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HOUSE OF SADDAM offers a fresh perspective on the dictator, his relationships
and his actions behind closed doors, retelling events from inside the very heart of the
regime. The international cast includes Igal Naor ("Rendition," "Munich") as Saddam
Hussein; Oscar® nominee Shohreh Aghdashloo ("House of Sand and Fog") as Saddam's
first wife, Sajida; Philip Arditti ("10 Days to War") as Saddam's oldest son, Uday; Said
Taghmaoui ("Vantage Point," "The Kite Runner") as Saddam's half-brother, Barzan
Ibrahim; and Christine Stephen-Daly ("Casualty," "Cutting It") as Saddam's mistress and
subsequent second wife, Samira.
"In the history of Iraq and in the world of Saddam Hussein, details are often blurred
by politics, propaganda and pure self-interest," explains co-director, co-writer and
executive producer Alex Holmes. "We set out to talk to as many people as we could who
had known Saddam first-hand in order to piece together a picture of what life was like
inside Saddam's ever-shrinking inner circle. We spoke to his allies and to his
adversaries; to politicians, exiles, palace insiders, his cooks, his menservants, friends of
the Hussein family and government ministers. We interviewed people inside and outside
Iraq.
"We cross-referenced these interviews with pictures and home movies left behind
by the Hussein family, some produced for propaganda purposes, but others more candid,
salvaged from the regime's destroyed palaces. And we accessed the partial trail of
documents that emerged following the fall of the secretive and obsessively bureaucratic
regime. The process took three years and involved a team of three researchers, all
Arabic speakers. What emerges is a distinct and independent portrait of a dictator and
his center of power."
Beginning in 1979, when Saddam seized control of Iraq in a bloody coup, the
miniseries details the impact of his political ambitions and his belief in his own historical
significance on his most trusted advisors, closest friends and family members - and on
Saddam himself. Within the walls of his opulent palaces and on the streets of Iraq,
respect and love are interwoven with fear as Saddam exerts his dominance. He
maintains power for almost 25 years in the face of mounting domestic and international
pressures, demonstrating an amazing aptitude for survival. Eventually, however, the
House of Saddam begins to crumble, and as its leader becomes increasingly isolated
from the international community and those nearest to him, his grip on reality and on
power fades.
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