Mena Massoud Talks His First Egyptian Film, Challenges of Crossing over from Hollywood to the Middle East

“Aladdin” star Mena Massoud, who is a Canadian actor of Egyptian heritage, recently starred in — and produced — his first Arabic-language film “Fi Ez El Dohr” (In Broad Daylight).

In the action movie, he plays an Egyptian expatriate Hamza El Kashef who returns to his country as the enigmatic leader of an international crime syndicate.

Directed by Morcous Adel, “In Broad Daylight” recently went on release in Egypt and other territories in the region, marking a rare attempt by a Hollywood actor to break out in the Arab film industry — a process Massoud describes as “doing Omar Sharif in reverse,” referencing the “Lawrence of Arabia” star who was the first Egyptian actor to cross over to Hollywood.

Below, Massoud – whose credits also include Prime Video’s “Hotel for the Holidays,” Netflix’s “The Royal Treatment” and the Hulu series “Reprisal” – opened up to Variety about the challenges of going from Hollywood to Cairo where “Fi Ez El Dohr” performed below expectations.

This film has a special significance since it brought you back to Egypt, where you were born. How did it come together and what has it meant to you?

I immigrated to Canada when I was 3, and pretty quickly when you’re an immigrant, you try to find ways to stay close to your roots. For my parents, a big part of that meant continuing to watch Egyptian cinema and theater and TV. I grew up on Egyptian cinema before I ever watched anything from Hollywood; I fell in love with the arts through Egyptian cinema. So being able to go back and do something in Egypt was just a dream come true.

What was it like for you to act in Arabic? I know you are fluent, but I heard you had to tweak your accent.

I had to turn on my brain in a completely different way and tune my muscles in a completely different way, which is an incredible feeling. I don’t know a lot of people who get to experience that. But it really rocks your world, because you’ve got to really just depend on your talent. A big part of your brain is focusing so much on the words coming out in a different language and in a different accent. So you’ve got to kind of rely on everything that you’ve learned from an acting perspective to to come through.

What it was like to promote the film in Egypt, starting with the launch in Cairo?

Regarding the premiere, it was very similar to what I’ve done anywhere else. I kind of went through the same process as an actor. I got my styling done for it and media prep for it and all that kind of stuff. We did a press junket day. The premiere was fantastic. We did it at the Mall of Egypt, which is one of the most iconic malls there. So it went really, really well. I really loved the process. In a way, there was even more media coverage than I’m used to. So that was fantastic. And it’s been doing well, I think, for my first film in Egypt. I can’t complain.

How has the film been doing in the region?

What I’m trying to do is like what someone like Steven Yeun (“Minari”) is trying to do — it’s very difficult to go back to your home country and try to break into the industry there. It’s difficult, because you’re going to have a lot of the country that are following Hollywood and know you and are proud of you and what you represent. But Egypt is a country with 120 million people. So you’re going to get tens of millions of people that you still haven’t tapped into, that are hearing your name for the first time. They are seeing you on billboards for the first time. And so it’s kind of a marketing puzzle in that sense, because they’ve probably heard of “Aladdin,” but maybe they haven’t seen it.

So how do you navigate that?

I think it’s a great first building block for me if I want to continue to work there, which I do. It’s just the first step. And how do you build on that? One way I’ve been approaching that, for example, is my TikTok. I mean, if you go on my TikTok it’s basically just Arabic content. I’ve kind of designated my TikTok just for Egypt. I don’t know if it’s the right thing to do, but it’s what I’ve decided to do, and this approach seems like it’s been helping. So, it’s difficult. I tell people, I’m kind of doing Omar Sharif in reverse, you know?