On growing up, and childhood memories: I have so many of them and that has helped me in moulding myself into what I have become today. Despite the fact that my father was wealthy and well known, I lived as a child whose parents were striving to survive. The money my father had then was used in feeding multitude, so there was no such attention for us. Also, the kind of training we had was different. I practically grew up on the street, learning street trades and all, so although I was seen as been born with a silver spoon, in the actual sense, it was a wooden spoon. And today when I look at what we went through then and how we managed to survive, it helps me in telling my stories better, because I was able to cut across people in different background, age grades and class.
His long break off the screen after his role, Aresejabata in Saworo ide: I was working at a bank when I took up the role of Aresejabata then and so I had to take time off work to play that role, thereafter I went back to my job. Two years after, Agogo eewo was shot and I also managed to features in few other films. But it got to a time that I couldn’t combine both careers any longer, so I had to make a decision on what I want to do. So I resigned from my job in 2004 and set up my company.
On why he hardly feature his brothers, Gabriel and Aremu in his movies: It would be a wrong casting if I feature my brothers in a movie because I want them to be a part of the production. I know some families in the industry that does that and I have explained it to them before. It is absolutely wrong casting.
I can’t imagine me playing the role of a policeman in a movie, while Gabriel plays the criminal. It is very wrong. The only way you can justify such casting is if he plays my brother. Even if we are both playing roles that are not linked in a movie, professionally, it is wrong. The Wayans brothers for instance, play the role of brothers in all their movies. Dharmendra and his children in any Indian movie would play father and children and the same goes for Amitabh Bachchan and his children. It is only in this country that a whole family plays diverse roles in one movie.
Professionally, it is wrong and I will never do it. If I’m not in a film and I think any of my brothers would fit into the movie, they will do it. Gabriel understands because I have explained to him several times.
His view on the Yoruba sector of Nollywood: In terms of the quality of Yoruba movies, they have better stories and their films are better understood compared to the English speaking ones. The only thing I think they lack which they’ve improved upon is the production value. Looking at most of the English speaking movies these days, they even lack content, there is no story and all there is to it is glamour. You can tell five minutes into the film what would happen at the end of the film.
It’s a general problem though, which I think cannot be collectively solved because it is in other parts of the world. As big as Hollywood is, there are people who are producing DVD and high quality films, while others produce very low quality films. So it’s just a free industry where freedom of expression is allowed and you can pick your phone and make a film.
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source: alabamau2
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