Popular comic-actor, Charles
Inojie is still wondering how he
was tricked into featuring in that
lewd film titled ‘Calabar Girl’
directed by Jerry Don
Nwachukwu. The film was
produced by Divine Ezeibekwe
and banned immediately after it
was released sometime in May,
this year by the National Film and
Video Censors Board. Charles
recounts the story of how he got
involved in the production. He
also talks about the coup that
catapulted him to the top while
working as an Assistant Director
under Lancelot Imasuen among
other issues. Excerpts:
A comic-actor!
Do you know that I am not
aware that I am a comedian?
There are places I visit today and
I tell people that I am not a
regular comedian;someone you
see and you start laughing or
someone who is ever ready to
act as a clown when the
occasion does not call for it. I see
myself as a very serious person. I
see myself as a good actor.
If I do comedy roles well, it is
only because that is where I
have probably, been most tested
and again not a function of any
kind of training I had. Except that
I probably just have it in me. I
believe that my late grandmother
had the strongest sense of
humour that I ever found in
anyone and I benefited
generously from her talent.
Maybe, I am one of those you
would say are naturally gifted as
humourist.
School of hard knocks
I hate it when I hear people say, I
am self -made. There is no one
on earth that is self made
otherwise people like us are not
supposed to be where we are
today. When I picked my bag one
morning and told my father I
had secured admission into the
University of Port Harcourt , the
man only laughed at me. We
were living in Ogun State then,
and I hail from Edo State .
*Charles Inojie
He said, ‘you did not try to gain
admission into the now Ambrose
Alli University, Ekpoma or
University of Benin so that your
financial challenges could be
better courtailed . But now that
you are going to UNIPORT, would
help come your way?’.
In school, it was just me and my
closest neighbour which is
poverty. When I woke up in the
morning, the first person that
told me good morning was
poverty. But I think, God gave me
a special grace. Beyond all these
travails, there was always a point
I wanted to get to, and that was
to graduate from the university
at the end of the day.
I graduated from the University
in 1999, and in 2000, I was
already on set with Lancelot
Imasuen as an Assistant Director.
I was part of the productions he
did in the early 2000, such as
Last Burial, Isakaba, August
Meeting and many others.
Therefore, I would say joining
Nollywood was not as difficult as
it has been for most of my
colleagues. This is because I had
someone who provided the
platform for me to launch my
acting career.
Beyond that, when I became a
full-fledged director, I had the
producers to contend with, who
were always driven by the
passion to expand their profit
margin. I am a gift from God
because in spite of all that I
passed through, one happened
to be one of the very few people
who have enjoyed prime
patronage and I thank God for
His mercies.
Relationship with Lancelot
Imasuen
That is another story altogether. I
was telling some of my close
friends recently that Lancelot is
my friend because a lot of
people believe that we are
brothers. I actually met Lancelot
in 1992, at UNIPORT where we
sat for the entrance examination
for the Certificate Programme in
Theatre Arts. He was in the
company of another friend of
ours known as Kennedy
Ovbiahon who’s now late.
After sitting for the qualifying
examination, we returned to our
different locations and later had
to meet again when we were
offered admission. Lancelot was
as poor as I was, while on
campus. It was only natural for
us to share the same apartment
in school. And since then, we
have been good friends.
Joining Nollywood
We have made some humble
contributions to acting. As a
matter of fact, my very first movie
as a full- fledged director was
titled Police Recruit, then Two
Bad Boys. I shot back to back for
OJ Productions. I also played one
of the lead roles then.
Thereafter, I starred in Tortoise,
another movie produced by OJ
and directed by Adim Williams. I
was an Assistant Director in that
film. At the time, the three lead
roles were given to John Okafor,
Okey Bakassi and Victor
Osuagwu.
As a second year student in
1997, I had done a movie with
Adim also directed by Lancelot
Imasuen. It was a comedy titled,
The Year 2000. Adim played the
lead role while I had about 12
scenes. Adim asked me to play
the role but the producer did not
want me. But when the flick was
released, it was a big hit. The film
that gave me my break was
when I played the role of Mr.
Dumbra in Corporate Maid.
Venturing into acting
I am a very shy person. I am not
one of those who would have
ended up as an actor. I am a
great lover of literature. The late
Professor Bode Osanyin of the
University of Lagos then had a
place in Ijoko, Ota in Ogun State
called Writers Resort. What the
Resort does was to invite literary
enthusiasts, writers, poets,
dramatists and literary critics to a
retreat.
The guest reader for the month
would read his poems or plays
and respond to questions from
the gathering. Being fresh from
secondary school then, I and my
friend, Malik Ibitoye, now a
journalist, would make it to the
literary gathering. This particular
month, late environmentalist, Ken
Saro Wiwa was hosted by the
resort.
Before then, Bassey and
Company, a popular soap opera
was already a rave on television
and Saro Wiwa was already
making waves on the
international scene with his
Ogoni struggle. Saro Wiwa was
large and because we have read
some of his plays, the
enthusiasm to meet him was
very high. Usually, we went to the
resort that fateful Saturday
evening, arrange the chairs and
cleaned the environment. Late
Professor Bode Osanyin urged
us to stage a short play for Wiwa.
Initially, I refused to be part of
the play, preferring to do
something different.
But somehow, I was encouraged
to be part of the short play.
Immediately, the last scene was
over, I ran backstage to hide
myself. While I was hiding, they
invited me back on stage. But lo
and behold! Saro Wiwa singled
me out and asked if I had acted
before, I replied in the contrary.
He asked what I was doing, I
said I was a Jambite and wanted
to read Law.
He asked if I had secured
admission, I said I was waiting
for my JAMB result. He reasoned
that it would take about eight to
12 months and he advised me to
enroll for Certificate programme
that would last for 10 months.
When we left, Malik and some of
my friends encouraged me to do
so. That was how I secured an
admission to do certificate
programme in UNIPORT. While
doing the programme, I
discovered I had only come face
to face with my destiny. So, I did
not spare any time to seek
admission for a full time degree
programme.

Mr.
Dumbra in Corporate Maid

I'll never forget this film!! Especially when Mercy johnson wanted to rape him

homesteady:


I'll never forget this film!! Especially when Mercy johnson wanted to rape him

remembered the phrase " If no be wetin i wan chop wey make me no get sense, which kind angel go fat like this"

wtf so u expect me to read all that shii?


hell no

wtf so u expect me to read all that shii?


hell no




*spits on thread and walks awt*

..

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