While critically assessing the Nollywood movie industry, filmmaker and director, Kesiena Obue urged top actors to wake up from redundancy and stop being stereotyped.
Obue, a respected filmmaker behind several blockbuster movies also expressed her worries over actors who are not pretty, handsome and sexy, as they might be relegated to the backseats in near future.
Hear her, “Characterization is suffering in Nollywood. We lack diversity in characters. Majority of our characters are the same. Handsome man, pretty, sexy babe; stereotypical and flat. No depth. A lot of Nollywood actors approach different characters the same way. Same mannerism, same vocal pattern, same gait, same accent, same physicality, same emotional delivery. Same everything. They go as they are. No difference between their real life selves and the characters. Actors need to discover the physical qualities of their characters; Mannerism, physicality, posture/gait, vocal pattern, behavioural norms, culture, the internal qualities.”
She continued: “Writers need to give their characters soul and personality. Directors need to help their actors find the soul and personality of their characters. The character is not only the heart of the story but the story. As an actor in Nollywood, if you are not handsome, pretty and sexy, I pity you. There is no market for you at the moment.”
