A Double in an American Film – When My Life Turned into a Hollywood Script in Israel

Sometimes, life writes a script bolder than any Hollywood movie.

That’s what happened to me — when I found myself on the set of an American film, in the very country where I was still fighting to find my voice.

Between 2004 and 2007, I lived in Tel Aviv.

At that time, I was signed with an agency for modeling and acting. I worked hard to create my own path — I wanted to survive, move forward, and create. I wasn’t looking for fame, I was looking for expression. For a place.

Back then, an American production was searching for someone to serve as the double for the lead actress — Linda Hardy — in a film that would be shot in Israel. They contacted local agencies — the Australian cinematographer asked me to come in for an audition. He noticed I resembled the look they were seeking, and I was invited to meet the team of The Mount of Olives. I came — and I got the part.

That’s how I joined the crew of an American film.

The film was entirely shot in Israel, over more than half a year of an intense and complex production, involving both American and Israeli crews.

One day, during one of the large-scale shoots — a scene with many extras, actors, and crew members — I saw David.

My half-brother from my father’s first wife.

He had come to guard the lead actress — the one I was doubling. The production needed someone to protect her from the surrounding chaos — and there he was, suddenly, as a security guard among all the noise, lights, and people from various backgrounds.

He was happy to see me. And surprised. Even impressed — that somehow, I had ended up there too.

In the film’s credits, I appeared as Shirley Ash — a last name I believed was the right way to say it at the time.

It was the name I used in a period when I was trying to find solid ground — and a bit of voice.

🎥 On Set – and Behind the Scenes

Filming took place all over the country: on the Sea of Galilee in Tiberias, on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, in Zichron Yaakov, in open fields, in villages — they even built a full replica of the Western Wall in the Petah Tikva studios.

A Hollywood production filmed entirely in Israel. I did mention that, right?

The movie, filmed between 2004 and 2005, began as a story about a Shin Bet officer who falls in love with a wealthy Lebanese doctor — an impossible love story, almost like a Middle Eastern Romeo and Juliet. The main characters, initially named Jula and Romi, were later renamed, along with the title: first The Mount of Olives, then The House of Divided, and finally, they chose: Language of the Enemy.

A story that remains relevant even today. Perhaps even more so.

📸 Here are a few moments from behind the scenes:

• Stand-in – Shirley Ash