Movies that take place in Morocco, and ones filmed here

Movies that take place in Morocco are fewer than movies filmed there. Casablanca (1942) is the best-known film set in the country, though it was shot in a studio rather than on location, and most productions that use Morocco do it as a stand-in for somewhere else, from ancient Rome to a fantasy Westeros. The best place to see that for yourself is Ait Benhaddou.

Ouarzazate has been a working film location since the 1980s, when Atlas Studios and later CLA Studios were built to take advantage of the region's light, dry climate, and landscape variety, desert, mountains, and kasbah-style architecture within a short drive of each other. Locals sometimes call it "Ouallywood" for exactly that reason.

The list of productions that have used the area is long. Lawrence of Arabia used Moroccan locations in the early 1960s. Gladiator filmed key scenes at and around Ait Benhaddou. Kingdom of Heaven, Babel, and The Mummy all used the region for different reasons, mostly landscape and light, not any single recurring set. More recently, Game of Thrones used Ait Benhaddou and Essaouira as stand-ins for the fictional cities of Yunkai and Astapor across several seasons.

Part of the appeal for productions is simple. Morocco can double convincingly for the Middle East, ancient Rome, or a fantasy setting, at lower cost and with more reliable weather than shooting in the actual historical locations. Decades of productions have also built up enough local crew experience to support big shoots.

For visitors, Ait Benhaddou is the most recognisable film location on a typical route. It's worth knowing that what looks like a single ancient site has quietly played dozens of different fictional places on screen, without that changing how genuinely old, and still lived-in, it actually is.

Want to see how this works on a real route? Our 3-Day Private Sahara Tour from Marrakech to Merzouga and 5-Day Marrakech to Sahara Desert Tour with Merzouga Camp are private itineraries we can adjust to fit.