If playing a villain is the most fun an actor can have, playing a sleek con man might be one of the most challenging roles to take on, says actor Amr Youssef.
The Egyptian star, 44, recalls preparing the titular role as a con artist in Darwish, whose attempt to steal a rare jewel in one last job before going straight goes disastrously wrong. Youssef recalls preparing for the role as similar to a writer crafting a novel.
"The villain is really a straightforward matter and can be one-dimensional at times that often violence is used to project power and to ensure that everyone else knows where he stands," he tells The National.
"A con artist is a different thing altogether. The actor really has to draw the character, so to speak, on screen in detail, build those emotional details in a subtle way and then instead of power, you need charisma. There is a lot going on that you have to keep mindful of."
Out in Egyptian cinemas on Thursday and in UAE cinemas on August 28, the film features a stellar Egyptian cast including Tara Emad, Dina El Sherbiny and Mohamed Shahin.
Youssef describes his character as a man torn between living his code of “think fast and act faster” and getting acquainted with a newfound domestic life after being caught in the lives of two women (Emad and El Sherbiny) who have their own secrets to hide.
"One of the things that drew the character in was that he found himself in a home with children and responsibilities when he absolutely didn't want to. Then he starts enjoying them," Youssef explains.
"It then moves quickly, full of events and shifting loyalties and you want to know what happens next – to Darwish, to the women in his life, to everyone caught in his web."
Youssef shares plenty of naturally zippy exchanges with El Sherbiny, something honed from more than a decade of working together in various projects such as Grand Hotel, a 2016 television series based on the popular Spanish telenovela, as well as the 2016 romcom Kedbet Kol Youm.
The latest film marks the ninth time they have worked together, and Youssef says he is not surprised by their on-screen chemistry. "We have come to understand each other immediately on set," he says. "And in Darwish, Dina is doing something different in that there is a real sharpness to her character that she captures perfectly."
While they share a close friendship, getting that chemistry relies on more than personal rapport, he explains. "It comes from truly believing the other actor and you are both not just reading the lines. You are really turning the words on paper into flesh and blood."
As for the reported friendly rivalry between the two, Youssef says people are looking at it through the wrong lens. "I don't really believe that the stronger actor steals the scene," he notes. "I think it's the opposite – the better the actor opposite you, the stronger you become."
It's a collaborative approach that he learnt starring alongside Egyptian actor Nour El Sherif in the 2007 drama series El Daly. In his screen debut as the adopted son of a business tycoon played by El Sherif, Youssef recalls how the veteran actor ensured everyone on set felt valued.
"And even if you weren't part of the production, he made you feel special," he says. "I remember one evening after a particularly long shoot, we were all exhausted. A family approached him in the street wanting photos. He was tired, we all were, but he stopped and spent time with them – asked about their children, made them laugh."
The lesson stayed with him. "Later I asked him about it, and Nour – may God bless him – said, 'Never say no to someone who likes your work. They're the reason we do this.' I learnt more by just watching him than being told."
A keen observer of regional industry trends, Youssef says Darwish is a throwback to a kind of Egyptian cinema lost amid the seemingly unending waves of superhero blockbusters from the past decade.
"The saturation of these superhero films over the years has really affected all film industries, not just Hollywood," Youssef notes. "You're even getting big directors like Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino frustrated at how American cinema has narrowed."
The comparison to Egyptian cinema is telling. "If you look at Egyptian films from the 1950s and '60s – films like The Nightingale's Prayer or Cairo Station – they were simple stories, beautifully told, with characters you cared about. That's what has been gradually disappearing."
This is what ultimately drew Youssef to Darwish, it has that connection to earlier tradition, because its commercial appeal is backed by substance.
"It reminded me of the films I loved watching years ago. It has the warmth, elegance and attention to detail and a certain generosity towards the audience,” he says. “But at its core, it's about character and consequence, not explosions or special effects. That's the kind of story worth telling."
Darwish is now showing in Egyptian cinemas and will be in UAE cinemas on August 28
