Nollywood veteran Omotola Jalade Ekeinde thinks chemistry has been downplayed in the Nigerian film industry.
Speaking to the press on June 21, 2017, during a screening of her upcoming movie “Alter Ego,” the actress spoke about badly made sex scenes, having the support of her husband and creating chemistry for sex scenes.
The actress also shared how she created her chemistry with Fred Amata for the classic movie, “Mortal Inheritance.”
“I think the problem is when it’s unnecessary. Some filmmakers just put in sex scenes and you will be like ‘huh? What the hell was that for?’ And it’s very poorly done.
“Like, when I said I don’t watch myself, you thought I was joking. I would sit down here and I will ruin the experience for everyone.
“I will just be boning. I criticize myself so much and that’s the same way I criticize movies.”
“The saddest part is when there’s a badly done sex scene. It’s very irritating and embarrassing. As if that topic isn’t already embarrassing, you now have to worsen it. And sometimes, it kills the whole movie.
“I think the most important thing is always have in mind is ‘is it necessary? ” In this particular movie [Alter Ego] it was very necessary.”
“Omo T, you go fit,” the director asked her. “I won’t do that if it isn’t necessary,” the actress reiterated.
“As the professional that he is, he too wants to be convinced that you did it because it was necessary. And I know that when he is watching movies sometimes, he too would ask ‘ah, did they have to kiss if they weren’t going to kiss well?’
“You don’t even need to chop somebody’s mouth if you don’t want to. If the scene isn’t about you showing mad and crazy love, which you don’t need to show the mouth to mouth kissing, there are ways you can cheat for camera.
“They say camera can shot from different angles, and it depends on what I shot, that’s what you will see. There are ways you would position the camera and convince the viewers that you’re actually kissing, even if you are not.”
“In Nigerian movies, we have downplayed chemistry, I hope we can bring that back. In those days, for example when I was shooting “Mortal Inheritance,” I had to spend time with Fred Amata.
“He was even a director before we shot the movie – not now that you can see your director and say ‘high five’ -those days, we used to respect directors. Nollywood of those days, if you see a director, you greet him like he is your father.
“So, you can imagine my director, who had directed me in a prior movie now acting as my lover in “Mortal Inheritance, and I was young and coming up. I was really afraid.
“But, we made that easy by me spending time with him. He kind of like demystified himself. We had chemistry and I’m hoping that all of these comes back to Nigerian movies.”
Directed by Moses Inwang and produced by Esther Eyibio, “Alter Ego” debuts on July 21, 2017.
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