Egyptian scenarist Mustafa Muharam has finally succeeded on obtaining the approval of Egytpian actresses Nabila Obeid and Nadia Al Jundi to star in the new television series “Raya and Skeena”, which is the famous story of the two sisters who rob and murder women. The series will mark the first time in both actress's careers that they costar alongside one another.
Mustafa stressed that the series will reveal facts of the two famous serial killers and will include actual police reports.
According to the London based daily, Al Sharq Al Awsat, director Ahmad Saqr has agreed to direct the series. Shooting of the scenes is scheduled to begin as soon as Nadia completes shooting the scenes for her new TV drama “Qisat Imra’a” (A Woman’s Story).
Negotiations between Nadia and the producers of “Qisat Imra’a” have come to an end after the actress refused the wage of 1.5 million Egyptian pounds for her participation in her first television drama series. Nadia demanded she receives two million Egyptian pounds, but negotiations were stopped as she was forced to suddenly go to her family’s home to attend her brother’s funeral.
Nadia had previously asked for the same wage for another drama series "Bint Afandina", but negotiations with the producers failed. It was stated that the wage was over the drama's budget limit, in addition to the fact that the role in the series was not appropriate for Nadia's age.
The series will be the comeback for Nadia to the small screen, which she has been away from for such a long time. She had previously only taken part in two TV works "Al Dawameh" and "Rajul Al Kitar" (Trainman) after which she decided to dedicate all her time to acting in films and producing them in her own unique style.
Nabila Obeid expressed her anger towards her colleague Egyptian actor Hussein Fahmi's statements that she intentionally posted her name ahead of his in their joint film “Qasaqees Warak”, and that she deliberately posted his name in a way that does not suit his long history. Fahmi also blamed Nabila for the failure of the movie saying that her selfishness and conceit eventually led to it.
Nabila defended herself by saying that she is not responsible in any way for the failure of the movie and that she was not the one who made the advertisements for the film. She asserted that the designers were a group of young people who were not aware of the artistic history of the characters in the movie. Nabila added that Hussein should have contacted her to get an explanation rather than accusing her publicly through the media.
Nabila revealed that she was mourning the death of her mother at the time when the advertisements were being made and that Hussein should have followed up with the Design Company instead of grumbling now about it, or at least stop the ads and ask for a new design.
Regarding the other accusation, that Nabila was behind the failure of the movie, she disclosed that the main problem was the bad timing because the movie was screened at the same time when high school exams were on. Besides the new produces [Subhi Imam and co.] did not give the movie the sufficient advertising campaign.
Nabila stressed that she will not participate in any other work with Hussein after he displayed such a bad attitude towards her. She noted that it is unprofessional of him to keep accusing her in such a way. -Albawaba.com
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
