Since the very beginning of A-Ikhtyar 2 episodes, her name and photos topped the social media trend on Facebook with people posting scenes of her crying and begging her husband to leave Rab'aa. “Om Ibrahim” starring Ghada Talaat played an attention-catching role where she managed to convey her fear, shock and despair to the audience in the scenes she played.
After her success in the role, “Trendify” interviewed Ghada Talaat to know more about the reason why her scenes won people’s admiration, how she managed to play a completely different character from her in appearance and age and what she looks forward to doing next.
Ghada: I felt that I travelled back in time through the character and as if I am trying to stop terrorism and all the fear that followed
How did you manage to strike a balance between playing the role of a woman who belongs to MB meanwhile she fears the result of the beliefs of her husband and have to obey him in what she disagrees with?
After reading the script of my role, I felt that “Om Ibrahim” is a totally different person from me that if I tried to only adopt her traits, people may not believe it. So, my decision was to live inside the character, act as if I am there in this situation at this time and my husband is pushing himself and his family towards ultimate death and doing terrorist deeds. I recalled my fear as a person back then and felt that I travelled back in time through the character and I am trying to stop terrorism and all the fear that followed. When “Om Ibrahim” was begging her husband to leave Rabaa, go home and never participate in murdering innocent Policemen. I felt like this is me wishing I was there to ask people to stop the flood of blood.
The keyword was “belief”. I believed the role, imagined what a wife would feel and how would she react if she was there while witnessing her husband trying to kill innocent people, then dying and her son taking his first steps towards the same fate. All this alongside the poor background and low level of education, making her unknowing of what to do.
Have you met the character of “Om Ibrahim” in real life or someone similar to her?
I have met many people from a similar life background in terms of the physical appearance, the accent and the way of reacting to things. This was in Mansoura where I used to go in my childhood during holidays since my grandmother lives there. Over there, I have seen women wearing similar clothes and talking with the accent of “Om Ibrahim”. So, the character was there somewhere inside me that I didn’t have to learn her accent. Slang like “Allah al Wakeel” that “Om Ibrahim” was saying a lot, I have heard women in Mansoura saying it this way so it was not hard to mimic them.
Ghada: The reaction of "Om Ibrahim" to her husband's death wasn't written and I suddenly felt it when I went to location
Your facial expressions topped social media with people praising how your face without talking conveyed what the character felt, have you studied body language?
No, I honestly just believed, felt and let my body and face freely react with the situation as if I was there myself. In the scene where “El-Khateeb”, Om Ibrahim’s husband, died, what was written in the scenarios was “He falls dead amid loud shouts”, the day before, stayed up all night unknowing what I shall do because there was not an indication of what she will say or how she will react. All of sudden, when I wore Om Ibrahim’s clothes, went down to the location in Rabaa and saw the extras, found myself in the shoes of a fearful wife, started begging him and crying out loud when he died because of the fate he drove himself to. I was very surprised when I saw this aired on TV as I really don’t know how with no written lines I just mourned a husband like a wife would.
Ghada: After every shooting day, I used to have a photoshoot in the golden hour next day
In real life you are younger and different in style than Om Ibrahim, how did you see the risk of playing a no-makeup role of an older woman?
In the roles I played before in “Halawet El Donia”, “Raheem” and the other works I acted in, I appeared with my natural look or at least closer to it. However, “Om Ibrahim” was totally different from me in real life and all my surroundings kept warning me from playing the role. My friends said that playing such a role of a mom in my age would categorize me so my fears were doubled. Moreover, I personally love wearing makeup in my daily life so the no makeup thing was totally unlike me. One thing that made me take the role was that I believe a professional actor would take any role and succeed in it as long as it is authentic. I believe that this profession is about achieving both the actor’s and audience’s satisfaction through playing real life relatable roles regardless of any other considerations.
Sometimes the clothes and looks were depressing to me and made me feel a lot older, so I made a habit after each shooting day, I made a photo session or just took some random photos next day in the sun’s golden hour to feel that Ghada is still there in the same age and nothing changed.
After the considerable success you have achieved, What do you plan to do next?
Currently, I am shocked with the audience’s reactions and how they saw the role. All the praise I received from people I don’t know writing social media posts about the role was amazing and surprising especially that it comes from the members not critics. As per what’s next, I am hilariously frightened. My friends keep telling me that whenever a success is achieved, we shall be happy with it for a little bit then look forward to what’s next and this is exactly what I will do. I wish I will work with talented and amazing directors who would believe in me and my ability just like Peter Mimi did.
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