Egyptian Actor Attacked for Role in Film With Israeli as Saddam Hussein
As an Egyptian, I am quite sure that this actor who's career was just starting to boom, lost the hearts of his public by accepting this film. We don't hesitate here to say what we think about Israel as is pretty obvious and Amr Waked should have known that his public would never accept his acting with an Israeli actor let alone in the role of Saddam Hussein.
Egyptian Actor Attacked for Film With Israeli as Saddam Hussein
By Daniel Williams
Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) — Amr Waked, an Egyptian actor with a lean and hungry face, was thrilled at the idea of playing in a movie about Saddam Hussein.
As he understood the script, it would plot the family ties and intrigues of the Iraqi leader, who was overthrown by the U.S. army in 2003 and executed by hanging last year for mass killings of civilians. The role would be another step in a promising career for the 35-year-old actor, who made an international breakthrough by playing a recruiter of suicide bombers in ``Syriana,'' George Clooney's 2005 film about oil, politics and terrorism.
The made-for-TV Saddam Hussein film is still in production, and Waked is already buffeted by his own private Desert Storm. Because the movie features an Israeli in the role of Saddam Hussein, Waked has been criticized by Egypt's actors union and a few newspapers for ``normalizing'' with Israel, even though Egypt has had diplomatic relations with the country for 28 years.
``I liked the idea of looking at the Iraqis as human beings with human feelings, Waked, 35, said in an interview in Cairo. ``If I knew this was how it was going to turn out, I wouldn't have taken the part. I would have been too scared.
The movie about Hussein, in production just 10 months after his death and four years after falling from power, was always likely to incite controversy. The film is jointly being made by the British Broadcasting Corp. and HBO, inadvertently reflecting the U.S.-British alliance that deposed the former Iraqi leader. Nigal Yaor, the Israeli who plays Hussein, is himself on the verge of stardom after playing a Palestinian in Steven Spielberg's ``Munich.''
Union Investigation
``Amr Waked will be investigated, actors union head Ashraf Zaki told reporters on Sept. 12. ``The union opposes normalization with Israel. The union, which has so far taken no action against Waked, could ban the actor from working in Egypt.
``I understand their political statement, but this is not an Israeli movie,'' Waked said.
Waked plays Hussein Kamel, the son-in-law of Hussein who defected to Jordan in 1995 and then became disillusioned because the Americans did not make him an opposition leader. Kamel returned to Iraq in 1996 and Hussein arranged for the errant in- law's relatives to kill him. Kamel was once in charge of Iraq's nuclear weapons program. When he defected, he told United Nations investigators he had ended the weapons program in 1991.
``I think this character sought power, Waked said. ``I think he saw that Iraq was doomed with Saddam.
Arab screen actors are in demand. Egyptian-American Omar Metwally played a Palestinian in ``Munich and stars in ``Rendition, a film about an Arab engineer whisked off an airplane and flown to the Middle East to be tortured for information. Moroccan Ismail Kanater performed in ``Sleeper Cell,'' a Showtime TV production.
`Paradise Now'
Iraqi-American Yasmine Hanani acted in ``Over There, an FX Networks series about the Iraq war. Israeli-Arab actor Ashraf Barhoum played in ``Paradise Now, about Palestinian suicide bombers, and in ``The Kingdom,'' about an FBI agent who travels to Saudi Arabia to identify perpetrators of a terrorist attack.
Waked began his professional career on stage. Over the past decade he worked in a dozen Egyptian movies, including ``Lili,'' a short film made in 2001 about a Muslim imam preaching in a neighborhood of drug dealers, who is tempted by a local moll.
He is not the first Egyptian actor to run into controversy over taking a part in a foreign production. Omar Sharif, long Egypt's international leading man, was criticized in the Egyptian press for kissing Barbra Streisand in the 1969 musical ``Funny Girl'' because of her support for Israel. The film has never been shown in Egypt.
`It's Politics'
``I don't think this is about being anti-Jewish, said Waked. ``It's politics. He said he opposes Israel's policies toward the Palestinians.
The actors union also sidelined a proposed showing of the Israeli movie, ``The Band's Visit, at next month's Cairo International Film Festival. ``The Band's Visit is a comedy about a police orchestra that gets stranded in an Israeli backwater town during a cultural exchange. Palestinians are in the cast. The union threatened to boycott the festival.
``It's out of the question that an Israeli film plays here,'' said Soheir Abdel Kader, the event's vice president.
``The Band's Visit played at the Cannes and Munich film festivals and won best-film honors at Israel's Ophir awards last month, the country's Oscar equivalent. The motto of the Cairo festival is ``to advance understanding through the language of art between all the peoples of the world.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=akCHllXPjxhw&refer=m...
++++++++++++++++++++++++
When Israelis learn to behave like normal people and not kill with their snipers and tanks innocent Egyptian children and civilians across the border on Egyptiian territory.., then they might think of coming to the Cairo Film Festival. Israelis; need to learn how to be civil first before thinking of 'advancing understanding through the language of art'.
"The film is jointly being made by the British Broadcasting Corp. and HBO, inadvertently reflecting the U.S.-British alliance that deposed the former Iraqi leader."
The film is clearly a zionist production and the actor is a fool to think that his fellow countrymen wouldn't care.
I agree with you 100%, Cherifa:
'When Israelis learn to behave like normal people and not kill with their snipers and tanks innocent Egyptian children and civilians across the border on Egyptiian territory.., then they might think of coming to the Cairo Film Festival. Israelis; need to learn how to be civil first before thinking of 'advancing understanding through the language of art'."
The only "art" israelis understand is that of war.
---------------------------------------
"Money" has no value - people do.