A popular Egyptian actor faces a boycott in his homeland for appearing in a TV film about Saddam Hussein starring an Israeli actor as the Iraqi tyrant.
The Egyptian actor’s union said it would investigate whether Amr Waked violated its rules for agreeing to play Saddam’s son-in-law in a BBC production now filming in Tunisia, Agence France Presse reported Tuesday. Yigal Naor, an Israeli, plays Saddam.
Waked, who appeared opposite George Clooney in “Syriana” in 2005, has been telling Egyptian newspapers that he did not know of Naor’s participation when he signed on and that the film is critical of U.S. Middle East policy.
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