Why people have not been seeing me in movies –Jude Orhorha
Orhorha |
What’s the latest about you?
How do you mean? Professionally
or personally?
Professionally. And if there’s any personal as well, you can tell us.
Professionally, I’m still an
actor.
You’re still an actor. What does that mean? That statement is filled
with unexplained nuances, as you’ve always been an actor.
Well, for some time, people have
not been seeing me. But I’m still an actor. If they invite me for their
programmes, movie activities, I’m very much available.
You used to be in Lagos. You’re now in Abuja. What are you doing there?
Ehm, it’s kind of personal,
because it’s an office job, and it’s ehm, a personal thing to me anyway. I do
other things outside acting.
How long have you been doing this thing in Abuja?
Since September last year (2017).
Is it that you can’t be a full-time actor?
Of course, I’m a full-time actor.
Once there’s a movie job, I take excuse from the office, I go out and do it and
come back to the office.
But would being a full-time actor give you time for a 9-5 job?
Yeah, sure. My job is not 9-5
anyway. It’s 8 to anytime and it’s not subjected to weekdays alone.
Some people say Nollywood is more about quantity than quality. Do you
agree?
Now, it’s more of quality,
because we’ve been able to penetrate the international market, that’s one. Two,
there’s a series of film festivals, a series of trainings, a cross-pollination
of both worlds, Hollywood coming to Nigeria and Nigeria going to Hollywood so
there’s a lot of improvement in terms of quality.
You’re an actor who’s been lucky enough to become successful in
Nollywood despite how challenging breaking through there is. How would you
advice an upcoming actor who’s finding it difficult to become successful?
If the upcoming ones have a
mission or a vision, they’ll not be easily distracted. Some of them go into it
because they hear lots of actors are making big money out of it, while some
people are in it for the passion, you know, and you can actually deduce from
both, you understand. People who are in it for the money don’t last, that’s it.
Recently, Uti Nwachukwu said acting doesn’t pay that much. Is that
true?
I beg to differ. It’s about you
being at the right place at the right time. I mean, actors now earn three
million, four million per script. Yeah, that’s true. Some even earn more than
that. And if you’re a good manager of money, if you’re very good in managing
your resources, I don’t think you’ll ever be poor.
Have you ever produced your own movie?
Oh, yeah.
How many have you produced?
Ehn, just four.
How easy or difficult is it to produce a movie?
It’s easy to produce and it’s
easy to fail. It takes a deep person to understand how I put my answers because
it’s not just going into it for the sake of doing it because you see other
people doing it. You go into it because you want to add fans in your
profession, you understand. Before, an actor produces, acts the movie, directs,
becomes the marketer, becomes the location manager, blah blah blah. But now,
everybody has been wise enough to know that, look, you have to draw a line,
it’s either you’re going into it fully or you’re not. If you’re going into it
fully, you’ve to take your time and it’s easy for you to succeed. If you’re
going into it because other people are doing it, then it’s easy for you to
fail.
There are some movies that’ve been setting records at the box office.
Can a movie by you also set a box office record like The Wedding Party, A Trip To Jamaica?
Sure. I don’t need to travel
abroad to make a statement. And everybody has his own, how will I put it,
everybody has his own manner of approach, his own style. You want to make a hit
because you’re using actors who’re faces, who have their own followers, then
you now want to put class by going to Dubai, US. I can as well make a movie
with just six, seven people and shoot at Obudu Ranch and have a tight story and
yet make my hit. So it’s not how many people you use but how well you use the
small people you have. And I strongly believe in strong content.
In Fuji House of Commotion,
you were that guy who couldn’t talk and all that. How were you able to portray
that role so well?
Well, that’s because I belong to
a school of method acting. A method actor takes his time to do research, ask
questions, read lots of books, then get to know the character inside out. So it
takes time to mature into the character, it takes time to build it up, and it
takes time to maintain it. Now, that character itself has been in existence
since 1990. Checkmate. It was from Checkmate, ten years down the line,
Amaka Igwe started Fuji House of
Commotion from 1990 to 2000. From 2000 to 2010, it stayed consistent. So
everybody sees me, that’s that deaf and dumb guy. Some people even believe that
I can’t talk.
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