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Aladdin Star Says He Needed Disney's Approval to Star in Hulu Gangster Series


You might think that being the star of a major Disney film would lead to huge opportunities for a rising actor. However, Aladdin's Mena Massoud claims he still struggles with finding new projects to work on. Interestingly, he even had to get permission from the House of Mouse when he was cast in a gangster Hulu series.

Massoud was recently interviewed by The Daily Beast where he revealed that he had auditioned for Reprisal, a noir thriller created by Josh Corbin, at around the same time he was cast in Aladdin. In the report, it was stated that Massoud's team told Corbin that they had to let Disney know that the actor would appear in a gangster thriller. The idea baffled Corbin, as he had no idea that Aladdin was being made into a live-action reboot.

Although that kind of thing would probably discourage other actors, Massoud admitted that he was thrilled that Corbin didn't know who he was when the show creator cast him in a role that was so different from Aladdin.

"I feel like I'm going to be overlooked and underestimated for a long time because I am a young actor," Massoud said. "I'm an up and comer in the sense that I've been doing this for 10 years, but to a lot of people, Aladdin's the first thing they've seen me in. So I think I'm going to be viewed that way for a long time. I'm going to have to work at chipping away at that."

We're glad that Massoud is finding ways to prove himself as an actor. Needless to say, we can't wait to see him in his new show.

Reprisal will air on Hulu on December 6.

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