Despite the many criticisms that followed the “Al-Hiba” series regarding accusations of glorifying the mafia and drug man and making him a hero, his mass success was his biggest supporter, especially since people were attached to his characters and heroes and to the story of the superhero “Mountain Sheikh al-Jabal” who succeeded in overcoming all his enemies .
Mona Wassef, along with Tim Hassan, is considered one of the most prominent pillars of this work, which the “Al-Sabah” company decided to turn into a movie instead of concluding its five seasons with a sixth season, betting on the audience’s attachment to it, and perhaps she was almost certain that this large audience “would not let him down.” Rather, “he will express his loyalty to him by his cinematic presence, where the accounts are different because it is people who go to cinemas while television enters every home.”
prestige heroine
Mona Wasef, the heroine of “Al-Hiba”, indicates in an interview with “Al-Modon” that she supports the idea of crowning the five parts of the series with a movie, but she does not hide that she was surprised when she learned that the “Al-Sabah” company plans to produce a movie regarding it, and adds: “It is a beautiful and pioneering step.” It is unprecedented in the history of Arab drama, because a TV series has never been turned into a movie, but the opposite has happened, meaning that movies have been converted into TV series.
Wassef continues with joy: “The opening of the film in Dubai brought me back to the year 2017, when we presented the first part of the “Al-Hiba” series, where we were honored at the “Dubai Film Festival”, and this matter did not happen before because no drama series was ever honored at a film festival. .
euphoria of success
And regarding her opinion of the ingredients that were available in the “Al-Hiba” series and made it enjoy all this glare, Wassef believes that there are things that cannot be explained, and she says: “Success cannot be bet on, and even in Hollywood they do not bet on success, because sometimes they can offer work and when To achieve success, they produce a work similar to it, but it will fail, even though its production cost is much greater than the cost of the first work. This has happened over and over once more. I do not know what is the secret of the success of “Al-Hiba”, whether a series or a movie, and we were all surprised by it.”
Wassef adds: “The ecstasy of the success of the “Al-Hiba” series for five years is unbelievable, and then the euphoria of the success of the film came. I do not know what to say, but I am sure that it is a gift from the Lord of the Worlds to the artist, and there is no other explanation for what happened with the “Al-Hiba” series. In its five parts, and then with the film.”
Few scenes
Although her scenes in the movie “Al-Hiba” do not exceed the number of fingers, but Wassef stresses the importance of the role she plays, regardless of the number of scenes, and explains: “I have never stopped at the number of scenes in any work I participated in, and every scene I present is (Master Sin). For me, for example, if I participated in five scenes, it must be above description, and the same thing if I participated in three scenes or only two scenes. What matters most to me is working on my scenes and not their number, and all I care regarding is my presence in the artwork, whether Whether it is a movie, a series, or a play, I work on my part, just as a farmer cultivates his land in order to grow crops and roses.”
Eighty years experience
Wassef, whose artistic career spans more than 60 years, is not burdened by acting. She says: “The more stressful acting, the more fun it is.” The role of the usurer in the play “The Merchant of Venice”, although he did not need this role, but his passion as an actor was what prompted him to try acting on stage.
Wassef continued: “Passion is what drives the actor to go through different artistic experiences, and the actor likes to feel that he understands everything and who is like that continues, and acting is fun for him, and all fatigue soon disappears and is replaced by fun.”
Wassef believes that “in my experience as an actress, I reap the fruits of a long artistic history, not limited to one or two series, one or two films. When I participated in the movie “The Message”, I was supposed to be afraid of any role I might play following it, but I did not do that but rather I said that this international movie is a gift from God, and I went back to the National Theater and stood on its stage as I usually do, then I participated in a movie, and following that I participated in the series “Asaad Al Warraq” in 1975, which achieved an unparalleled success. “I also traveled to the Gulf, specifically to Dubai, and then I came to Lebanon. All the works I participated in were important to me and I did not stop at all.”
Wassef left for Dubai, accompanied by director Rasha Sharbatji, to participate in the “Star Academy”, which is directed to students wishing to study acting, where they undergo training courses and graduate from them to become stars in the world of acting.