BY PAULA SCHWARTZ
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
The Israeli media went wild Tuesday morning reporting that real-life former POW Gilad Shalit visited the cast and crew of Showtime’s “Homeland” in Tel Aviv, where they are shooting for the next two weeks. Showtime finally sent out a press release in the evening that confirmed what everyone in Israel knew, that Mr. Shalit had been a surprise guest on the set, where he sat with director Michael Cuesta and watched star Claire Danes do her takes.
“Homeland” is loosely based on the Israeli series, “Hatuffim” – the English title is “Prisoners of War” – written and directed by Gideon Raff and is developed for American television by Howard Gordon, Alex Gansa and Mr. Raff.
“Homeland” is Showtime’s biggest freshman series to date. According to the network it averaged 4.1 million viewers on all platforms, including On Demand and replays. It also won a Golden Globe for best drama series.
Mr. Shalit, as everyone knows, is an Israeli soldier, who was seized in Israel in June 2006 by Hamas and dragged to Gaza, where he was kept a prisoner for over five years. On Oct. 18, 2011, Mr. Shalit was released by Hamas in a prisoner exchange for the freedom of more than 1,000 Palestinians. Since his release Mr. Shalit has kept a low profile although it seems he has spent some of that time watching tv. According to Showtime, Mr. Shalit is a fan of both “Hatuffim” and “Homeland,” which is why Mr. Raff invited him to come to the set.
