Will Smith sympathizes with his Aladdin co-star who complained that he has been ignored by Hollywood since the movie surpassed $1 billion in worldwide ticket sales.
Mena Massoud, an Egyptian-born actor, starred alongside Smith, who received praise as the blue genie.
Massoud told the Daily Beast his career has tanked since the movie’s release. He says he is not getting calls from movie studio’s offering roles.
“I haven’t had a single audition since Aladdin came out,” he said. “The big truth is I haven’t really seen a big anything from [the film].
“It’s like, I’m sitting here being like, okay, Aladdin just hit $1 billion — can I at least get an audition? Like I’m not expecting you to be like, ‘Here’s Batman.’ But can I just get in the room?… Can you just give me a chance?”
Massoud, who is 28, believes his age might be hurting his chances to land a movie role in Hollywood.
“I feel like I’m going to be overlooked and underestimated for a long time because I am a young actor,” he said.
Smith was asked to comment on his former co-star when he attended the Hollywood premiere of his new animated film Spies In Disguise on Wednesday.
Smith, 51, seemed surprised to learn that Massoud was an unemployed actor who is down on his luck.
“Uh I’m just hearing that right now so I haven’t spoken to Mena,” he told Variety.com.
“But he is a spectacular actor, and he has nothing to worry about,” he added.
