For dark-skinned curvy actress and filmmaker, Nazo Ekezie, 2022 redefined her view of life and influenced her choice in various activities. In an interview with ADENIYI ADEWOYIN, the Anambra born actress revealed her regrets, new year resolution, challenges as a filmmaker, and other issues.
WHAT are your plans for 2023?
My plan is basically to do what I have been doing better. Go on more dates, do more projects, relax, explore and have more time for myself. I am making sure that I take care of myself this year and live more, have more fun because I’ve come to understand how short this life can be and how you should appreciate whatever is going on in your life. It just came into perspective for me towards the end of 2022 so I’m making sure that I treat myself better even while I work hard.
I see a lot of your movies and I wonder if you have time to rest or if you select the kind of scripts that you take?
I screen scripts but sometimes the directors insist that they want you for a particular role so you don’t have a choice. What can I say? I mean, if you’re good at what you do you cannot run away from it and I love what I do too. There will be more screenings this year when it comes to scripts and the kind of movies that I want to be seen in because we are going international.
Don’t you think you might be tagged as a proud person when you start rejecting some scripts?
No, I don’t consider it proud if I’ve not collected your money. I consider it being careful. I’ve gotten to a place in my career where it’s okay for me to do that so if I do it now it’s not pride anymore and I am looking out for myself. Like I said, I want to make sure that I am in the right movies basically, not that I’ve been in the wrong movies but just basically do better.
Are there movies you regret acting in?
Yes. There are some movies I wish that I could use my money to buy off their market so that nobody will see it because aside from the fact that I am an actor, I’m also a filmmaker, so I just don’t like bad films and then some times when some directors are talking, you will think they know what they are doing and then you go on their set you see what they are doing and you will be so disappointed but there’s nothing you can do because you’ve gotten paid and you have to deliver. I’m glad that at least right now Nigerians can differentiate actors and directors and producers because sometimes some directors can be so enthusiastic when they are talking but when it comes to putting it down to work it gets difficult which is quite understandable because they are probably just starting their careers. But then again, I don’t want to be seen in such anymore. Never!
What would you do better to avoid a bad movie?
Anything can make a movie bad, it could be lack of props. We can be somewhere talking about millions of dollars and then we are in one horrible looking house. But then again I will tell you this; bad movies are also good, bad movies train you as an actor whether you like it or not. You will definitely have to go through the bad ones to finally get to the good ones and bad movies are everywhere even in Hollywood. There are low budget movies everywhere and you can’t stop people from doing it because when you do one you will learn and then you will do better. I don’t blame people for anything and I am honestly not blaming anybody but bad movies are bad but they are not so bad. It helps you as an actor. It helps to improve your patience, your long suffering and your skills. When you act well in a bad movie people will be like this movie is a bad movie but I will watch it because of this girl. I don’t let it affect me when I come to a set and I see it’s not so good. I simply take my mind off it and do my thing.
Do you think there’s a strategy to achieve popularity as an actor?
I will say no because Nollywood has evolved and has opened up so much. These days people can use their phones and sit in their houses and become stars and before you know it they call you and feature you in a cinema movie. There’s no formula or method, all you have to do is show up hundred percent whenever you are called and as for not being where you want to be, excuse me, I don’t even think Genevieve is where she wants to be because when you are somewhere you will always aim higher.
As a filmmaker, what are the challenges you face while sourcing for movie locations?
I feel like one of the big challenges we have when it comes to location is that a lot of people who own these houses don’t know that they can make a lot of money from location business, they need to educate landlords of Lagos that you can make money from this. It seems that sometimes we are limited to some houses and that’s why you see that we reuse it but you can’t blame anybody, we use what we have.
You obviously take good care of your skin very well, however, on the bright side, has there been any discrimination for being dark skinned?
Whatever happens to you depends on how you perceive it. I grew up with a lot of dark beautiful women and I’ve never seen them with bleaching cream before so I already had the notion that this skin is beautiful before I started acting. When I started acting I had people come to me and tell me to bleach my skin a little bit but at the end of the day I know that you are capping because you can’t tell me that, it doesn’t make sense. And you know that some people that are in positions of power can be ignorant.