‘Extraction’ director explains why Proton cars show up in the movie

It’s not every day you see a Malaysian car brand gracing a Hollywood movie. Particularly in the new Netflix action movie “Extraction”, Proton cars had shown up in the movie quite a few times as a pleasant surprise for us Malaysians.

We reached out to Netflix to ask the makers of “Extraction” about the use of Proton cars in the movie, and we received a quote from the director himself, Sam Hargrave.

“During our scouts to Dhaka, Bangladesh and all throughout India, we saw many Proton cars on the streets. In order to be as authentic as possible, we wanted to make sure and have Proton cars displayed throughout the film. There were even some Police vehicles in Dhaka, Bangladesh that were made by Proton. So we wanted to be authentic to that as well. So it was all about trying to be as truthful and authentic to the region as possible,” said Hargrave.

The movie takes place in Bangladesh, where PHP Automobiles assembles five types of vehicles including Proton Saga, Proton Preve, Proton Exora, Proton X70, and Proton Persona in their factory. PHP also mentioned that ex-PM Dr Mahathir Bin Mohamad (who was also the Chairman of Proton) insisted and requested PHP to get engage in automobile business and invited to visit the factory of Malaysian Proton cars. This would explain why the cars are commonly seen in the area of shooting, as mentioned by Hargrave.

“Extraction”, about a black market mercenary who’s tasked to rescue the kidnapped son of an imprisoned international crime lord, stars Chris Hemsworth, and written by Joseph Russo of the Russo Brothers of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) fame. Director Sam Hargrave is most known as a stunt coordinator for several films in the MCU, and this movie was his directorial debut.

You can watch the movie on Netflix.

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