Bernardo Bertolucci directed the 1990 British-Italian drama film The Sheltering Sky (Il tè nel deserto), which starred Debra Winger and John Malkovich. The film is based on Paul Bowles’ 1949 novel of the same name (in which he appears in a cameo role) about a couple who travel to North Africa in the hopes of rekindling their marriage but quickly succumb to the perils that await them.