From a young age, Eugene Obadan wanted to be in the movies. And now, with the release of Pandora, a movie of political intrigues, Obadan, a graduate of Business Administration from the Lead City University, Ibadan is living his dreams. In this interview with JOE AGBRO JR., the Edo State based actor, scriptwriter and movie producer talks about his ambition and other issues
YOU studied Business Administration. How did you get into producing movies?
Well, the first thing is, movies to me is a talent. I wrote the script, Pandora. The idea of Pandora came to me as a result of the current political and economic situation in the country, especially in terms of security. Movie is natural to me. I can sit down and create stories from my mind. I create different kinds of stories and I write them easily. All I need is an editor, that’s all. If I decide to imagine a story, give me five days, I would come up with a story. So, movies to me, is like a talent. I cannot just side-line it.
When did you know that you had this talent?
Well, it was when I was I think, 14 or thereabouts. I actually told my parents I wanted to be an actor but of course, you know the Nigerian factor. My mother wanted me to be a medical doctor, my father said I would be good in business. Actually, my father said I was better in business, so I studied business administration. But movies, acting and scriptwriting has always been a part of me.
Is Pandora your first work?
Yes, Pandora is my first major work. But actually, I have written other scripts which are still in the pipeline. But I decided to do Pandora because of the love for the story and the present situation in the country. Pandora is about emotional blackmail. It’s a presidential movie in the sense that we have a president who actually wanted to do good for his people. He wanted to be a good president but forces around him which he never knew like the vice-president in the movie, was his best friend but the vice-president wanted that seat and never liked his policies.
The vice-president wanted the old factor that caused deprivation, poverty, and depression amongst the people. So, the movie tells us of how the vice president was able to use emotional blackmail, that is, like kidnapping the president’s daughter and destabilising the presidency in other to obtain power. So, it tells us another side of politics which people don’t really see. How politicians can actually use emotional blackmail, assassination and even all sorts of means to get power aside the normal elections. So Pandora shows us these intrigues and also the quest for power and what it leads to – embezzlement, greed and so on and so forth. (It is about) how people in government can actually manipulate the affairs of state for their interests in order to topple government.
When you talk about mixing emotional blackmail with politics, that is like the power play that goes on in politics all over the world. When you were writing the movie, did you have any country in mind?
Now, you’re asking me a very technical question. Well, definitely Nigeria has always been a case study for many things. So, if we’re talking about a country, I didn’t need to look too far for my research. You can see it all around.
For someone doing this for the first time, how did it all go?
Well, the whole thing taught me a big lesson. Number one, to respect Nigerian movie producers more because it’s not easy. Especially the ones that are really involved in the production. I’m not talking of the ones that pay the money and say, ‘Oya, go and do what you like.’ I’m talking of the one that follows the sequence. It is a very Herculean task. You cannot override the fact that you will meet a lot of people. First of all, my first challenge was, in Benin City, I gathered a group of people for props.
Now, this same group, because I did not get a particular lens for the camera. We used a Black Magic camera. It’s a cinematography camera. It’s one of the best in the industry. But because I was still coming in the business, I did not get the batteries on time, so in the quest of looking for them, I missed a day. And these people connived and said they were no longer going to be a part of the production. I had paid them. They took my money and they said they were not going to be involved. In my frustration, I called a lot of people to prevail on them.
Even the Nigerian Police prevailed on them, to please, ‘they should work with me.’ They refused, thinking that the project was going to be frustrated without their involvement. The shocking part was that I was even willing to sacrifice more into their funds and they refused. So, in that frustration and in that sort of pain, I had to speak with my director who now got in touch with some of his other colleagues from different parts – Port Harcourt, Lagos and environs, to come and help out. That means, making me pay extra. What I have paid before, I didn’t get it because I couldn’t be fighting those people while I had a project that needs to be done.
I had to pay external people again before we now started the project. And to God be the glory, we started and we finished. And today, I’m glad because many people told me, especially those people, they told me it would not work. But I’m glad that the picture was successful. We had stars like Alex Osifo, Segun Arinze – they did a perfect job. They were with me all through the time. Even Alex Osifo helped by involving one or two people – the political clout – to assist us in terms of getting a vehicle and all that. At the end of the day, it was a success. Since it was my company, Eugene Entertainment Network, funding it alone, it was very Herculean.
You funding this project, how much did it cost you?
It’s a lot of money my brother. We thank God. Before I did the project, I’ve been involved in other things. I’m also into real estate. There was no help from anywhere, I’ll be frank with you. The only help I got was thanks to one of my neighbour in the house. Instead of an hotel, we used my neighbour’s house because he just moved. We used his house as a place for the actors and actresses and set people for all of them to lodge. So, that helped in a long way. The airport in Benin assisted us, even though we paid, the assistance was more than the money. Thanks to UBTH Golf Course where we also used the Golf Club without collecting a dime.
Nollywood is very competitive. How do you feel about putting your movie there?
Well, I had this dream of being an actor, I had the dream of doing movies. And thank God it’s coming to pass. And I believe since I did not compete with anybody to do this movie, it was my own thing. So, I believe if your product is good, people would buy. I had a story and I believe it’s a beautiful story. To the memory of my father, he was the first person. He’s late now – Augustus Obadan. He was the one who actually encouraged me. He was the first person who edited this script. And he has always told me to go for it. Before he died, he asked several times when I was going to do it. Unfortunately, he’s not here. I know, his spirit being with us, it’s going to sail forth.
You’re based in Benin. How would you describe the movie industry in Benin?
Good enough, I once worked in Kada Plaza where we have the biggest cinema in Benin. When I was there, what I saw was what even encouraged me the more because there is this new culture on Sunday that everybody in Benin would love to go to the cinema with their family to go and watch a movie.
And you can ask from Desmond Elliot, Lancelot Imasuen, Benin has become the new haven for movies. I don’t know whether it was my movie that sparked that up. I don’t know whether it was there before me. but what I witnessed during my production was like about four movie companies were actually doing movies in Benin, which I know was not happening before. I want to believe it was part of my bringing in Segun Arinze and Alex Osifo to Benin that has cranked up this new awareness to Benin City.
I know Iyore was shot in Benin and movies like Invasion was shot in Benin. So, Benin is now like the new Hollywood in Nigeria. But in terms of distribution and sales, you cannot rule out the giant, which is Lagos. That’s why I’m in Lagos and I’ve been speaking with FilmOne Distribution. I hope they read this paper so that they would work with me to ensure that this film is properly distributed in the cinemas. Because, like I said, we used Black Magic and Black Magic is a cinematographic camera that they use to do cinema movies.
Did you also act in the movie?
Yes, I did. I played the role of Nicholas. Nicholas was the one who rescued the president’s daughter. He’s a character that would put everybody in suspense because first of all, you’ll want to know, where did this guy come from? He was part of the Black Disciple Organisation that kidnapped the president’s daughter and as a member, he understood them.
How long did it take to produce the movie?
Right now, it’s still under editing. I’d scripted this movie about three years ago. First of all, I had to get all the equipment, the camera, lights and everything because I discovered through my director that there is no way we can pay every day for these things if we have to do it well, because it would cause almost the same thing purchasing them. So, we had to take our time to buy some of the best equipment.
So you actually bought those equipment?
Yes, I have them. And I’m putting them up for rent. I’ll still be using them. Definitely, this is not going to be my only movie. My prayer is for sponsors, good Nigerians, and those who are giving loans and grants, to look into our case and into my movie.
What is the next thing for you now?
I have a lot in stock and I’m writing more. But first of all, we must see the success of this one. I must be properly encouraged and properly motivated to bring out more stories.
