Les Baghdad is the first of its kind in Egypt, a gripping adventure comedy that raises the bar for action sequences and special effects. We caught up with the stunning Yasmine Raies to find out what makes this movie one to watch.
CWM: Tell us about your character in Les Baghdad, what made her a special role to play?
Y.R: Les Baghdad was a new challenge for me. I portray a history fanatic named Salma Soliman who gets involved with Youssef, played by Mohamed Emam. They embark on an adventure to hunt Alexander the Great’s treasure.
I am always drawn to any project that enables me to play a new character, and in Les Baghdad, my character has a lot of action scenes, and she has her own brand of comedy. What drew me to Salma is how funny she is as a character, with her own catchphrases and unique reactions to what is happening around her. She’s a non-traditional girl, with a special interest in history.
What drew you to this project, what makes it different from other films being released nowadays?
The movie presents a new genre of Egyptian filmmaking with a lot of special effects and graphics to deliver the scenes in a very polished way. The scenes the audience will watch are a first for Egyptian cinema!
The film looks like it had some challenging scenes to shoot, how did you prepare yourself to take on the role
The challenges weren’t in the action scenes only. There were scenes that combine action and comedy, which is new for me. I had to do physical and mental preparations for the movie, but I was working with professional coordinators because some of the scenes have stunt work. The drowning and the tomb scenes were definitely challenging, but the drowning scene is definitely one of my favorites and also one of the scenes I had to train for the most to be able to shoot it perfectly
Could you relate to the character you played? What about the other characters, what was your impression of them?
With every character I perform I have to muster a part of my own character so I can portray it genuinely. All the movie characters are special in their way, and I believe our harmony is what’s going to make this movie a success! Whether it’s Amina Khalil, Mohamed Emam, Mohamed Abdel-Rahman, or Fathy Abdelwahab, they all did a phenomenal job.
Read our previous interview with Yasmin Raeis here
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