Clementina Olomu
9 February 2008
interview
Lagos — Saint Obi needs no introduction as one of Nigeria's renown actors. For a while now, he has not been appearing in movies, the sector he made his mark in.
In his quest to move up the ladder of success in life, Obi came up with a public relations firm, Agwhyte International Limited, under which he produced his first movie, Take Me to Mamma'. That was three years ago and that marks his first experience in production. In order to give his viewers some good stuff, and for him to be able to achieve the dream production that he had always craved for, he wrote into the scripts a scene where he actually had his BMW car wrecked in a bombing incident.
Right now, Obi is coming out with a new one, which is bills to be the blockbuster of the year. He has titled it True Color. In his burning desire to ensure that Nigeria's image is uplifted beyond the pedestrian, Obi has been doing lots of research on how to produce that special movie that can stand side by side with a Hollywood job and so would be able to sell Nigeria's image in a better and more positive manner on the international stage amongst renowned global actors and film makers. He talked about all this in this special encounter with Clementina Olomu.
What have you been up to. Most of your fans have not see your face in movies in a long while?
I've been working on my latest movie titled True Color, and I'm also trying to see how I can get involved in packing and repositioning Nigeria, how we can move her towards the positive light in a global setting
How do you intend to do that?
I feel my new movie can serve as that medium. I'm a film maker and l have the greatest medium to do that, which is film making. I've always said that Hollywood is America's greatest result yielding weapon. Bollywood, located in India, is using the industry to showcase the beautiful side of India, That's not to say that these countries don't have their ugly sides, they do. They select the beautiful side and showcase them on television. The power of film and television cannot be over emphasised. I decided to shoot this movie so as to match words with action. I feel very bad when I step out of this country and get treated shabbily because of my identity. I'm a proud Nigerian. For the fact that some 0.01 percent of us are bad does not mean that the world should see all of us as criminals.
When you say 'treated shabbily', what do you mean?
From the time I started traveling abroad, each time I present my international passport for scrutiny at the airports, I'm put to ridicule. I say that with a quote now. If they give other nationalities a minute or two, they give me six to ten minutes, that is if one is not given a worst treatment. It is not right that people would judge us without knowing who we are. Other countries also have crooks, just like they have good people. But ours is just different. People look at us firstly as criminals, before they see the genius in us. I feel this is because we are not telling our own side of the story, because the good guys are not coming out to say, Nigerians are good. Except this is done the few bad guys will keep representing us. I think the time has come for us to take back our image.
So how do we go about telling people our own side of the story?
We need to tell the world that we are honest and hard working men and women. Nigeria is a country full of possibilities and honest people. Every one of us has the opportunity of meeting different people at different times. We must always seize on any available opportunity to educate them. And we should try to be nice and honest in every transaction we do because these people we encounter everyday, will pass on the message. Nigerians have produced some of the brightest people in the world in different field of endeavour's. We have the likes of Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Mike Adenuga amongst others.
If we cannot stand our grounds on who we are, few rotten eggs will mess up the whole lot of us. By the time you say Jack, our image goes likewise.
My movie is the weapon I'm using to launder our image. Apart from this, I have also designed something I call Project Tell the World. I want to tell the world that Nigeria is just like any other country. We have the good, bad and the ugly people. I also want to tell the world that the Nigerian government is working in conjunction with other foreign security agencies to track and punish fraudsters. There is no safe haven for fraudsters in Nigeria. It is also important for them to know that before people will fall for fraudsters, they had to have been fraudulent themselves. This is the side of the story that is not told. People look at advance fee fraud and think Nigerians are corrupt. What about the man that wants to make millions that he did not work for?. This is what people are not looking at and it is the story that must be told,
My movie is also a love story. I'm telling the story in such a way that people will see where I'm coming from, this is what I've done. I portrayed the good, bad and the ugly. What ever you want from a good movie is what is in my movie.
I'm still discussing with the government sector and corporate organisations We must move this campaign beyond the shore of Nigeria. Other Nationalities must know that Nigeria is the best place to do business, we have everything you can imagine. God has really blessed this country. We must prioritise and get our image right.
You came out with your first movie, Take Me to Mama, three years ago. Why did it take you this long to shoot the second?
I set a record with my first movie. I don't believe in going to location every week. It is not a business of buying and selling. Movie making is an art; as we all know, art is priceless. If you want an artwork to come out well, you need good planning, articulation and perseverance. You must get the right people to work with you to ensure that the vision comes to pasts. If it takes one year to come out with a movie, just do it well, because we are supposed to be ambassadors.
After that film, I told myself I have to do something better. I wanted to do something that will look at par with Hollywood works. I am discussing with an international distributor that will distribute this movie to the western world because the world must hear the story. The movie serves as a point of contact to the young ones who watch foreign movies, so they will know it is not generally a bed of roses out there.
If the Americans and Europeans did not build their environment the way they did, most of us would not want to go there to spend holidays. Our leaders must live up to their responsibilities; they must look inwards and search their souls.
They should endeavour to build and give back to society. I know that the future is bright, the present administration is doing everything humanly possible to put things right and l can see light at the end of the tunnel.
In your first movie, you blew up your car. Did you recoup the money at the end of the day?
I'm a professional, and with all sense of modesty, I believe that only the best is good enough for the public. During my first movie, we did not have the technical knowledge of what it takes to blow up structures in a movie. Since it was my first time of producing a movie, I did not know how to blow up a car and make it look real, I did not want any part of my movie to look fake. So I had to make that sacrifice. But if I have to produce a scene like that today, I know there are technical ways of achieving that without wrecking my car. In terms of getting my money back, well, God is faithful.
You've been an actor and a producer, In what ways could an actor be short-changed by the producer?
I don't know where to start from, (laughs). In case of being an actor and a producer, I must say that it is not easy. As an actor in Nigeria, acting is not a means to an end, unfortunately, unlike the way it is in Bollywood or Hollywood. For that reason, you must wake up while you still have your head high, or else, they will use you and dump you and you find yourself left with nothing at the end of the day. This is the mistake a lot of our predecessors made. They ran with the euphoria that the fame brings, and at the end of day, it did not bring in money. An actor must gravitate into producing, this is very important for those who believe that film making is actually where they really belong. For me, it comes naturally because I am one of those who acted in most of the blockbuster movies that is seen in Nollywood today. But I must confess it is not easy playing dual roles. In terms of short changing the actor, I must say this, if you want to be exploited, you will be exploited. Some of us have paid our dues and exploitation is not part of the game.
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