In and Out

Although Rotana Music Company recently went on a (figurative) killing spree as it terminated its contracts with Egyptian singers Ihab Tawfiq and Amer Mounib and Kuwait’s Shams (among others), rumor has it Al-Waleed Bin Talal’s label is secretly negotiating with Nancy Agram.

Industry insiders claim the Lebanese singing sensation has been offered a signing bonus of $10 million to defect to Rotana from Relax-In Music.

Osama Anwar Okasha, one of the nation’s top soap opera writers, is said to have recently declared that his new serial — El-Masraweyya — might be his last. Okasha will allegedly retire from writing for TV to focus on books and theater plays.

The celebrated author of Layaly El-Helmeyya (Helmeyya Nights) and El-Shahd Wel Demou’ (Honey and Tears) thinks TV dramas have become “shallow and empty.”

Mohsen Allam Osama Anwar Okasha

Activity on the Lebanese Diva Radar was significantly higher than usual last month. Lebanese singers like Joanna Malah (for exclusive interview, see April issue of Egypt Today p.80), Nancy Agram, Maya, Magda El-Roumy and Diana Haddad were all in the spotlight as they prepared for the release of their respective new albums through Egyptian record labels.

Their Egyptian counterparts were also busy last month as many chose to spend their time reconciling with the law. Sources claim Medhat Saleh repaid the LE 1.5 million he owed bellydancer Fifi Abdou, who subsequently dropped the case she filed against him five years ago. Both Hisham Abbas and Mohammed Tharwat are reportedly facing legal actions brought against them by their respective neighbors, though no one had the details on this item at press time. Opera singer and part-time actor Hassan Kami is allegedly facing credit card forgery charges and, last but not least, pop stars Tamer Hosny and Haitham Shaker are awaiting trial for their infamous military documents forgery case.

By the way: To prevent any possible confusion, belly dancer Poussy Samir’s new movie entitled Etneen Fel Kalabsh (Two in Cuffs) is not a biography of the two singers

The much anticipated The Da Vinci Code, directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou, is set to be the opener of at the 59th Cannes Film Festival running from May 17 to 28. French actor Vincent Cassel will host the opening and closing ceremonies and filmmaker Wong Kar Wai (In the Mood for Love and 2046) will serve as president of the Grand Jury. Wai will be the first Chinese artist to hold this position in the festival’s history.

Marie-Antoinette, starring Kirsten Dunst as the infamous seventeenth-century queen of France, will be among the films competing for the prestigious Palme d’or Award. Paris, je t’aime (Paris, I Love You), a movie entirely made up of five-minute shorts directed by international filmmakers including Alfonso Cuarón (Mexico), Isabele Coixet (Spain) and Joel and Ethan Coen (USA), will open the Un Certain Regard section of the festival.

Also, among the previewed films: X-Men: The Last Stand and The Fountain, both starring Hugh Jackman. Oliver Stone will offer 20 minutes of his unfinished World Trade Center movie (starring Nicholas Cage) and will be honored by a special screening of his film Platoon, that was rejected 20 years ago at the same festival.

The Yaya entry for this month sees our famous star stalker radically switch to nostalgic mode:

Chris Pizzello Tom Hanks and wife Rita Wilson

It was on an April morning, Yaya remembers, that he decided to get up early and embark on a journey to Long Beach for the sole purpose of capturing Paul Newman (one of his all time favorite celebrities) with his camera. The aging car racer (who celebrated his eighty-first birthday this past January), however, is far from being the only screen legend Yaya has had the privilege of meeting over the course of more than 30 years.

He also remembers when he had to buy a pricey ticket in Alexandria back in 1978 to get into an exclusive concert in which Egyptian-born diva Dalida was scheduled to perform. He couldn’t stay in his seat for long though and eventually sneaked backstage to befriend the security guards by taking snap shots of them in return for their allowing him to get closer to his target. Et voilà! A historic photo of Dalida with performer Samir Sabry thrown in for good measure. And it seems that this must’ve been his lucky day, because when Yaya later returned to his seat, he spotted Egyptian legend Roushdi Abaza among the audience. At that point, he knew that sitting back and enjoying the concert was out of the question.

Divas don’t come older than Lebanese legend Sabah whom Yaya also managed to meet, this time while she was dining in a Los Angeles restaurant. She was astonished when Yaya walked straight up to her and started speaking in Arabic. He proceeded to remind her of the golden years when her onscreen duets with Abdel Halim Hafez and Farid El-Attrache were all the rage.

“She laughed slightly while I held her fragile hand; she has grown to resemble a candy moulid doll,” Yaya chuckles.

Among the celebrities Yaya met (as recently as last month) was veteran George Hamilton, famed for starring in a comedy spoofs like Love at First Bite (1979). Yaya also remembers Hamilton from his trips to Cannes, where he used to play handyman on a yacht owned by a Saudi employer who frequently hosted celebrities including ex-James Bonds Sean Connery and Roger Moore.

Yehia Mohamed George Hamilton

Yaya has a special admiration for the classic stars of Hollywood and has many of their faces memorized from films he used to watch in his teen years. In just one party, he managed to spot (and get photographs taken with) two 1960s icons; the first was James Garner, a lead actor in films like The Great Escape (1963) and TV series like Maverick and the Rockford Files, and the second was Sidney Poitier, star of The Defiant Ones (1958).

Following his success in last summer’s Malaky Eskenderiyya (Private Alexandria), Egyptian funny-man Ahmed Ezz is considering a lead role in comedic serial set to hit television screens nationwide in Ramadan.

The serial, entitled Lam Alef, was written by late comedy writer Bahgat Qamar and resurrected by his son, songwriter Ayman Bahgat Qamar. Ezz will also begin shooting his new film El-Rahina (The Hostage), in which he reunites with Malaky Eskenderiyya director Sandra Nashaat and Malaky stars including Nour and Khaled Saleh.

Showbiz veteran Farouk El-Fishawy and the multi-talented Hussein El-Imam, in addition to comedian Mohammed Lotfy, are allegedly suffering from bird flu! Thankfully, the stars didn’t actually contract the deadly H5N1 strain of the disease, but rather are racking up losses as sales from the chicken farms they own have plummeted as the nation turns its back on its favorite source of protein.

Singers looking to make names for themselves on the silver screen are facing new competition as a growing number of Egyptian football players look to make their bones in the entertainment industry.

After a flurry of singers have been brought up on criminal charges lately (everything from forgery to assault), producers have been eyeing footballers, figuring soccer-mad Egyptians still reveling in the national team’s historic Africa Cup of Nations victory will snap up their on-field heroes when they appear in theaters.

Regardless of the reasons, as the Egyptian showbiz saying goes: “The director wants it that way.”

Yehia Mohamed Sidney Poitier

This summer, ex-Zamalek player Khaled El-Ghandour will make an appearance in Zay El-Hawa (Like Love), co-starring with Khaled El-Nabawy and Dalia El-Beheiry, while national team captain Ahmed Hassan is currently considering an offer to take the lead in a film in production with Al-Arabia Company.

Film producers, of course, realize that football players could never fill the shoes of sexy Lebanese imports such as the provocative singer Maria, who recently failed to acquire a license from the Actors Syndicate to star in a new movie produced by El-Sobky Production Company.

Rumor has it that her raunchy behavior at a recent party — where she reportedly took off her shoes, climbed onto the table and danced on the cake with her bare feet — was the real reason behind her rejection.

In other music news, Egyptian singers have lately started dumping the sexy models/actresses that had dotted their productions to focus instead on producing religious clips. This, of course, comes as “retribution,” as one prominent producer put it, for the infamous Jyllands-Posten caricatures attacking the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and to coincide with the occasion of the Prophet’s birthday last month.

Sami Yusuf will have to look out if he wants to stay king of the genre.

Yehia Mohamed Sabah

Relations between Al-Ahram newspaper, the nation’s top-selling Arabic-language daily, and star columnist Fahmy Howeidy have been strained of late after editors at the venerable state-owned paper reportedly censored a section of Howeidy’s weekly column.

The scribblings in question were headlined “PhDs for Sale.”

Howeidy has told friends the act of censorship was “stupid” and violation of his right to freedom of expression, while senior editors at Al-Ahram are claiming that the text in question was omitted because of “a small accident.”

Howeidy told fellow scribes last month that the incident proves the Egyptian press is in the throes of a crisis, especially when it comes to writers voicing their opinions.

Yehia Mohamed Samir Sabry, Dalida, and a young Yaya

The column in question noted that many high-profile Egyptians plagiarize their doctoral dissertations or hire others to ‘cook up’ a thesis on their behalves. Howeidy was motivated to write the column after a gifted but poor scholar he declined to name had committed suicide “because he found no appreciation in his own nation.”

Of the 20 foreign films released nationwide last month, the biggest flop was undoubtedly The Producers, the Matthew Broderick-Nathan Lane vehicle adapted from the Broadway play of the same name, which grossed a paltry LE 13,807. The Producers netted only $20 million in its first month of US release, signaling the revival of the big-budget Hollywood musical may be coming to an end.

Still, the film followed in the footsteps of Moulin Rouge and Chicago, both of which tanked in Egyptian cinemas, a track record that saw no national distributor willing to take on the more sophisticated musical Rent.

Where The Producers failed, studio-produced remakes of classic horror films posted healthy numbers last month, with The Fog grossing LE 595,802 and When a Stranger Calls earning LE 106,487. Imported independents fared even better, with Creep netting a shocking LE 133,396 even as it was playing in theaters and Showtime’s Home Cinema simultaneously.

Ahmed Ezz Ashraf Talaat

Only a handful of Oscar films were released in Egypt last month: Walk the Line grossed LE 143,130 on just one screen, while Munich and Crash did surprisingly well, earning LE 338,000 and LE 328,000, respectively.

Commercial flicks proved they were aptly named, as Peter Jackson’s remake of King Kong pulled in a staggering LE 2.5 million. With that, Kong crushed many of its rivals including some Arabic releases Al-Abaa Al-Seghar (Young Fathers) and Tess’ien Deqiqa (90 Minutes), which grossed LE 470,350 and LE 1.2 million, respectively. Megastars Youssra and Hanan Turk joining forces in Kalam Fel Hob (Talk About Love) earned a disappointing LE 653,757.

Still, Hanan Turk is the busiest among Egyptian actors and actresses with a new Ramadan series and at least five (how is this physically possible?) movies to come this year.

Lastly, if we’re going to talk money, here’s a look at some of the salary adjustments in showbiz and, generally speaking, we’re looking at inflation in film stars’ paychecks for upcoming projects. Following the success of Haha We Tofaha, hairy comedian Talaat Zakareyya will receive a sweet LE 800,000 for his next film, Tabakh El-Ra’ees (The President’s Cook), a figure close to what his regular co-star Abla Kamel earns per flick. Dalia El-Beheiry is allegedly receiving LE 150,000 for her appearance in Ahlam Haqiqeya (Real Dreams), in which she stars alongside (who else?) Hanan Turk. Lebanese born ‘actress with a pretty face’ Nour is expected to receive the same figure for her next outing.

Music professor Dr. Khairy El-Malt has been calling for a national project to revive ancient Egyptian music for a dozen years now, and it seems his dreams are finally coming true.

Last month, the Supreme Council for Antiquities and the Faculty of Musical Education of Helwan University agreed to make it possible for music students to acquire a graduate diploma in ancient Egyptian music, with classes set to begin in September 2006.

The SAC will allow students access to museums and sites and to ancient musical instruments and relief drawings. Classes for the diploma will take place in the evenings, and include subjects such as ballet, music, anthropology and philosophy.

American actor Harrison Ford and French star Jean-Paul Belmondo are probably two of the most famous among the international stars known to perform their own stunts. Egyptian stars, it seems, should steer clear: More than one cast member of El-Eyal Herbet (The Kids Escaped) needed stitches during filming last month.

Nasser Nasser Ahmed Hassan

For starters, comedian Maged El-Kedwany — returning to his usual capacity as supporting actor after his sole starring vehicle Gaay Fel Sare’e (Coming in the Fast Lane) proved a massive flop — was injured when he fell from a motorcycle that simply gave out under his weight.

In another scene, Mohammed Nagaty was the victim of a nasty bite from his co-star —a dog (we’re not being snarky: His co-star is literally a canine). Female co-stars weren’t any luckier, as actress Bushra accidentally collided with a car (á la Milla Jovovich in Ultraviolet) while riding a motorbike of her own. Undeterred by her bruises, Bushra continued with the filming of El-Eyal as well as that of Le’bet El-Hob (The Game of Love), which she was also shooting last month.

Rumor has it Bushra is set to star alongside comedian Mohammed Heneidy in his next film.

Readers may recall our March review of an exhibition of the works of the great gravure artist Dr. Abdallah Gohar at Khan El-Maghraby gallery. Gohar passed away just four days after the exhibition, his first in over half a century, closed its doors for the last time.

Wessam Omar Hanan Turk

He was 90.

Gohar died from complications arising from a fractured pelvis. The 1999 recipient of the State Recognition Award, Gohar was a full professor at the Faculty of Art and taught major Egyptian artists including Farouk Hosni, the current minister of culture.

Artist and art critic Dr. Ahmed Fouad Selim has filed a complaint with the Prosecutor General’s Office against the Agouza Hospital and the Islamic charity running it for allegedly stealing 47 paintings from the Museum of Modern Egyptian Art.

The paintings reportedly include a number of rare works by late artists including Mohammed Sidki El-Gabakhengi, Emma Ayyad, Sayed Abdel Rasoul and Youssef Francis, as well as paintings by contemporary artists Leila Ezzat, Zeinab El-Segini, and Selim himself.

Modern students will learn ancient music

According to Selim, the paintings were loaned to the hospital in 1974 after the hospital’s administration requested the loan to improve the patients’ surroundings. In 2003, the museum administration formed a committee to locate and return all the paintings the museum had loaned out. One of the first places the committee targeted was the hospital, but the official letters sent by the committee were allegedly ignored.

Committee chairwoman Rawya El-Halawani decided to visit the hospital without prior notice and was told by the medical and administrative directors of the hospital that the paintings were nowhere to be found: The directors had no idea they had ever existed.

The Matariyya museum of the late sculptor and potter Hassan Heshmat is in grave danger, Heshmat’s heirs declared last month. The late artist’s home and studio were deeded over to the Ministry of Culture by his children three years ago to serve as a museum to house his works. Today, the site falls in the middle of the new Northern Cairo Road.

The artist’s children have sent an urgent plea to Ahmed Nawar, the director of the Ministry of Culture’s Art Museum Sector, who has since been able to guarantee some protection for the site. According to Nawar, the Cairo governorate has agreed to leave the house intact, but will demolish part of the wall surrounding the museum and will take over part of the garden.

Bushra

The beautiful Omar Effendi Building on Abdel Aziz Street in Cairo’s Downtown was officially classified as an Islamic monument last month even as the retailer itself remained embroiled in violent controversy over its privatization.

Several Supreme Council for Antiquities review committees had previously refused to consider the building a monument despite its obvious merits. The 9,000 square-meter building was commissioned by Omar Effendi himself in the mid-nineteenth century during the time of Khedive Ismail, making it the first mall in the Middle East.

North Cairo Court has ruled against Amir Saeed El-Sahhar in his case against Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz.

Courtesy Khan El-Maghraby A work by Abdallah Gohar

El-Sahhar is one of the heirs of the Maktabet Misr publishing house, which was most famous for publishing Mahfouz’s work for over 50 years. He had sued Mahfouz for LE 5 million after Mahfouz terminated his contract with Maktabet Misr to move to industry leader Dar El-Shorouk.

El-Sahhar had previously told the press that Mahfouz’s books do not sell and that he simply kept publishing them to keep the memory of the friendship between his father and Mahfouz alive. Rumor has it that it was for this reason that Mahfouz moved to El-Shorouk in the first place.

Friends of the Nobel Prize winner say they had tried to convince him to terminate his contract with Maktabet Misr for years, saying the publishing house cranked out works printed on lousy paper with poor quality binding and unforgivable mistakes not just in editing, but often in page sequence.

Mahfouz had always insisted on staying at Maktabet Misr “to honor a contract with a dear friend.”

None of us will likely end 2006 without catching a glimpse of the hackneyed words “Based on a true story” on both the silver and small screens.

Director Magdy Mohammed Aly is preparing to shoot a new TV series about Soad Hosny, the famed actress known as ‘Egypt’s Cinderella’ who plunged to her death from her balcony in London nearly five years ago. Also in development is a TV series about the late Abdel-Halim Hafez, where producers are likely preparing to cash in on the hype surrounding Halim, the biopic and final film of the late actor Ahmed Zaki (whose son completed his father’s role), which is scheduled for release in July.

Other TV biographies on the drawing board include two about late and great musicians Mohammed Abdel Wahab and Baligh Hamdy (the late brother of Egypt Today Editor-in-Chief Dr. Mursi Saad el-Din).

On a related note, the race between belly dancers Fifi Abdou and Dina isn’t showing any signs of a slow-down as each struggles to bring her dream project to life. Abdou and Dina are looking to play the roles of belly dancing icons Taheyya Karioka and Samia Gamal, respectively, in two upcoming projects.

And for the punch line: Actress Zeina is reportedly thinking of doing a biopic based on the story of Hind El-Hennawy. Here’s a suggestion: Ahmed El-Fishawy can appear as himself to give the flick a chance at box-office success!

Art by Zeinab El-Segini