I Only Accept Nollywood Roles That Don’t Require Deep Intimacy – Emeka Okoye

Nollywood actor Emeka Okoye has explained why he turns down kissing roles in movies. He recently revealed that he avoids such scenes due to his personal covenant with God.

According to him, he cannot go against his covenant with his Creator all in the name of interpreting a role, hence why he only features in movies that allow him to kiss safely.

Emeka, however, added that he still accepts romantic roles as long as they don’t require deep intimacy.

His words, “It has always been God’s guidance. Since I started acting in 1999, I’ve turned down roles that go against my covenant with God. I do ‘safe kissing’ scenes like in Ms. Counselor but not deep or tongue-to-tongue kissing.”

WOW.

Nollywood is a sobriquet that originally referred to the Nigerian film industry. The origin of the term dates back to the early 2000s, traced to an article in The New York Times. Due to the history of evolving meanings and contexts, there is no clear or agreed-upon definition for the term, which has made it a subject to several controversies.

The origin of the term “Nollywood” remains unclear; Jonathan Haynes traced the earliest usage of the word to a 2002 article by Matt Steinglass in the New York Times, where it was used to describe Nigerian cinema.

Charles Igwe noted that Norimitsu Onishi also used the name in a September 2002 article he wrote for the New York Times. The term continues to be used in the media to refer to the Nigerian film industry, with its definition later assumed to be a portmanteau of the words “Nigeria” and “Hollywood”, the American major film hub.

Film-making in Nigeria is divided largely along regional, and marginally ethnic and religious lines. Thus, there are distinct film industries – each seeking to portray the concern of the particular section and ethnicity it represents. However, there is the English-language film industry which is a melting pot for filmmaking and filmmakers from most of the regional industries.