Popular comic-actor, Charles Inojie is still wondering how he was
tricked into featuring in that lewd film titled ‘Calabar Girl’ directed
by Jerry Don Nwachukwu. The film was produced by Divine Ezeibekwe and
banned immediately after it was released sometime in May, this year by
the National Film and Video Censors Board. Charles recounts the story of
how he got involved in the production. He also talks about the coup
that catapulted him to the top while working as an Assistant Director
under Lancelot Imasuen among other issues. Excerpts:
A comic-actor!Do
you know that I am not aware that I am a comedian?
There are places I
visit today and I tell people that I am not a regular comedian;someone
you see and you start laughing or someone who is ever ready to act as a
clown when the occasion does not call for it. I see myself as a very
serious person. I see myself as a good
actor.
If I do comedy roles well, it is only
because that is where I have probably, been most tested and again not a
function of any kind of training I had. Except that I probably just have
it in me. I believe that my late grandmother had the strongest sense of
humour that I ever found in anyone and I benefited generously from her
talent. Maybe, I am one of those you would say are naturally gifted as
humourist.
School of hard knocksI hate it when I hear
people say, I am self -made. There is no one on earth that is self made
otherwise people like us are not supposed to be where we are today. When
I picked my bag one morning and told my father I had secured admission
into the University of Port Harcourt , the man only laughed at me. We
were living in Ogun State then, and I hail from Edo State .
He
said, ‘you did not try to gain admission into the now Ambrose Alli
University, Ekpoma or University of Benin so that your financial
challenges could be better courtailed . But now that you are going to
UNIPORT, would help come your way?’.
In school, it was just me
and my closest neighbour which is poverty. When I woke up in the
morning, the first person that told me good morning was poverty. But I
think, God gave me a special grace. Beyond all these travails, there was
always a point I wanted to get to, and that was to graduate from the
university at the end of the day.
I graduated from the University
in 1999, and in 2000, I was already on set with Lancelot Imasuen as an
Assistant Director. I was part of the productions he did in the early
2000, such as Last Burial, Isakaba, August Meeting and many others.
Therefore, I would say joining Nollywood was not as difficult as it has
been for most of my colleagues. This is because I had someone who
provided the platform for me to launch my acting career.
Beyond
that, when I became a full-fledged director, I had the producers to
contend with, who were always driven by the passion to expand their
profit margin. I am a gift from God because in spite of all that I
passed through, one happened to be one of the very few people who have
enjoyed prime patronage and I thank God for His mercies.
Relationship with Lancelot ImasuenThat
is another story altogether. I was telling some of my close friends
recently that Lancelot is my friend because a lot of people believe
that we are brothers. I actually met Lancelot in 1992, at UNIPORT where
we sat for the entrance examination for the Certificate Programme in
Theatre Arts. He was in the company of another friend of ours known as
Kennedy Ovbiahon who’s now late.
After sitting for the qualifying
examination, we returned to our different locations and later had to
meet again when we were offered admission. Lancelot was as poor as I
was, while on campus. It was only natural for us to share the same
apartment in school. And since then, we have been good friends.
Joining NollywoodWe
have made some humble contributions to acting. As a matter of fact, my
very first movie as a full- fledged director was titled Police Recruit,
then Two Bad Boys. I shot back to back for OJ Productions. I also
played one of the lead roles then. Thereafter, I starred in Tortoise,
another movie produced by OJ and directed by Adim Williams. I was an
Assistant Director in that film. At the time, the three lead roles were
given to John Okafor, Okey Bakassi and Victor Osuagwu.
charles-Onojie2As
a second year student in 1997, I had done a movie with Adim also
directed by Lancelot Imasuen. It was a comedy titled, The Year 2000.
Adim played the lead role while I had about 12 scenes. Adim asked me to
play the role but the producer did not want me. But when the flick was
released, it was a big hit. The film that gave me my break was when I
played the role of Mr. Dumbra in Corporate Maid.
Venturing into actingI
am a very shy person. I am not one of those who would have ended up as
an actor. I am a great lover of literature. The late Professor Bode
Osanyin of the University of Lagos then had a place in Ijoko, Ota in
Ogun State called Writers Resort. What the Resort does was to invite
literary enthusiasts, writers, poets, dramatists and literary critics to
a retreat.
The guest reader for the month would read his poems
or plays and respond to questions from the gathering. Being fresh from
secondary school then, I and my friend, Malik Ibitoye, now a
journalist, would make it to the literary gathering. This particular
month, late environmentalist, Ken Saro Wiwa was hosted by the resort.
Before
then, Bassey and Company, a popular soap opera was already a rave on
television and Saro Wiwa was already making waves on the international
scene with his Ogoni struggle. Saro Wiwa was large and because we have
read some of his plays, the enthusiasm to meet him was very high.
Usually, we went to the resort that fateful Saturday evening, arrange
the chairs and cleaned the environment. Late Professor Bode Osanyin
urged us to stage a short play for Wiwa. Initially, I refused to be part
of the play, preferring to do something different.
But somehow, I
was encouraged to be part of the short play. Immediately, the last
scene was over, I ran backstage to hide myself. While I was hiding,
they invited me back on stage. But lo and behold! Saro Wiwa singled me
out and asked if I had acted before, I replied in the contrary. He
asked what I was doing, I said I was a Jambite and wanted to read Law.
He
asked if I had secured admission, I said I was waiting for my JAMB
result. He reasoned that it would take about eight to 12 months and he
advised me to enroll for Certificate programme that would last for 10
months. When we left, Malik and some of my friends encouraged me to do
so. That was how I secured an admission to do certificate programme in
UNIPORT. While doing the programme, I discovered I had only come face to
face with my destiny. So, I did not spare any time to seek admission
for a full time degree programme.
Growing pot bellyIn
fact that is the more reason we have to thank God for Osofia’s life, if
not, people would still believe that big tummy is part of the
requirement for one to become a comedian. Osofia has been able to proof
that you don’t need to have a big tummy to be a successful comedian. It
was common problem most of us had to contend with then but thank Gos
Osofia has proven it has nothing to do with it.
I cannot stab myself in the stomach to reduce it but I discovered that it is easier to acquire it than to shed it.
Starring in “Calabar Girl”movieThis
is what I cannot even explain. Some time ago, a senior colleague of
mine invited me to be part of his new production. For over 15 years, he
has not shot a single movie as things were really rough for him. He
was staging a comeback and needed my support. I have known him for
several years and as an undergraduate, storming Lagos those days to
attend auditions, he was one of the foremost directors in Nollywood
then. There was no way I could have refused to support his return to the
industry.
That was how I ended up starring in that movie. To
win my sympathy, he narrated how a marketer once rejected his film
simply because he did not feature regular faces in the film. I appeared
in few scenes in the movie which was shot in three days. I have no idea
whatsoever regarding what lewed scenes he had previously shot.
In
fact, I’m yet to understand why he decided to shoot such movie. I think
he took his desperation too far. I’m surprised that he used my face to
promote pornography because the very day I saw the movie jacket, I knew
something was wrong with it. There was no way I could have been part of
the movie if I knew from the out set that what he has shot was
something close to an adult film.
Wife’s reactionI
thank God that I married my friend. I try as much as possible to be
truthful to my wife. She saw the movie and got convinced that my
character was not in any way connected with those dirty scenes in the
movie. In fact, she has nothing whatsoever to be angry about.
What I learnt from the projectWhat
I have learnt is that next time, I should be wary about who comes to
ask for my help in disguise. Next time, I would insist on seeing the
previous script before accepting to be part of any make-up scenes in a
movie.
Meeting my wifeI met my wife the way other people meet theirs.
Marriage experienceMarriage
is wonderful. I was talking to one of my senior colleagues the other
day and I told him, I now know why he wanted me to get married. I think I
am a better person now than before. Things that you would ordinarily
react to are things you now take a second look at. Marriage has calmed
me down. I am a lot more mature now and I am happy
The January transfer window has opened with the sensational revelation,
which we reported a couple of days ago, that Mata is free to leave.
This came post Chelsea’s 3-0 win against Southampton yesterday. Mata
started the game for the Blues but he was substituted very early on in
the second half, much to the frustration of the Spanish international.
Former Super Eagles defender Sam Sodje and his brother Akpo have been
named as belligerents in the high-profile match fixing scandal
threatening to undermine English football
OLUWAYINKA DADA writes on the achievement of a 20-year-old
Nigerian, Osarieme Anita Omonuwa, who recently bagged a First Class Law
degree and was awarded the prestigious Chancellor’s Award at the
University of Reading, United Kingdom.
Ask any woman and she’ll tell you that the reason you shouldn’t have
sex on a first date is that the guy won’t call you back because he’ll
think you are easy and will have lost interest.