THE NAIJA THESPIAN:ARE WE THERE YET

An actor should be able to understand the rhythm of the script, get the joke and sing the lines... people like Sam Jackson and Christopher Walken don't grow on trees..." -Tarantino   
With the cinematic release and festival rave of several films, directed by and starring Nigerians, the Naija movie industry is finally moving in a direction where can be known for more than just mass production of movies. The scripts are improving, the cinematographer is rising, but is finding performers that can NAIL  a role,dialogue,performance still a problem in Naija films?

Look at it this way. We remember certain roles, because of the way they were played and how powerfully they resonated with us. Pacino as Scarface and Michael Corleone, Eastwood as Dirty Harry and Man with no name,Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter,Nicholson as Jake Gittes,Spacey as Keyzer Soze, Brando as Don Corleone,Clark Gable as Rhett Butler,Glen Close as Alex Forrest,Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice, etc etc. These are roles so iconic that some actors have trouble escaping them, e.g Christopher Reeves is remembered for little else other than his role as Superman, and he was so memorable in the role it took close to two decades before they could cast someone else to fill his shoes on the big screen.

There are lines uttered decades ago, which we instantly recognize if we had seen the movie. "I'm gonna make him an offer he ......" , the greatest trick the devil ever pulled...." , "you wanna play rough,huh, ok say hello....." and so many others that have been immortalized in pop culture.I'm sure many of you completed those lines yourselves.

As much as we like to boast with the title of 2nd largest producer of movies, what is the point if our movies come and go and make no impact emotionally or entertainment wise. Characters that touch us and dazzles us in such a way that we find ourselves adopting their philosophies, quoting them and maybe even dressing up as them. Now not all Hollywood films are like that,they have their turkeys too, but if we make so much more films than they do, shouldn't we have larger odds at great performances?

Fortunately, things are changing from what they used to be. Young film makers are coming out with higher quality of productions, better scripts and better directing, which are getting more international recognition on the festival circuit. But looking at the Tarantino quote, have we reached there quite yet?

Historical African personalities on the screen,have been played so far by African Americans, Mandela by Glover and Freeman,Biko by Denzel , Idi Amin by Yapheet Koto and Forrest Whitaker.A biopic of Fela will soon be coming to the big screen and yet another foreign actor is going to play him. Yes, we can chalk  it up to using the Americans using their own people,bankable stars,recognized faces that will put bums in seats  , and it call it studio casting by the suits, but even many of the minor roles are still played by foreign actors. So let's ask ourselves,If those roles were offered to local actors, can you think of a person that'll nail it as powerfully or more powerfully.The role of Fela, can you name a currently working home grown actor that will nail the role as well as Will Smith nailed ALI or Jamie Fox Ray. Or any of those roles like Idi Amin,Mandela and the others Honestly , can you? I'm not dissing them i'm just wondering if maybe i'm the one missing something.

Isn't acting a lot more than the ability to memorize and recite lines?

I've been on set of a few productions and seen "actors" deliver a beautiful line of dialogue delivered clinically, appallingly flat. No cadence, rhythm or tonality , to emphasize the seriousness, humor or sarcasm that the line is intended to have, wasting it and rendering it useless as a lame race horse.

Maybe i'm ignorant of those out there, or have not watched enough Naija made films to knowledgeable that they exist.But despite the several thousands of films produced annually i'm yet to see a character, that is played so powerfully, that several decades years down the line , people can still be fascinated at how realistic the actor portrayed the role. How powerful, intriguing  or fascinating he/she was .A character that penetrates pop culture

But i'm optimistic, Ten years ago, most people would rather be caught with their pants down than listening to Naija music, and then sometime between 2006 and  2007 it all changed. Just like the there was that drastic change in the quality of music and artists in Nigeria, a somewhat overnight change,from unbearable to global dominating is it possible that the acting could change? That from somewhere , some undiscovered talent could come out of the woodwork. Young actors that can come on the scene and fascinate us, older undiscovered talent that deliver with such gravitas that we wonder why they have never been on screen before.

As young film makers rise, and screenwriters create fascinating characters and powerful stories, i certainly hope the acting is there to do the scripts justice. As a film maker friend of mine is always saying, Naija films are on the verge of global explosion and this new decade we just entered is a time where the iron is hot, and Naija film makers are going to create a niche and dazzle the world. New film makers, are coming out with new approaches and visions and dynamic story telling abilities, and like the French Nu Wave of the 50's and 60's, there is a Naija Nu Wave rising and like it's French counterpart  if we get it right, we can take the world by storm injecting new energy and visions into a very jaded movie real estate.


Do you think we have performers that fulfill the Tarantino quote, but maybe the right character or role has not been given to them?? Please feel free to say so.