“ I love peoplewatching and feel that each person is so unique that they are a drama case study in themselves .”
At one point I was doing a model shoot for Nina Ricci , and the director of my first film saw me in the ad and called me to do a screen test . It worked out and I moved into acting .
But you have also moved towards directing . How has that been different from acting ? When I was a designer I worked very closely with the rest of the staff and particularly the directors . Through this experience I began to design sets and costumes according to camera angles and not simply what I thought looked good naturally . Eventually directors started to rely upon me to handle editing , coloring , and take on more responsibilities on the production side . One day , I was working on a set and the director didn ’ t appear so I took his place for a day , and this is how I moved into directing .
Personally , I feel much more comfortable behind the scenes . Production , whether it is a film or a television series , is an extremely stressful venture for everyone involved . I like being the director because you are on top of the entire process and the stress is actually a bit less . You get to deal with everybody and obviously have the most direct impact on the final product . Every aspect of production has its beautiful sides and its challenges , but I love the challenges of being a director the most .
You are currently working on a series for Ramadan . Can you tell us a bit about it ? It is a social drama that is unique in that it is not pretentious . The characters are much more normal , and the things that you will see in the series are exactly what you would see in real life , which is what gives us an edge . There is so much in our society that happens behind closed doors , and the goal of this series is to open those doors and show what is really happening .
In this series I am working with Rania Farid , Gamal Soliman , Iman Hegazy , Tarek Ebbiary , Farial , Samia Youssef , and a whole list of other great names , from actors all the way to the behind the scenes group . This is a really great team , which makes the whole process easier .
How has the production process been with the team ? Firstly the producers ( the Sabbah brothers from Lebanon ) are great , because in an environment where everybody is waiting until the last minute or afraid to put something together because of the political and security situation , they decided to immediately move forward and get to work . On set , we all know each other very well and therefore whatever problems arise in the process we are able to handle them internally very quickly and get on with our work .
CAIROWESTMAG . COM .