KUALA LUMPUR: Actress Raja Ramilah Begum Raja Mohammad or Raja Ilya has ticked off detractors who claimed that her offer from Hollywood to star in a coming Marvel film was false.
“I don’t foolishly announce something which hasn’t been confirmed. I actually went for an audition and received that Hollywood role,” she said in a news report yesterday.
Raja Ilya, 32, also said she did go to Hollywood to sign an acting contract with the producers of the film, and her visit was arranged by an artiste agency based in the US.
“I got the role last year and subsequently went to Hollywood. However, when I read the script I found out that my character had to perform certain acts which would offend Asian sensitivities and contradicted Islamic values,” she said, adding that this prompted her to decline the role.
She admitted that preparing to work in the US was not easy, as it required her to get a special visa and fill in several forms. “All these has to be done within a year.”
Even though she said no the Hollywood role, Raja Ilya was optimistic that she would “make it to the US” one day.
“The fact that I was offered an American film role is a sign that I might get more offers there in future.”
The actress also said that she had chosen to ignore her detractors on social media, and get on with her work.
Early this year, Raja Ilya got her fans excited when she posted a photo of herself arriving at the Los Angeles International Airport on her Instagram account.
In the post, she revealed that she would be in Tinseltown for two weeks to attend a series of auditions for a big film.
She also said that she had spent six months of intense preparations and was “ready to go”.
However, Raja Ilya announced that she had turned down the role last month because she could not meet certain requirements. This prompted some Netizens to question the truth of her film offer.