Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe BEIRUT, Lebanon, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Lebanese army platoons that surrounded a Beirut building where gunfire and explosions were heard discovered the sounds were made by a U.S. film crew. Director Christian Johnston said the soldiers told cast members of the film, which is based on the true story of three private contractors sent to rescue a hostage in the Lebanese capital, that they had mistaken them for Fatah al Islam militants, The New York Times reported Friday. Advertisement Johnson said the filming had been approved by the Lebanese army and all of the weapons used in the film were provided by the country's military. The platoons investigating the sounds made on set were apparently unaware of the film shoot. Several extras in the film are veterans of Lebanon's civil war, which lasted from 1975 to 1990. "When you're standing next to someone who's actually been on the front line, that's a reality check," British actor Grant Masters, who stars as the leader of the private security force, told the Times. "We're working with a guy who was shot nine times."
