The Kingdom was an important job for me personally, as it was probably my first real taste of a supervisory role. Clive Beard asked me to take responsibility for the Abu Dhabi portion of the film, which meant heading out there and looking after the effects work for that section of the shoot.

Abu Dhabi was an extraordinary experience. The daytime temperatures were pushing 50°C at times — easily the most extreme heat I’ve ever worked in anywhere in the world. Even simple tasks became physically demanding in those conditions.

At the other end of the scale was the sheer opulence of the place. Some of the palaces and luxury hotels we worked around were genuinely jaw-dropping. The scale, finish and amount of money that had clearly gone into them was unlike anything I’d seen before.

For the action work we were doing plenty of bullet hits, RPG strikes and explosive effects, all under very challenging conditions.

Director Peter Berg was a bundle of energy — constantly moving, constantly pushing things forward, and very inspiring to work around.

For me, The Kingdom was memorable not just for the effects, but because it was an early step into taking greater responsibility on a production, in one of the most extreme and unusual locations I had worked in at that point.