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Mena Massoud has lined up his next role and it’s a big one: portraying legendary British boxer Naseem Hamed in the upcoming biopic “Giant”.
Known to fans by the nicknames Prince Naseem and Naz, Hamed held multiple featherweight world titles during his 10-year professional career, including the WBO, IBF and WBC titles.
Massoud, the Canadian-born actor best known for playing the title role in Disney’s live-action “Aladdin”, will be starring alongside Paddy Considine (“House of the Dragon”), who’ll be playing Hamed’s Ireland-born boxing trainer, Brendan Ingle.
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Massoud took to Twitter to share his excitement at the news.
“Time to put some real respect on our names,” he tweeted. “Lot of work ahead to do the legend justice. #Prince #Naz.”
Time to put some real respect on our names. Lot of work ahead to do the legend justice. #Prince #Naz https://t.co/aJVY26nL4i
— Mena Massoud (@MenaMassoud) January 25, 2023
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Rowan Athale (who directed the 2012 film “Wasteland” and is a writer on the AMC series “Gangs of London”) will write and direct the film.
“Giant”, notes THR, “will focus on Hamed’s rags-to-riches rise as a child of working-class Yemeni immigrants in Yorkshire who became a southpaw superstar. ”
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