June 2, (THEWILL)- Eniola Ajao is a first-time movie producer whose indigenous epic movie, ‘Beast of Two Worlds’ followed in the footsteps of Odunlade Adekola’s ‘Orisa’, Femi Adebayo’s ‘King of Thieves’ and ‘Jagun Jagun’, etc. She speaks with IVORY UKONU about the movie, the controversy surrounding it and sundry issues. Excerpts:
You recently joined the league of female movie producers whose works are selling out in cinema halls. What is your epic movie, ‘Beast of Two Worlds’ all about?
The film is about a king who faces banishment from his home unless he is able to produce an heir to his throne. His desperation for an heir however pushes him to take a new wife, thus inviting chaos into his kingdom. I got the inspiration for the movie from Femi Adebayo’s ‘Ageshinkole’. He took such a huge risk to make the movie. In the Yoruba arm of Nollywood, we usually don’t take such big risks, but Femi took that risk and I was motivated that if he could do it, then I could as well. I began sourcing good stories to retell and finally decided on ‘Beast of Two Worlds.’
You revealed that giving embattled cross dresser, Idris Okuneye, aka Bobrisky, the award for ‘best dressed female’ during the premiere of the movie was a way to promote the movie. How so?
Well to get people to talk about it. In the beginning, I was afraid that the movie may likely not sell out the way I would want it to. When I saw the story, I knew it was going to do well, but I did not want to depend on that belief alone. I needed to do more, to push for more visibility. I was the originator of the publicity stunt. It was my idea. I sent Bobrisky a message, and he responded immediately. I explained to him my idea about the premiere and that I wanted to create some buzz. He agreed without questions, even though I wasn’t going to pay. He told me that he had done something similar before. So, I came up with my own buzz. It was all just create noise around the film. But after the backlash, some of the influencers that I wanted to use felt reluctant and I had to step back and focus on social media, paying blogs, and doing a lot of adverts online just to keep the movie buzz going.
What is your take on the stunt degenerating into a social media quarrel between actors Femi Adebayo who announced Bobrisky as winner and Dayo Amusa who called him out for presenting the award to the cross-dresser?
I felt so terrible because I just wanted to create a buzz, nothing more. I didn’t even know such was going to come up. When I saw the issues it generated, I started making calls to placate all parties because it was never my plan to create issues. I just wanted to create a buzz.
Just like Femi Adebayo revealed about selling his property to fund his hugely successful movie, ‘Jagun Jagun’, you also claimed that you had to sell your property to fund the movie
Yes, I had to sell a lot of things. I sold my cars. I sold my parcel of land in Lagos and then some of my gold jewellery. I sold them to make the movie. It was a decision I had to take without telling anybody because a lot of people would have said, ‘Don’t do this, you don’t even know what would come out of this; you cannot sell all your life investments just because you want to make a movie.’ This was why I decided not to tell anybody. I sold everything and decided to go on with it.
How successful was the movie in the first few weeks and how is it doing now?
It did well and is still doing well. I am so grateful to God.
Funding a film for the cinema is not cheap in Nigeria. Do you think you have what it takes to consistently raise the amount of money that you will need for every film you want to make?
I can’t possibly go to the cinema with every production. Cinema is like once a year. I can do my normal YouTube movies, and other productions constantly instead.
Will you now rank yourself as an A-list actor and movie producer and increase your engagement fee?
I love my Yoruba industry people because we are always supportive of one another. No one can take that away from us. So, I’ll always be there for my people. I will just reduce the number of jobs I take though as I will be going more into production.
Until recently, many did not know that you have a young adult son. Why did you keep him away from the public?
It was a decision that I took long before I even entered the industry. He is 22 years- old. I was going to be 21 when I had him. So, I thought no man would want to marry me with a kid, I had that mindset. So, I had to keep it from the public. When people started undermining me in the industry, I made the revelation. You know sometimes, people use that as a yardstick to measure your age and I detest it a lot. To the glory of God, I have not put myself in any scandalous affair and you can’t see me everywhere. You cannot shy away from things like that. It comes with the job. When people see you in movies and on screen, it is the job that entices them.
Do you think celebrities should strive to keep their private lives off social media like you did with your son?
The thing is you cannot put everything on social media. People don’t need to see everything about us. One thing that is affecting us in the industry is social media because before now, people respected and appreciated us more. Right now, we don’t even amount to anything in the eyes of these people because we put a lot of drama in their faces. They no longer want to use one Naira to watch us because we’ve given them all the drama. So, I am an advocate of not putting everything out there. You’re a celebrity; people should constantly seek for you, not you giving them what they have to talk about all the time. People no longer appreciate us like before and I keep saying it. They have seen everything that we have to offer. They have seen it all and it shouldn’t be like that.
You seem to be quite close to Odunlade Adekola. Is he your mentor in the industry?
Yes. Even before I became who I am today, I always made myself available for his productions. I have been in the industry since 2003 and I didn’t get noticed until 2010 or 2011 when God used this man to push me out there. He has always been in support of my career and I have always been in support of whatever he is doing.
Is it true you almost poisoned yourself at a point in your career?
Yes. It was because something about me was published online. The news about me was far from being true. I didn’t eat for like seven days. The people that were around me can testify to this. I couldn’t go anywhere. This was around the same time when I was planning my movie. My sister, my son, everyone was calling me because the story came from nowhere and I felt terrible.
What is next for Eniola Ajao?
I am having another production soon by September and it should be out by next Easter.
If you weren’t an actress, what other profession do you think you would have excelled in?
An accountant maybe. I am still going back to do my MSC. I got my first degree from the University of Lagos.
Ivory Ukonu is a versatile journalist with many years of experience, with entertainment and society reporting as her area of core competence.
