutting through the glitz.” So perhaps it’s no surprise that Tarek Numo didn’t make the cut. Dressed head to toe in Gucci garb and showing off a much-coveted Girard Perregaux Ferrari watch, the 21-year-old auditionee believes he’s Tony Soprano with a hint of 50 Cent. “Whatever people say, Dubai is about making it big, living big and dressing big,” says the Lebanese-born estate agent, who cites P Diddy as his biggest inspiration. “If they don’t cast me, it’s because they’re scared of the truth.” Johnson has hired local production company Boom Film “to ensure the movie stays true to its roots” and filming is predominantly in Dubai, with only a few shots taking place in Mumbai. “It’s not easy putting on a film here,” he says. “It’s like Hollywood in terms of all the Armani-clad people, but without the established film scene.” That said, he believes the emirate has the potential to become a movie-making hub: “It used to be the American dream, now it’s the Arabian dream and with the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF), the UAE will soon have everything the United States does.” With production already underway in the Dubai Studio City free zone, a one-stop shop for movie professionals, and investors slowly trickling in, Expats is pegged to show at DIFF in December. “How great would it be to have a film about Dubai premiering in Dubai?” says Johnson. Until then, Mai Rabaza – who sadly didn’t secure a part in Expats – is hoping to star in Dubai Drama Group’s rendition of Macbeth, while Tarek Numo is focusing on his band, TNT. “Something will come up,” he says. “It always does in Dubai.” To get involved, email Craig at expats.dubai@gmail.com BLING THE CHANGES
Mark Smith checks out the notorious West Coast company pimping Middle Eastern rides We once inhabited simpler times, when travelling in a stretch limousine was the preserve of the fully paid up, card-carrying movie star as opposed to teenage girls en route to a Bratz-themed party. With limos now democratised, people with cash to splash are seeking new ways to super-size their carbon footprint while demonstrating their vehicular superiority. Enter West Coast Customs, a Californian car remodelling company that shot to fame as the force behind MTV’s Pimp My Ride. The show sees WCC’s team of tyre specialists, fabric gurus and electronics experts breathe new life into clappedout bangers. But off-screen, WCC’s bread and butter has always been folk with very deep pockets. This, after all, is a company that fits diamond studs into upholstery as a matter of course; for whom ‘optional extra’ means not the cup-holder but the gold-plated fridge-freezer. These ride pimpers par excellence have now reached Dubai, a city so unfettered by such concepts as economy, modesty and sustainability it recently came up with a hotel boasting temperature-controlled sand (Palazzo Versace, opening 2009). As owner and ‘Chief Fabricator’ Ryan Friedlinghaus says: “Dubai is where customers spend money and let us build what we most want to build.” Judging by the showroom, that’s the ‘Range Stormer’, a white Range Rover with lengthened doors and custom LED driving lights. With its reinforced polycarbonate roof, surely it’s the perfect vehicle in which to withstand the credit crunch? www.wcc-me.com STAY POSITIVEKate Douglas keeps an open mind while investigating Dubai’s New Age explosion In a building in Jumeirah, people sit in the dark with their arms outstretched, straining to feel the warmth of the world’s love. “I feel it around my head!” shouts one middle-aged man. A female student sobs at her healer’s verdict: he can tell from her energy centres that she doesn’t delegate enough at work and takes too much stress home with her. “I suffered from arthritis for years before I discovered Pranic Healing,” explains Susan Wonder, a radio presenter and the emirate’s number one Pranic advocate. “But then I discovered how to clean my energy centres by harnessing the world’s love in the right way through Pranic Healing.” If all this cleaning and harnessing sounds like hard work, perhaps you should hire a guru to guide you on your path towards self-fulfilment. “Every city needs executive life coaches,” says Dubai-based Adrian Hayes during one of his motivational speeches. “Life coaching is the second-fastest-growing business in the world for one solid reason – it works.” If anybody’s qualified to be a life guru, it’s Hayes, an explorer who made his name reaching the Three Poles – the North Pole, South Pole and Mount Everest – in record time. In his sessions, Hayes guides clients through psychological exercises, which, he claims, help them “find clarity, focus and control in their lives”. Saira Mehar, a fellow life guru, says there’s “huge demand for life coaching in Dubai”. She runs group sessions so she can “help 10 people clarify their lives at once rather than just one”. Even moon-led meditation classes are now fully booked. “We meet every two weeks, when the moon is either half-full or full,” explains Terri Allen, the instructor. “But the classes are getting so big, we’re having to find new venues, which makes it more difficult to steady one’s mind. Everyone wants their minds led by the moon.” www.adrianhayes.com, www.synergyctrdubai.com NIP AND TUCKAnna Putnam speaks to the people behind Dubai’s cosmetic surgery boom “I’ve had so much surgery in the past 23 years that I’ll probably come back as a rubber glove in my second life,” says Gail Clough, founder of Dubai Surgery, a company that arranges cosmetic procedures in the UAE. “Bum, face, cheeks, nose, Botox, thighs, eyebrows and eyelids… you name it, I’ve had it,” continues the 42 year old (she doesn’t look a day over 35), explaining that medical procedures at Dubai Surgery have risen by 50 percent in the past year. Aside from her quest for eternal youth and a wrinkle-free façade, the UK-born expatriate goes under the knife to save her clients from botched jobs. “I try before my clients buy,” she adds. “And believe me, it’s not a scam to get free procedures – my nose is a mess after a novice surgeon lied about his qualifications.” Needless to say, he didn’t make it onto Dubai Surgery’s Rolodex of surgeons, which includes Dr Imran Tahir (“The Bod-father,” quips Gail). Dr Tahir made his name helping victims of war in Iraq and Iran. “I’ve treated everyone from bomb blast patients to Paris Hilton wannabes,” he says. In Dubai there’s now a circle of “Imran’s Angels” – 40-something women who look 10 years younger thanks to him – spreading the word. Cosmetic surgery is not just the preserve of women. One in five of Dubai Surgery’s customers are male, with ‘moob’ jobs (the removal of fat from the chest) the most popular procedure. “I get men coming up to me in Barasti [a Dubai restaurant] pulling their eyelids up, asking me if they need a lift,” she says. “I’ve had thin people thinking they’re fat, pretty people thinking they’re ugly and 15 year olds wanting to look 30,” she continues. But as medical tourism in the UAE continues to flourish, surely there’ll be nothing left of Gail to tweak? “I’ll keep going until they invent ankle implants,” she laughs. www.dubaisurgery.com THE STAR SPOTTER’S GUIDE TO DUBAIPaparazzi, autograph hunters and movie star stalkers, listen up – here’s how to spy on your celebrity breed of choice Spot irksome celebrity couples Spot aggressive models Spot scary ex-pop stars
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According to local gossips, LA’s golden couple, David and Victoria Beckham, flew to The World by priva te jet, picked an island and jetted straight back out again. Other couples rumoured to have bought islands on The World include Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee, and Brangelina. +971 4 985 3375
The Burj remains the hotel of choice for A-listers looking to make a seven-star splash. Naomi Campbell hosted her 36th birthday here with a bevy of Armani-clad chums. She rented out all 18 floors, for three days, at a cost of US$1.8m. In a surprise twist, the birthday girl didn’t physically attack any of her guests. +971 4 301 7777
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