Nollywood’s heartthrob Uche Odoputa revealed how he was sent packing from a movie set, after being accused wrongly. He also opened up on his life, career and foundation in this exclusive interview with www.sochimaezeoke.com




He left the set, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise...



HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE MOVIE INDUSTRY?

When I was in Benin, I got a role to feature in ‘Pot of Life’, that was a Tellyfest movie, a network national festival for NTA then. So I started as a young boy there and after that came the advent of the Nollywood industry about the same year, and I can be proud to say that I am one of the oldest, healthy and actively young Nollywood actors because Nollywood is about two decades now and I started around that time too. The first film that was done in Nollywood was ‘Living in Bondage’, after that was ‘Taboo’, then after that was ‘Evil Passion’. All these movies were done almost in the same year. So I played a role in Evil Passion and started from there.



YOU’VE RECENTLY BECOME A TOP-NOTCH A-LIST ACTOR. WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS BEHIND THAT ACHIEVEMENT?

It’s basically God. That has been the secret to my achievement. Some jobs come and you feel as if you’ve been cheated, some jobs come and they bless you. They elevate your brand so high and you least expected that you will get there. Accolades and people appreciate you and you get open doors. So that has kept me going and I’m passionate about the job because for me it’s not a means to an end but a career.

WHAT DO YOU FEEL ABOUT REJECTION OF SCRIPTS BY ACTORS?

I could have a certain belief that does not conform to another person’s belief and the person could decide to reject the job and I think it’s more honorable to reject the job than come on the job and frustrate people. I’ve been on a set recently and it was a job that I was having a dual relationship with two different characters. I had the decency to ask the first lady what she was and wasn’t comfortable with as she is a lady. So I asked her if she was comfortable with me touching her because we were going to play a romance scene. We talked about it and she said she was cool with it. And this other young lady came and I asked her the same thing, and she said openly, “I don’t want anybody to kiss me!” I asked her if she read the script and she said yes. I asked if she told the producers that she doesn’t want to be kissed? She said, “ehhh……," It went on and on, I just said to myself, “Uche, you're not the person that employed this lady,” I just excused myself and went outside to have a drink, letting them sort it out. For two hours, they were arguing with this lady and it was dead in the middle of the night, hotels had been paid. We needed to finish and we needed to retire back to our own different hotels, and we needed to travel some distance to get there. I didn’t find that very interesting at all. But for crying out loud I think it’s honorable for you to read your script, because it’s even more dangerous when you haven’t read your script and you don’t know what it’s all about and then you come on set. So if I read the script and the script states that somewhere along the line I’m going to go mad and I’m going to go naked, I’ll negotiate it. If there’s not a way around, if I understand that I need to do that to be able to pass when message to my audience, I’ll prepare my mind to do it and have a way to do it. When my audience starts asking why I went naked, I'll have something to say. So I don’t have a problem with people rejecting scripts. I think it’s more honorable than coming to frustrate people on set.

WHAT WAS YOUR MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT ON SET?

(Laughs) Well that would be when we were going on the trip for ‘Battle of Mutanga’. We left Lagos with about three luxurious buses, two of which were full of call girls who were gotten out of brothels somewhere around Old Ojo Road, because the story required that people had to be in the epic level where they only had jigida covering the lower part of their bodies and the upper parts were bare. While we were there, somebody passed on something to one of the girls, and she passed it from behind me to the girl that was standing in front of me. And I didn’t know who the person was but all I saw was that the girl was just looking at something. I looked at it and it was a dirty gold-circle. I asked her who gave it to her and she said she didn’t know. I took it from her and threw it beside me. By the time it was morning and we got to where we all needed to converge and move to Abia state where we were going to shoot, news was everywhere that the director said Uche Odoputa must leave the set or he will leave. I didn’t even know who the director was, because he wasn’t part of the audition. The director was saying to people that I insulted and bullied him. Now the bottom line was that the director apparently had an eye on the girl and felt that I was using my star status to oppress him and take the girl. On the road I was decamped from the movie. That was how they sent me packing from Onitsha. But the issue is that I was accused wrongly.

WHAT IS YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR COLLEAGUES LIKE?

I come with my age on board. I come to work with my experience. Beyond that, I also trained as a director. For you to be a director, you need to be a team person and carry people along. So when I come on set I look at everybody and say, “It could have been my team, how do I manage them?” So I try as much as I can. Some people tolerate me and that’s the way I can be. I have to tolerate other people too to be able to carry the job on.

WHO IS YOUR ROLE MODEL IN THE INDUSTRY

I don’t have any role model (laughs). I don’t want to be like anybody. I want to be like Uche Odoputa. And I look up to God.

WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE ACTRESS IN THE INDUSTRY?

‘You wan put me for trouble abi?’ (laughs). Everyone of them. But, there are about a couple of them I respect a lot more. Queen Nwokoye, Mercy Johnson, Joy Agbor, Ruth Kadiri. In fact a lot of them.

HOW DO YOU RELAX WHEN YOU ARE OFF THE SET?

I travel. I like to drive. When you got a good machine you drive the road. I love it.



Source: Exclusive to http://sochimaezeoke.com/2047-2/


www.sochimaezeoke.com Naija's ministry of gist and gossip.

A very good actor ,he can be so real and natural and no forming

Yea he is a cool guy.

Ex convict..


Next time go and carry drugs

NwamaziNwaAro:
Ex convict..


Next time go and carry drugs

I spit on your stupidity... Hater never-do-well.
Pls carry ur desecrating self out of this thread. It's for people with brains only.

Which kind thing be that na

So na old ojo road olosho dem plenty... Hmmmmmmm.... I see!!! This talk don really show say na true say directors dey sleep with the girls .

Bro no be new gist

Livinus in husbands of lagos Livinus in husbands of lagos

This interview is not complete without asking him about his ordeal when he carried cocaine and was arrested in 2004 or there about.

lalasticlala:
This interview is not complete without asking him about his ordeal when he carried cocaine and was arrested in 2004 or there about.

That is unfair. It can't be the only thing they keep asking him of on all his interviews. It was right for them to give him a break and drop an act for which he apologised to Nigerians.
Even so, he wasn't the first and only.

Mr. Livinus Nyeribeya... Ndoli. . I like this guy.