The Mummy, which isn't seen as a 'good movie' to my eternal sadness, had some great middle eastern actors cast in it. going through the wiki article, here's my breakdown. I apologize in advance for hijacking your thread.
Imohotep: Arnold Vosloo, born in South Africa. I felt he looked and acted the part. Didn't look too white. Weren't the ancient Egyptians have light olive skin?
Ardeth Bay: Oded Fehr, born in Israel. He did a bang up job, and looked good doing it. I'm glad he returned in the second movie. Pretty sure you know exactly who he is. ;)
Doctor Terrence Bey: Erick Avari, born in India. He isn't technically middle eastern, but he isn't white either. Thought he did a great job too. He was the head of the secret society guarding Hamunaptra.
Warden Gad Hassan: Omid Djalili, British Iranian. The fat smelly and unpleasant prison guard / official. He'd be the second 'middle eastern' actor. Did a good job, and looked bad doing it. :)
There are all of the extras who I presume were middle eastern. The movie was shot in Spain, and later the Sahara. The assassins from the boat scene all appear to be white actors.
A cheesy movie set in the Middle East can have non-white actors primary or supporting roles. I think the Mummy benefited from that.
I actually don't like when Israelis play Arabs, but your comment just made me think "Prince of Persia...when The Mummy is doing better than you at something, give up."
...Actually, why WASN'T Omid Djalili in Prince of Persia? He's a good funny character actor and there was a funny sidekick that still wasn't cast as Persian.
I can see how having an Israeli actor portraying an Arab could be politically problematic. Still I feel it's better than getting a obvious white guy for the role.
Yeah, when the Mummy does a better job it is time to give up. :D
Omid Djalili would make a good funny sidekick. His original profession was a comedian I think.
This is totally off topic but I knew you'd get it: I put a hidden reference to the Tales of the Arabian Nights game in one of my fanfics. Jafar is a genie, but he's in his human form, and the person recognizes him as an evil vizier and says "I never thought about what I should do if I met a wicked vizier" and Jafar just snaps, "Pray." It's not obviously a game reference, but I couldn't resist putting that in there since Praying is possibly the one reaction that screws you over the least.
(It's actually a Mummy/Aladdin crossover, so maybe it's sort of on topic? Anyway, I don't post that here but if you ever wanted to read any of my fanfic it's on fanfiction.net and my username is LadyJafaria.)
I was thinking along the lines of Imhotep invading Agrabah. A Dungeons and Dragons campaign set in the Arabian Nights setting. Second edition had that in the Al-Qagim setting.
Imohotep: Arnold Vosloo, born in South Africa. I felt he looked and acted the part. Didn't look too white. Weren't the ancient Egyptians have light olive skin?
Ardeth Bay: Oded Fehr, born in Israel. He did a bang up job, and looked good doing it. I'm glad he returned in the second movie. Pretty sure you know exactly who he is. ;)
Doctor Terrence Bey: Erick Avari, born in India. He isn't technically middle eastern, but he isn't white either. Thought he did a great job too. He was the head of the secret society guarding Hamunaptra.
Warden Gad Hassan: Omid Djalili, British Iranian. The fat smelly and unpleasant prison guard / official. He'd be the second 'middle eastern' actor. Did a good job, and looked bad doing it. :)
There are all of the extras who I presume were middle eastern. The movie was shot in Spain, and later the Sahara. The assassins from the boat scene all appear to be white actors.
A cheesy movie set in the Middle East can have non-white actors primary or supporting roles. I think the Mummy benefited from that.
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...Actually, why WASN'T Omid Djalili in Prince of Persia? He's a good funny character actor and there was a funny sidekick that still wasn't cast as Persian.
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Yeah, when the Mummy does a better job it is time to give up. :D
Omid Djalili would make a good funny sidekick. His original profession was a comedian I think.
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(It's actually a Mummy/Aladdin crossover, so maybe it's sort of on topic? Anyway, I don't post that here but if you ever wanted to read any of my fanfic it's on fanfiction.net and my username is LadyJafaria.)
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(The only work I had to do for my crossover was ignore the Aladdin sequel which I'd have done anyway.)
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