Elebuwa: I want to do Hausa movie

Weekend Magazine: How are you feeling presently? Enebeli Elebuwa: The doctors say I have stroke. The doctors say that I am responding to treatment. You can see that I am sitting down and responding to you. So that means I am getting better and better by the day. Any specific areas you require help medically? […]

Weekend Magazine: How are you feeling presently?

Enebeli Elebuwa: The doctors say I have stroke. The doctors say that I am responding to treatment. You can see that I am sitting down and responding to you. So that means I am getting better and better by the day.

Any specific areas you require help medically?

I am on medication. I am doing physiotherapy. So I know I would soon be back on my feet. Those are the areas of challenge I see, unless you can get a special witch doctor to come and perform magic for me to start running quickly. If you have such a person who can do that please do that for me. That may be in order (laughs).

How do you view the movie industry in Nigeria today compared to the time you started as an actor?

We are improving especially if you view the fact that the world is starting to see Nigeria as a place of movie makers. We are not talking about quality now. My problem with the young people is that some of them came into the industry without formal training or apprenticeship. Speech training is not there. I used to stammer but I was able to talk well due to speech training. You hear a man saying he is ‘aksing’ you a question when he wants to say ‘asking.’ You hear this a lot in movies. In those days when you want to read news and your diction is bad, Segun Olusola would ban you from entering the studio. So we learnt from the masters.

So what would you like to see in the not too distant future when you leave the scene finally?

I would like to see a virile movie industry with good directors, with artists with adequate training. It is one thing to have a liking for the job. It is another thing to be rooted through training. I will like to see an industry where people would earn good money. This is not a movie that is done with 3 to 4 million naira. No.  I want to see the young ones earn good money not fees that will take care of their transport only. I am not expecting them to be paid like the Hollywood industry, but a situation where somebody with three million naira would be rushing to make a movie should be discouraged. Movie making is capital intensive. You see some movies shown abroad and the number of cars that were destroyed in some scenes and that tells you  that movies are capital intensive. It is not a child’s play, so, if one doesn’t have that kind of money, then he or she shouldn’t make a movie. The markets should also dictate which artistes can rise. It shouldn’t be one person who hates another and makes sure that that person doesn’t rise. Let market forces dictate the pay of our actors. People would want to see somebody because he is good. Somebody somewhere would say he shouldn’t be seen. That is not a good thing. That is about all.

Tell us about a particular movie you starred  in  which still brings warmth to your heart.

Funny it is only one movie that I remember now. I did not start doing movies with video cameras. I worked in some major films that were shot in celluloid. It was a good film even though we were not paid well. The movie I remember now was an Igbo film where the people were saying that I could not speak Igbo, because they were rehearsing in colloquial Igbo. So when I could not speak the language during rehearsal I spoke in English. The producer went ahead and wrote the script in Igbo. The other people went out of their character, because I was playing a character they had never seen before. It was called ‘Journey to Hell’ and was one of the first films in Igbo to be shot. The producers wrote the dialogue for me in Igbo and I did it well. I enjoyed it. I have acted in Yoruba. I haven’t done Hausa film yet, but am looking forward to that someday.

Are the veterans such as you and Olu Jacobs finally bowing out of stage for the younger ones seeing that you hardly act in films anymore?

It is not true. He who has the script chooses who to give it to. And most of the scripts they have today are for the youth. You don’t expect to see Olu playing a love scene with a girl of 25. You cannot expect me to do that unless there is a story behind it. So, if there are love scenes to be played, people of the same age should do that. An actor cannot leave acting by saying I am leaving it today. He may retire because he is tired. As long as his memory is good he still works. Some directors would go and look for very old people to do certain roles. I can no longer play the role of a 40-year-old person. It all depends on what role they give or are available.

Is that affecting your appearances in movies?

In Nigeria we have a peculiar problem. When they use the old ones in roles, they pay the younger ones better than the older ones at the end of the day. If you reject it, people don’t see you in movies and they say that you are leaving the job. Who needs money more; the old or the young? They both need money to do whatever they want to do. If you say I am an old man you pay me N10,000 and pay a younger artist N10m, I can decide not to be part of the movie. I can go and look for money in other ways. Here in Abuja I see people carrying brief cases. If you are going to act for N10,000 why don’t you carry your case and start asking for donations. You can start doing contracts instead of earning peanuts for roles and you cannot eat well. The thing is that people see us as rich and they start paying us peanuts for roles. I have played a major role in a movie only to find out at the end of the day that the young people I starred alongside were paid three or four times better than me. I am an actor. The day I feel like leaving it all, I will. If you want to underpay me, I will not accept it. We can understand of course if it’s a low budget movie, but if someone else is paid four times better than me for a leading role, it wouldn’t work.

What are the principles that have guided you career-wise?

Live and let live.

What words do you have for fans praying for your quick recovery?

I love them. Without them I am nothing. When I came out from my bush village I was nothing until they started showering me with love. I pray God to bless every one of them. When I get well I will love to continue to entertain them. I also appreciate my state, Delta for doing so much to ensure that I am up on my feet again. I particularly want to thank Governor Uduaghan for assisting me.