WHY I WENT BACK TO SCHOOL–MUYIWA ADEMOLA

With over twenty-four years in the make-believe world, Muyiwa Ademola, better known as Authentic in the Nigerian movie industry, speaks with ADENIYI ADEWOYIN about his journey into acting, why movies are not making money, among other diverse issues.

HOW has it been since you started acting?

It has been fantastic, rough, challenging, entertaining, interesting, and it has also been sad. I thank God because each time you see people who actually appreciate what you do, then happiness comes. I am more fulfilled when I see that the little I do touches people’s lives. Even if I don’t have a helicopter or a very heavy mansion, I think I have been able to do justice to my profession.

What inspired you to go into the industry?

People don’t know I have been writing stories since I was in primary school. My major calling in the industry is story writing and I keep telling people. When they say I don’t shoot Hollywood films, I just tell them that I want to make my stories for African people, for Nigerian people.

What challenges did you face while coming up as an actor?

For someone like me, whose parents are not in the industry, and considering the year when I started, it was difficult allowing kids take up acting as a profession.

So, I faced a very stiff challenge from my parents because my father said that I would never do the job. It took so many people’s intervention to get my father convinced before he actually allowed me face the career. Again, things are different now. If you have a fantastic story concept, you can walk up to people and they can finance your movie. From there, they can be convinced wether you have what it takes or not. It wasn’t like that then. You had to move around, try to raise money to shoot film on your own, which I did; so, it was tough.

Are you saying the stories we have now are not as interesting as before?

Yes, I want to believe that, especially when we talk about the concepts and stories; but the technicalities are actually better now. The camera knowledge, the technical knowledge, and other technicalities have improved but when you talk about story lines and didactic approach we employ towards the job, all that has changed. I can watch ten films with beautiful acting, beautiful storyline but no value. We are in a very cultural environment in which our job is not being seen as entertainment pieces alone.

We seem like we are to enlighten and educate the public. We are to correct societal evils, and we are to let people know what is wrong and right because we are seen as role models. So we need to give positive accountability of what we do through films; but we don’t have that anymore and to whom much is given much is expected. The society has put a lot of load on our shoulders, so they are expecting us to be perfect but we are not.

Does that mean celebrities can influence the public?

I can categorically tell you that we do. If I shoot a film in which my character smokes and in the film I come out as a genius, I got married, have everything, everything goes on smoothly for me and my character dies at the age of hundred, I can have one or two people who will say smoking is nice, they will say ‘go and see that Muyiwa Ademola’s film, he was never diagnosed with cancer or anything of the lungs and he lived a very peaceful life. So are you trying to tell me smoking is dangerous and I will not see it in the film? So smoking is good.’

It was learnt that you went back to school after you shot three movies…

I started twenty-four years ago. I shot my first film in 1997, that was Etutu Emi. Other films I’ve done include Aderonke, Akinkanju, Iyonu Olorun as well as Ogo Osupa. So, immediately after Ogo Osupa I got the boom.

After the filming of Ori, I got admitted into the University of Ibadan to do a Diploma in Adult Education and Community Development and I started my degree in 2006. It has been my dream to get myself educated and then the job just took me to another dimension. But at a point, I realised I had to sacrifice a lot and go back to school. That’s why, when I see people claiming to have talent, I tell them talent is not enough because you are going to meet people who are talented and educated. They have double of what you have.

Even though you don’t have the talent and you are educated, you can learn the job. I started in the industry as a writer, now I am an actor, film producer and a director. Apart from little learning, I am actually yet to go to film school but everything I do has been my talent and learning on the job, so if you are not educated to a certain level, learning on the job will be quite difficult, especially when it gets to some technical aspects.

Can you trace how you got into the movie industry?

I remember I was in science class when I was in secondary school, but I have always been arts-inclined. All I think about is creative works. I sketch, I draw and I do all these things without training. I just pick up the piece people have done, then I mimic them. My intention was to write stories and give to movie industry because I saw the stories they wrote and I felt like I could do something.

I remember that the first person I went to meet was Shola Ogunshola (Isho pepper) around 1988 while I was in secondary school and he told me I was too small. Then I left the job again and immediately after secondary school, I started giving my stories to different people in the industry. That was how I got in contact with Charles Olumo (Agbako). Today, the rest is history.

What movie are you working on currently?

The major problem we have is piracy. It actually slowed my activities down as a film producer. We have responsibilities and primarily this is what I do all my life; this is what I do to put food on my family’s table.

So, when I shoot films and I don’t make money because they have been pirated, how do I shoot another film? People complain that they haven’t seen my movies but I tell them it is piracy. But like Kunle Afolayan said, ‘I shot my films and it was pirated but I still have to shoot another one’. I would be going back to location very soon, coupled with the fact that we have few companies that are ready to drop endorsements to subsidise the amount put on film and we are happy. You know some people are aware of what we do and they are ready to partner with us to alleviate the pains and we are happy for that, so all hands are on deck. A Muyiwa Authentic presentation is coming soon.

Have you produced any cinema movie?

No, but my next movie will be going to the cinemas. The cinema thing still has problems. Only one or two people have had their films in cinemas and have made any tangible money. The cinema demands a very large percentage.

But, in your opinion, why do people still take their movies to cinemas?

There are advantages and there are disadvantages. You taking your films to cinemas has some certain leverage. You can ask how many of them actually make money, but it gives your film exposure that is needed before it comes out to home videos. People don’t actually make a lot, except a very few of them like Kunle Afolayan, A.Y, Omoni Oboli and Funke Akindele. Only a few of the people who have their films in cinemas can boast of something tangible.

How do you combine work and family?

It’s not so easy. The only thing I can say is that our wives and husbands are God sent because it is so difficult to understand and manage us; but we don’t have a choice. For instance, when I don’t have any location to go, I just stay with my wife and kids, take them to cinemas at weekends and play with them.

I am a very homely person when I am not doing anything, so when I’m working they know I am working and when I am home I will be home for them. They sacrificed a lot for me, that is why I have to sacrifice for them too. It’s like me planting now and when I am not very agile again, they will say I wasn’t there when I was young, when they needed me most. Now that I am still young, they know that they are my life, they know they are my pillar and I don’t joke with that.