Filmmaker talks "My Wife and I," success of comedy films, authenticity of box office figures [Video]

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August 28, 2017 2:36 PM

Omoni Oboli talks about "My Wife and I," success of the comedy genre in Nollywood, authenticity of box office numbers, "Wives on Strike" and more.

Omoni Oboli

Her latest movie "My Wife and I" made its debut on Friday, August 25, 2017. The actress shared five reasons why Nigerians should see the movie.

With two of her movies on the highest grossing movies list, the filmmaker has had her fair share of bad experiences while convincing Nigerians to see a Nollywood movie. She shares some of these experiences with Pulse Nigeria.

Oboli also talked about the success of the comedy genre, authenticity of the box office figures, using social media to build a brand, her upcoming projects among other interesting topics.

Read excerpts and watch the full interview below.

On her greatest fear as a filmmaker

"Not making my money back. I cannot even imagine making a film and not making my money back. What am I going to do?

"How am I going to pay my children's school fees.

"I want to make people happy. For me, it's not necessarily about making films, it's about touching lives. It's about making the next person happier than they were before they saw your film.

"I also like to educate. So, I would be really scared to make a film that doesn't achieve any of these - it doesn't make anyone happy, it doesn't educate anybody, it doesn't uplift anybody - that would be my worst nightmare."

On how confusing it was playing a man and a woman in "My Wife and I"

"It was quite confusing because I had to be a woman at some point, and I had to be a man at some other point," she said.

"And you know that when you're shooting, you don't shoot linearly. So you have to always remember that 'oh, I'm still Ebere in this scene and I'm now Toyosi in this scene.

So, it was quite confusing many times, but we pulled through."

On what makes "My Wife and I" different and special

"The script is a very big part of it, you know I have really never done any swap role before, but then it was directed by a very young female filmmaker," she said.

"It was a lot of fun, she is young, It's her first feature film. She knew what she wanted. It was just fun watching her do her thing. I was so impressed."

On fears taking up the character "Ebere"

"I was scared."

"I thought to myself, 'I have never been a man before. How am I supposed to be a man? I don't even know how to be a man.'

"But I thought it was really challenging. I thought it was something I would love to do in my career at this time; to play a role that totally takes me away from myself."

"It's hard enough being a female lawyer because I'm not a lawyer, but then being a man is totally off what I'm used to.

So, I thought it was going to be really challenging for me and I wanted to take up that challenge, and I did. And I thought I did a pretty good job."

"My Wife & I" features Omoni Oboli, Ramsey Nouah, Rachel Oniga, Jemima Osunde, Dorcas Shola Fapson, Sambasa Nzeribe among others.

Directed by Bunmi Ajakaiye and written by Chinaza Onuzo, the comedy movie is produced by Inkblot and Filmone Distribution.

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