Will Smith has urged Mena Massoud not to give up on his "dream".
The 51-year-old actor has offered advice to his ‘Aladdin’ co-star after the 28-year-old star revealed he’s had no auditions since the release of the blockbuster earlier this year, and insisted the movie industry is "hard" and he needs to persevere with his "deepest love and focus".
Asked about Mena’s situation, the ‘Spies in Disguise’ actor told People magazine: "The thing about this business, that is not unlike life, it’s hard by design.
"It’s like the universe, God, whatever you believe, designed it to be hard. So, if you’re having a hard time it’s because you’re supposed to.
"That difficulty is overcome by patience, commitment, dedication, endurance — so if you have a dream, you desperately have to be willing to work on it every single hour of the day with your deepest love and focus. You can not get around having a hard time."
Mena admitted earlier this week that people had expected him to make millions following the release of ‘Aladdin’ but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
He said: "I’m kind of tired of staying quiet about it. I want people to know that it’s not always dandelions and roses when you’re doing something like ‘Aladdin’.
" ‘He must have made millions. He must be getting all these offers.’ It’s none of those things. I haven’t had a single audition since ‘Aladdin’ came out.
"I feel like I’m going to be overlooked and underestimated for a long time because I am a young actor. 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."
Will Smith’s advice to Mena Massoud
