Khaberni - Amr Youssef expressed his great admiration for the movie "Ibrahim Al-Abyad" starring Ahmed El Sakka, admitting that he felt artistic jealousy when he first watched the movie.
In a TV interview, Amr Youssef said: "I watched Ibrahim Al-Abyad many times, and initially I did not like it during its cinema release".
He added: "I tried to understand the reason and discovered that I felt jealous of the movie. It has become an icon and a prominent signature in cinema history, and I had long wished to present a similar topic".
He continued: "At that time, I was mostly categorized in roles of the handsome young man or what is known as 'the sweet guy,' a classification that was also applied to the great actor Mahmoud Abdel Aziz at the beginning of his career. I refused to be confined in this box and tried to break out of it, as I am not someone who lives a lavish life; I am very close to the street and reality, and this movie was like a dream for me".
Amr Youssef praised the movie saying: "Ibrahim Al-Abyad presented a completely different image of the Egyptian street that we had not seen before. The film was distinguished by its art and performance, whether from Ahmed El Sakka, Hend Sabry, Amr Waked, or the late great Mahmoud Abdel Aziz in the role of 'Abdel Malik Zarzur'. It is a global work, not just an Egyptian movie".
He concluded his talk saying: "Perhaps I did not like the movie initially because of my jealousy towards it, but over time it became an inspiration to me, and one of the most important films that influenced my artistic career".
Amr Youssef spoke about the action scenes that he performed in the movie "Shako", explaining that he executed all the action scenes himself without the help of a stunt double, saying: "In the movie Shako, I did all the action scenes myself, including jumping from the fifth floor."
He added: "Ahmed El Sakka is the main reason why we as actors started to perform action scenes ourselves, as he was one of the first to insist on presenting this type of scenes, and took the level to a new phase, even though many around him did not realize its importance at that time."
Amr Youssef expressed his dismay at some people's view of acting as an easy profession, explaining: "Unfortunately, there is a general perspective that makes me feel hopeless about changing it. Many people think that acting is an easy job, but the truth is that it is extremely demanding. The more your fame as a star increases, the more difficult the profession becomes. This profession has destroyed the lives of many who could not withstand its pressures".
About the beginning of his career, Amr Youssef said: "I started my journey through advertising, and I used to get 8000 Egyptian pounds per day of shooting an ad, which was a significant amount at that time. I worked in advertisements for about a year and a half, during which I made more than 20 thousand pounds. Despite this, I decided to sacrifice working in advertisements and dedicate myself to acting, which took me 7 years of struggle, as I believed that my real goal was acting, not making quick money".
