Egyptian actor Khaled Al Nabawi has something to celebrate -- it's his trip to Hollywood and signing up to the life of the stardom now that the premiere of his new movie “The Citizen” is out. This is an extra special film for Khaled -- his young son, Ziad, made his first on-screen appearance in the movie.
However, the premiere wasn't exactly a red-carpet event as you'd expect, with the exception of Khaled's wife, Manal Salama, and director Adel Adeeb.
Although the Huffington Post described the film as “Simply impossible to stop thinking about,” other critics described the film as lacking in 'real context' and as “featuring unknown American actors.” Only recently, Khaled was criticized for his controversial intimiate scenes with Lebanese actress Cyrine Abdelnour in their film "The Traveller."
Either way, this is yet one step forward for Khaled towards international stardom.
American wannabe?
Many criticized Khaled for taking part in yet another American production. We've seen the ambitious actor in Hollywood blockbusters such as “Kingdom of Heaven” and “Fair Game.”
Forty years ago, international director Youssef Chahine brought the then newcomer Egyptian actor Omar Sharif to worldwide fame in “Struggle in the valley.” In 1994, he did it again by introducing Al Nabawi to Hollywood in the film “The Emigrant.”
Is “The Citizen” really fab or drab? You can watch the trailer here and be the judge of that!
