Alina, the Turkish Assassin

Plot

Alina tells story of Melisa Eryilmaz, a double agent named Alina, and her fight to discover the truth about her family and her real identity. Alina was adopted by the Turkish secret service agent Firat Yilmaz at the age of 3 and was raised under the name Melisa Eryilmaz. Melisa learned Russian, Bulgarian, German, Arabic and English as a result of the trips she took as a kid with Firat Yilmaz and eventually started to work with intelligence agencies such as MI-6, CSR, CESIS, BND, SGDN and SAVAK. What she would discover on one assignment would shatter everything she knows about her life and would set her on a dangerous mission to discover the truth behind her real identity.

Cast

Production

Production began early 2010 and after a long search, Seda Egridere was cast as the title character Alina in the feature film. Consulting director/producer for the film was the acclaimed American director Bobby Roth. Upon being cast as the titular character, Egridere persuaded director Bobby Roth to shoot parts of the film in her home country. In an interview with one of the top newspapers in Turkey, Hurriyet, Bobby Roth praised Egridere's acting performance and work discipline and noted that "I accepted the project and agreed to shoot in Turkey only because I trusted Seda." The casting process for the male lead actor was diligent and producers had difficulty finding a Turkish actor who spoke good English but finally, in 2012, famous Turkish actor, Tamer Karadagli was cast from a large pool of acclaimed Turkish celebrities to play the male lead opposite Egridere. For the movie, Egridere was required to speak Russian, Spanish and Arabic, undergo extensive martial arts training and learn to ride a motorcycle to play the title role of Alina. She was celebrated for her physical performance and the sex scenes with the famous actor Tamer Karadagli generated a lot of buzz around the film.