CAIRO, 5 February 2007 — Syrian director Hatem Ali began shooting the opening scenes of the historic movie about the last Egyptian king, Farouk, at Al-Ahram Studio in Cairo on Saturday.
Egyptian actor Yahya Al-Fakhrani attended the opening function. He was originally considered for the role of King Farouk when his wife wrote the script a decade ago. Since he declined to accept the role for reasons of advancing age, the choice fell on an upcoming Syrian actor, Tim Hassan.
The announcement of a Syrian appearing as an Egyptian king, triggered controversy in the Egyptian film industry with several Egyptian actors saying they felt threatened that a foreigner was given a job that was meant for them.