‘Yoruba actors have complex’ – Funsho Adeolu

Funsho Adeolu is not one to be toyed with, especially concerning professionalism.

Nigerian Entertainment Today met with the 45-year-old actor at a movie location in Ikorodu, and he spoke candidly on why he has been absent from English movies, and why Yoruba movies and actors are not in the spotlight like their English counterparts.

Let us start with your assessment of the Nigerian movie industry.

There has been a lot of improvement. At the moment, we don’t have a control agency, [which] is why we see some very funny things on TV, but when I started acting, the kind of cameras we used and technical know how we had was nothing near what we have now. We use very high-tech cameras now, the latest cameras they use overseas. We are progressing.

Is the industry lucrative?

It is very lucrative, [and] that is why everybody is coming in. The fact that it is lucrative is the reason there are so many people in the industry, and that has resulted in the lack of control in the movie world. These people wouldn’t have come in if there was no money.

Apart from lack of control, what other challenges do you think Nigerian actors face today?

Personally, I don’t see challenges in my job as anything difficult. Instead, I try to always enjoy them. I see it as a work hazard, and such things are obtainable in every other profession. Personally, I like challenges, [they have] this way of letting me know that I am working and makes me learn more, work properly and be more prayerful.

You once worked in the corporate world as a journalist. How easy was it to convince your family of your decision to act?

My decision to dump advertising and journalism for acting was like an adventure. I came from a broken home but it did not affect me. My parents were in the teaching field and wanted me to be what they could not, but they did not force me. I actually wanted to be a lawyer, I wrote JAMB four times but did not make the cut-off for Ife, (Obafemi Awolowo University). I started acting when I was in school, as a hobby. After I finished, I decided to go for acting professionally. It wasn’t hard convincing my parents, because at that time, I was already staying alone. They tried to meddle at some point, though, because they felt I was not as big as they expected, but I asked that I be left alone. What I have always wanted to do is not to look for money, but to be satisfied. I wanted to be content, successful, and to enjoy myself, and acting for me at that time was enjoyment, but now it is strictly business.

Are you successful and contented now?

If I was not, you wouldn’t look for me. I have become a household name. There is nowhere in the world you will go to that somebody will not know me, [and] that’s the primary stage of what I want to achieve in this industry. I just want people to know me, and for good jobs too. My knowledge of advertising and brand management also has helped me carve a niche for myself and it has paid off. A lot of people respect me and can’t even explain why.

You started out with soap operas but have not done those lately. Why is that?

After starring in Palace, then Super Story and later Family Ties, it will be difficult for me just to do anything lesser. If good work comes, I’ll be there. When the era of soap operas started, there weren’t many on the TV, but now we have so many soaps on TV, appearing in all of them would only make me lose my worth.

Why have you been absent in English movies these days?

When I started out, I always had an eye for professionalism and respect for the profession. I have always had an eye for perfection in everything I do. I like to be in the midst of people that are professionals. Even at that time, when I was in English [movies], I never worked with anybody apart from Tunji Bamishigbin, Jimi Odumosu, Tade Ogidan, and the likes. During that period, I got offers from others but I always declined.

Why?

Because they were not professionals. Theirs (Igbo filmmakers) is usually a case of somebody who started as a production assistant and in a year, claims to be a director. I had a standard and used to refuse their offers, but when it got to a point, all the people I mentioned (Tunji Bamishigbin, Jimi Odumosu and Tade Ogidan) left movies for soaps, and as an actor by profession, I had to eat. Antar Laniyan was the one that advised me to try Yoruba movies.

What are the differences between Igbo filmmakers and their Yoruba counterparts?

There is no big money in Yoruba movies, but I have realized that they are after knowledge, even though they are not as [well] read as the English people. I saw it as a place I could learn. Usually, the process starts on apprenticeship level, and after five years of training, [a person] tries his hands on things.  There is also a type of oneness in the Yoruba movie sector. The Yoruba setting has a system that is informal, but well-coordinated and educational for me, [and ]that makes me more comfortable and at home, but when professionals from the Igbo sector call me, I go, especially when I see that it is my kind of job. Apart from that, I don’t do any English movie, because what they do now is that the marketer is the producer and the director, and they haven’t learned anything about production. I am a director too, and I always want to learn when I get on every set.

Isn’t it the same in the Yoruba sector?

In their case, (Igbo movie makers), often times, their marketer is [also the producer and director]. I’m not saying it is professional, but it can be done, and well, too. Mel Gibson is a director, producer, actor and that is what we are looking at, but that does not mean everyone should do that. The Yoruba genre is as guilty. They feel it is a normal process for an actor to grow to become a producer and director, but it is not so. There are producers, actors and directors, but in trying to manage money and be everything so that people can reckon with them, that’s why they are doing it now so it’s not a professional thing.

How true is it that Yoruba movies are produced in a few days, and what effect does that have on the sector?

That is not peculiar to Yoruba movies alone, but to answer your question, yes. That is the way we have been doing it, a lot of people (producers) lie about it, but that is how it is. It is left for actors to maintain a standard and try not to do everything. It used to be worse, there was a time movies were shot in four or five days, but right now it is improving, and people are getting things right. Some even go abroad to learn about the technicalities involved (in filmmaking). I must say here that it was not this bad at the beginning, but some nonentities came in and made a mess of the system. I remember those days when I use to act on TV, majorly on NTA.

Then, there was no rush about anything. The planning stage used to take more time than production itself, but when one finds oneself in this type of situation where it is your profession, if you run away from it, you will come back begging for it; one must stay and try to change it, which is what is am doing now.

Is it true that there is a disparity between Yoruba and English speaking actors and why is this so?

Maybe because of the standards these days for Yoruba actors, naturally, there is bound to be a small complex, and as it is over there, if you do not showcase yourself, nobody will see or think you can do anything. Some people who saw me on Family Ties were surprised, forgetting I was a major character in Wale Adenuga’s Super Story.  If a Yoruba actor doesn’t try to show him or herself in any English speaking movie or soap, nobody will know they can speak English, but we have more read people in the Yoruba movie industry more than English.

Why is there more international acceptance and spotlight on English movies compared to with Yoruba films?

The unfortunate thing is that in the Yoruba actors’ world, they are self-confined. We are satisfied with ourselves, but talking about travelling, Yoruba actors and producers travel more often than the English, but they do it for relaxation and enjoyment. A few producers are doing well though, Muyiwa Ademola, for example. Let me mention that not all Igbo movie producers are making their mark; only a few of them do movies with good quality, the likes of Amaka Igwe, Emem Isong, Jeta Amata,Desmond Elliot. They are in a clique and are doing professional things, which are different from the regular Igbo movies. It is the orientation they have in the Yoruba set up that is stopping them from moving and thinking like that. I am sure very soon they will understand why they need to showcase some stuff out there.

Are there English actors you admire?

I admire Olu Jacobs and his wife [Joke Silva], Bimbo Manuel, RMD, Genevieve, Ramsey Noah. The Yoruba [actors] Yomi Fash Lanso, Antar Laniyan, Funke Akindele, and Fathia Balogun. We have a lot of them, but if I mention too many people, I’ll step on toes.

Of all the movies you have ever acted in, which has been the most memorable?

Iyan Ogun Odun, and that is because of the role I played. I couldn’t have done it for money but for acting, I’ll do anything apart from getting naked and having sex on set.

What would have been your reaction, should that have happened to you in real life?

I’d run away. Far away from everybody, I wouldn’t even try to look at her because if I did, I would have forgiven her.

It has been eight years since you got married, how has the journey been so far?

In my home, there’s real love, and that is why I’m saying there’s no love; a lot of people don’t know what love is. These days, a lot of people don’t get married because of the love, they do it because they have to be married or because of the wealth involved or the person is pregnant and the marriage, forced.  Mine has been great because I got married to my friend, we dated for eight years and it has been awesome till date.

You have a background in music, are you planning to delve into music soon?

I am not following that path. I used to play the drums, sing and dance very well. I am a complete theatre person. For a lot of my colleagues trying to sing, I can’t refer to them as musicians because music is a very complex thing. They think it is all about beat, but that is just a part of what is needed. Even the  popular people aren’t musicians.

Finally, at age 44, when do you plan to quit acting?

An actor is an actor for life, I can’t stop acting. Oga Bello (Adebayo Salami) is 60 and he’s still very active as an actor, so by 70 I’ll still be an actor, but it may not be like this anymore, because I’ll want to relax, I’ll be into production. I’ll have an outfit making movies, not as a producer, but in partnership with some people. We will have a producer, writer and directors, and I would be the technical person.