"How Chioma Akpotha Was Divinely Chosen For Her Role in Seven Doors": Femi Adebayo
Femi Adebayo's new movie, Seven Doors, has been greeted with many accolades from far and wide. Aside from the storyline, the lawyer-turned-actor was praised for his casting as every actor cast for each character delivered beyond the expectations of the movie enthusiasts.
The accolades started flowing from the premiere of the film those who attended came back singing praises of the producer for changing the narrative of epic movies.
One of the lead characters in Seven Doors who beat many people's expectations was actress Chioma Akpotha. The Nollywood actress has never been seen taking up a role in a Yoruba movie before and secondly, she has never taken up a role like this in the number of years she has been practising as a role interpreter.
Legit.ng exclusively spoke with the movie producer, Femi Adebayo, about casting a totally 'new face' in his genre movie and how he got him to deliver to the admiration of many.
So what prompted you to pick that role, knowing she’s not even Yoruba? The culture is strange to her.
Source: Instagram
Why Chioma Akpotha as lead actress in Seven Doors?
"For me, casting my movies is more divine. I get that feeling while writing the script for all my movies. I work with a team; I don't cast alone. But the divine message just came that it must be Chioma.
After reaching out to her, Chioma said she was not available. I got the message again, "Don't film," and I didn't. I insisted that it must be Chioma or no one else because she was divinely chosen for the role.
When Chioma notified Femi of her unavailability, he said he went harder with his negotiation to persuade her.
When she told me she wasn't around, I was on her neck, begging her to let us negotiate. She wasn't really ready to talk. I said, "When will you be available? I'll move this project to another time," and I did. So casting for me is divine. That's where I started to get God's blessings on all my projects.
I have some more major Igbo actresses that we are fighting presently because they felt I was closer to them. Why choose Chioma for my film?"
I told Femi Adebayo there are other actresses aside from me - Chioma Akpota
Legit.ng also spoke with Chioma Akpotha about her reason for picking up the role knowing that it's a Yoruba film. She also explained her unavailability and Femi's insisting that it must be her or no one else. She said:
"I wasn't available when Femi sent me the script, and I think I got it wrong about when he wanted to film. So when he said no, it was during this period, and then I told him I was unavailable. I even told him other people could play the role since I was unavailable. He said he would wait until I came back. I think the universe just worked it out. Even down to the premiere, I wasn't meant to be available, but the universe played everything."
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Chioma Akpotha reveals what made you accept her role in Seven Doors
After much persuasion and shifting of dates, Chioma succumbed to pressure, but the hook she claimed was the script. She said:
"Seven Doors is a beautiful story. I love stories that tell lessons. So if someone can just say it was that thing that you did that made me do this, I'm so fulfilled as an actor. It’s not just, oh, you did well and all of that. When I saw Femi do that, I knew I had to pray. That's the testimony I longed to get as an actor in any project I'm on. And so when I read the script, it was sweet. I connected immediately, and I was good to go, and then God made it possible for me to be available at the time of filming.
Chioma Akpotha's challenges speaking and singing in Yoruba
It is a known fact that Chioma is of Igbo origin, and speaking Yoruba would be difficult for her. She shares her experience on set trying to perfect her Yoruba for the few times she spoke it in the movie as Amaka.
"I was born and bred in Lagos. I learned how to speak Yoruba fluently as a child, but when I went to school in the East, everything just blew up. I lost it. So I had the understanding of how it should sound and how it should come up, but I was not fluent. Thank God there was a speech coach on set, and I thought it was just little here that I said because nothing will pain me like the Yoruba will come out with very heavy Igbo accents, I will be angry. This movie reminded me of my mom, who speaks Yoruba fluently and has a heavy Igbo accent.
For the singing part, Femi came to me one day and said, "You're going to sing." I said, "Femi, you want to finish me." He sent a song. I googled the song. Thank God my makeup artist is Yoruba. I said, "Just be singing the song for me. It's different when you're hearing it, but just be singing it." Let me hear it. I sing but I haven't sung in a long time, so I'm a bit rusty, so I said, "Let me hear it. I will understand.
You know, when you sing, you can sing a language, but you don't speak it. Let me hear the vowels, intonation, how you're pronouncing it and all of that. Femi will send a message, I said I have family. He puts a lot of pressure on you as a director, but he puts a lot of support and encouragement in your way. And that's every actor's dream where you find a director who can give you those wings to fly."
Femi Adebayo on allegations of Yoruba films repeating faces
Movie enthusiasts have complained lately about Yoruba films repeating the same casts, especially in epic or traditional movies. They ask if there are no other actors in the industry who can interpret the characters better than the same set of actors.
Femi Adebayo said he is unperturbed by the general saying since his casting is always special. He said:
"I've seen and heard many things like, oh, we are repeating faces, especially in Yoruba films. People complained that if you don’t see Odunlade, Ibrahim Chatta, Lateef Adedimeji, you will see Femi Adebayo and others. But that was not even the reason that they were not in Seven Doors. It was just divine for me. So, if a divine message comes that all of them should be in Seven Doors, they will be there, and people will still love my movie.
Seven Doors cast for Esusu shares making of his unusual eye
Meanwhile, Legit.ng also reported that Aliu Gafar, one of the cast members of Femi Adebayo's movie, who played Esusu, one of the main characters in Seven Doors, received many accolades from viewers.
Gafar was seen as one of the characters who defined the movie's direction.
He shared a video of making his scary eyes on the movie set showing the steps the makeup artists took to transform him into Esusu.
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Source: Legit.ng
