If she thinks it, she’ll say it. If she feels it, she’ll share it, and if she dreams it, she’ll probably do it. She’s the box-office’s brightest young thing, a stunning silver-screen starlet with a wicked tongue and an irresistible wild side. In this Enigma exclusive, Fashion Director Maissa Azab showcases Zeina’s sizzle in summer’s sexiest pieces while Hassan Hassan talks testing times, taboos and yes — Tamer Hosni — with Egyptian cinema’s zestiest treat.
Few things are as powerful – or dangerous – as a beautiful woman who doesn’t feel the need to hold her tongue. Even the most biting remark is forgiven at the bat of an eyelash and a subtle pout of lip. Zeina knows this and she is very aware of the power of a pretty face and an irrepressible tongue. Brazen, haughty and just a tiny bit scandalous, everything she says, does or thinks is forgiven. Not because she’s particularly sorry, but when she turns those big doe eyes on you, it really just doesn’t matter.
We schedule the interview for a Friday afternoon; she is currently shooting a series, Layali, for Ramadan, with a hectic schedule and shoots throughout the week. It’s been two years since Enigma last sat down with Zeina and in that time, she has catapulted from rising star to mega box-office leading lady. She has morphed herself into ‘the girl next door’ cum sex kitten, using the myriad of personalities – that flit across her face throughout the next hour of our interview – to their fullest advantage on screen.
Setting aside professional journalism for the weekend, I arrive at the interview a little late, a little disgruntled and very confused as to where we are supposed to actually sit with one another. When I arrived in her vicinity, Zeina asked me to stand next to a black Jeep Cherokee and call her. She then jumped brightly out of a trailer and waved me over. Her hair wasn’t done yet, she wasn’t wearing make up, but I immediately recognised that pull she has on screen. That infallible secret ingredient that if bottled would sell out in 10 minutes. Today she is clad in black sweats and a T-shirt, but she may as well be wearing latest couture from Paris; her allure is much deeper than her garments and style. When we meet, her bee-stung lips break into a smile and we jump into the trailer.
This isn’t movie star glamour found on MTV’s Cribs. This is basic stuff: a hairdresser, make-up artist and assistant stand relaxed but ready at attention. There is an air of nonchalance as she jokes easily with each of them, pokes fun at their attitudes and lets out an evil cackle that is immediately juxtaposed with a not-so-innocent cock of an eyebrow. She is not a diva, she simply knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to ask for it. I am instructed to grab a seat while she puts on her face and am offered the myriad drinks from the kiosk outside – ah, the glamour of Egyptian stardom.
Thirty minutes later, we finally have time for the interview. She folds herself up on the couch next to me after she has fought with the make-up artist over what products she simply has to keep. She does this with that signature mixture of mock-petulance and sugar-coated aggression. She is not someone who is used to hearing ‘no.’ It’s a powerful formula that has catapulted mere mortals into super-stardom – think Britney Spears before the divorce and Jessica Simpson before the weight gain. She’s got it and she’s going to use it to get whatever she wants, from the latest Chanel compact to that dream movie role.
“It’s part of my personality. If I see something I don’t like, it has to be changed, and I find that people want to please me. I always get what I want, it’s become normal for me to simply get my way,” she says in a tone that is beyond matter of fact. When I ask her how exactly she ensures people bend to her will (more for my own personal knowledge then anything else), she smiles and waves her hand with the simple response: “Charisma.”
Is this a big super-inflated superstar ego speaking? Not according to her. “People see that I’m kind, I have a good heart, and if you’re going to call me vain then you really don’t know me. I’ve worked hard for everything I’ve got,” she says. And she has worked hard; she has been involved in some of Egypt’s biggest recent box-office blockbusters. Most notably, she was the object of Tamer Hosni’s affection in Captain Hema and had a starring role in Wahed Sifr (One, Zero) — a Crash meets El Qahira 30 scenario which tracks a day in the life of eight characters from all walks of life. She plays an aspiring singer from the wrong side of the tracks, who gets caught up in the wrong side of the industry. Her performance was so riveting she was nominated for a Best Actress award at this year’s Berlin Film Festival.
“My roles have become bigger and bigger over time,” she says. “I’ve become a better actress because I’m playing roles that ask a lot more of me as an artist,” she adds very seriously. This is just one of the many faces of Zeina.
So does she have a dual personality?
“Just two? Try 60,” she says then falls into a fit of her trademark laughter.
My favourite thing about Zeina is that she is very aware of what matters and what doesn’t. She just simply doesn’t do fake… apart from her freshly applied lashes. “I don’t care what people think, it’s only the people that matter that I listen to; and I can count them on one hand,” she says, raising her hand and counting them off with flourish. “I’m a traditional and old-fashioned girl, but I only ask of these things from my close friends. I have a big heart, but I don’t forgive easily. Once you cross me, it’s done. But still if you’re sick or if something is wrong, I’ll come visit and help you out as much as I can.”
Her career has taken centre stage since the death of her father a year-and-a-half ago. “I’ve become much calmer, I don’t care as much about frivolities, I lost something huge in my life and since then nothing else has really mattered.” Yet Zeina doesn’t act like a victim. She’s too busy trying to play the heroine. “The more success I get, the more stable and calm I become. When God gives you a lot of success, you have to be careful to remain grounded. My upbringing has kept my feet firmly on the ground. Every step has been hard and I’ve gained wisdom along the way.”
And onto the juicy stuff! Zeina isn’t shy. She speaks easily and freely with little regard to the fact that this is going to be in a magazine. “I like men with a sense of humour, if he’s gorgeous but damo teeyil, then it’s a lost cause… ” She thinks about this for a minute as she considers her reflection in the mirror, “I don’t want to be with someone ugly though, he has to be nice to look at,” she adds with a raucous laugh. “He has to be someone I can depend on, someone who scares everyone else and is tough in front of everyone but me. He has to be sensitive with no one else but me. Not fake… I can’t stand it when people are fake, like when celebrities run to cancer hospitals in an effort to look like an angel to the public. I would do it so others could follow my lead, but never to make myself look better.”
So she doesn’t like fake guys, celebrity is difficult, get to the good stuff already… aka that rumoured affair with Egypt’s very own prince of pop…
You know I have to ask this question…
“About Tamer Hosni?”
Yes. Watching you guys in Captain Hema I got the feeling you guys were simply good friends more then anything else…
“Really? Then you clearly not a very emotionally person.”
So there is something going on?
“Listen, I can understand why people are talking. They always pair me off with my co-stars. Apparently I’ve gotten married in secret to every one of my leading men. Why would I get married in secret? When I get married – to whomever – I will announce it and have a huge wedding. Why would I miss out on all that? But if I was ever going to end up with any celebrity, it would be Tamer, he’s the first one who comes to mind. The way the story is going, we’re going to end up together. I won’t find anyone like Tamer.”
All this just from working on one movie with him?
“It’s not about the work. It’s about eshra; we’ve grown together.”
So the rumours are true?
“I’m not saying that, but when they say something about Tamer and I, I think ‘OK, they have a point.’ But I’m not ready for all of that. You’ve got to remember, I’m still in mourning since my father’s death.
At 23, Zeina is technically living the dream. She jet-sets from coast to coast, she has a closet stuffed with couture and a superstar dreamboat that she’s apparently going to end up with… one way or another. “I love to travel,” she says, “I love the people in Europe and walking through the streets.” I then ask if it’s tough for her to walk in the streets of Cairo being a celebrity…
“In Cairo?” she waves her hand dismissively, “It’s not the people — I’m allergic to dust.”
Zeina’s defining point is her willingness to let people in, share a laugh and make sure we’re all having a blast in her company. It isn’t just charisma and fluttering lashes that make people obey her every whim. It might be a little simpler; she might just be nice. And so we whittle away the rest of the afternoon happily chatting… about Facebook, her phone and the million little things you talk to a friend about on a lazy Friday afternoon. Both the ‘girl next door’ and the sex kitten persona clearly working their magic…