Five minutes with Femi Branch

Well I believe life begins whenever you want it to. At 40 you start realizing you still have so much to do if you want to leave an enduring legacy. I got more investment conscious. Your commercial on a telecom company gave you the big break on the screens. The lady you paired with in […]

Well I believe life begins whenever you want it to. At 40 you start realizing you still have so much to do if you want to leave an enduring legacy. I got more investment conscious.

Your commercial on a telecom company gave you the big break on the screens. The lady you paired with in that commercial is now your wife. How true is this?

That’s incorrect o, that lady and I have not even seen each other since the commercial. We spoke on the phone once or twice but that’s it.

You have been off the movie radar for a while. What have you been up to lately?

I have been working. I am more into producing and directing movies now. I just finished a job which is about to hit the cinemas and I am also about to shoot another one.

You are also into publishing now, how has it been in that field?

Self-publishing is indeed a capital intensive thing, and marketing is the biggest challenge. People don’t read books today like before, but we’ve come to understand the terrain better now.

How would you rate the publishing industry in Nigeria?

Book publishing in Nigeria from my limited experience is a threatened craft. Except you are publishing magazines, religious literature or educational materials, survival might be a bit steep. But we are gradually making a mark in this terrain.

You have a foundation, what is it about?

It is about helping to restore the reading culture in our youth and adult population and you will see some propaganda to that effect in my new movies. We are also trying to get corporate bodies in the country to exercise more corporate responsibilities towards public schools and many more.

How has parenting affected you?

It’s been glorious. My daughter and son have taught me the meaning of patience. But they are my most prized possessions. Not all the money or the fame in the world can buy that.

Most readers would want to know why you always take up the bad boy role in movies.

I don’t know myself o! Maybe you should ask my producers why they decide to give me such roles. I guess they just like the way I interpret the roles ni. Abi what do you think? Am better as a lover sha o, ask my wife.

News making rounds say you now run a Ministry? Are you now a pastor?

Getting more committed to God was a decision I took when I turned 40. I am just more serious with serving God now. I hardly went to church in the past. I don’t pray, nothing, but now I realized that it is not just enough to serve God with your mouth. God is making a new generation of superstars in this nation, they are different, they are peculiar and they will shake this industry to its root! I don’t think I want to be left out of that, do you?