Kirk Kerkorian is 97 years old and worth $4 billion. The one time owner of MGM, and wealthy Las Vegas real estate and casino over ( he also owned the MGM Grand), is not done, however. He still has one more wish. My sources tell me that Kerkorian is funding a secret feature film about the Armenian genocide that took place concurrent with World War I.
The Ottoman Empire, precursor to the country known as Turkey, killed around 1.5 million to people in the effort to destroy Armenia and establish itself. Kerkorian is hoping to produce the Armenian “Schindler’s List” to memorialize the holocaust.
There is already an Oscar nominated director and screenwriter signed to the project. Various actors’ names have come up, and some of that may become clear soon. The movie is described to me by the director– who’s asked me not to reveal his name yet– as a “Reds” or “Dr. Zhivago”, a sweeping World War I romance set against the Armenian genocide.
Kerkorian, who’s always been fascinated with Hollywood, is said to have contributed over $1 billion to Armenian charities and causes over his long life time.
I’ll have some more info on this soon. For now expect the still untitled film to begin shooting this summer in Europe. And the budget should be pretty big, considering there’s one backer. This movie has the potential to be something on a large historic scale, unseen for many years.
And PS, I am assured that the Kardashians, the most famous Armenian Americans since the great writer William Saroyan, will be not be appearing in the film under any circumstances.
