Sidse Babett Knudsen, Tom Skerritt and Sarita Choudhury also star in this international co-production between France, Germany, the Cayman Islands, Mexico, and the United States.

Clay is haunted by a previous job at the Schwinn Bicycle Company, where he oversaw the outsourcing of their production to China, which led to hundreds of layoffs in the US.

Oversleeping on his first day in Jeddah, due to jet lag, he misses the shuttle bus to the King's Metropolis of Economy and Trade, a largely unfinished planned city in the desert, where Clay is scheduled to give his sales presentation.

Yousef, arriving shortly after Zahra, notices how close they are and after she leaves, chastises Alan for endangering her by making advances, which Clay vehemently denies.

Yousef confesses the jealous husband has threatened him and flees to his home town in the mountains for the weekend to let things cool down.

However, soon after, Clay learns the Saudis have made a deal with a Chinese company, which can offer a similar product at a cheaper rate.

Clay writes to his daughter, telling her the deal was unsuccessful but that he has taken a well-paid job selling condominiums in the unfinished city, which will allow him to pay for college for her, and has found a new positive force in his life with Zahra.

On June 12, 2013, Tom Tykwer was reported to be developing an adaptation of 2012 novel A Hologram for the King, written by Dave Eggers.

[10] On March 6, 2014, it was announced that Sarita Choudhury, Alexander Black, Tracey Fairaway, David Menkin, and Tom Skerritt had joined the cast of the film.

[12][13] Writing for The New York Times, Stephen Holden called the movie "a story of confusion, perplexity, frustration and panic," praising Tom Hanks's ability to turn it into "an agreeably uncomfortable comedy," meriting a "Critic's Pick" designation.

The site's critical consensus reads, "A Hologram for the King amiably ambles through a narrative desert, saved by an oasis of a performance from the ever-dependable Tom Hanks.