EGYPT (Housaper)–Egypt’s "El Ahram" daily newspaper reported that Spanish actor Antonio Banderas has refused to play the role of Ataturk in a major motion picture about the Turkish leader–citing as reason complaints from his Armenian and Greek fans.
The Arabic language newspaper said the British "Telegraph" newspaper reported that Banderas received numerous e-mail messages urging him not to take the role of a person responsible for the death of thousands of Armenia’s. "Telegraph" also reported that the role had also been previously declined by Omar Sharif–Douglas Fairbanks and Kirk Douglas.
The Turkish government recently allowed the ten year $40 million production to be filmed in Turkey–with the precondition of the involvement of Turkish artists. The film is based on the 1964 book by Lord Keve Rossi.