Amr Wakkid: "I learned Italian in 3 Days"

In a conference yesterday, Amr Waked explains his role in the Italian film "The Father and The Stranger." The film is about a father of a mentally retarded son, who gets help from his Middle Eastern neighbor (Waked) in learning to connect and communicate with his son and accept his son's disability in exchange for helping his neighbor in his own life. "I was offered a copy of the script in English and after reading it, I immediately accepted the role. I was drawn to the idea of East and West coming together to help each other and signed on right away. However, the contract called for me to tape my role in French, and would later be dubbed into Italian, which I refused because I felt it would contradict my integrity as an actor. So I learned all my lines in Italian in 3 days to play this role in the most believable, authentic way possible." When asked why he was given this role, Waked responded it was probably due to his ethnic look. He was to play the role of a Syrian man living abroad in Italy and simply looked the part. The film is directed by Ricky Toga, stars Alessandro Jasman and Lebanese director Nadine Lebky.