Revered role interpreters, Richard Mofe-Damijo and Omoni Oboli have been criticized by filmmaker and director, Kesiena Obue.
Obue, a respected filmmaker has big credits to her name as scriptwriter behind works such as Bling Lagosians and other flicks.
Obue recently averred that RMD and Omoni Oboli are not dynamic in the way they interpret their roles in movies.
“Characterization is suffering in Nollywood. We lack diversity in characters. Majority of our characters are the same. Handsome man, pretty, sexy babe; stereotypical and flat. No depth. A lot of Nollywood actors approach different characters the same way. Same mannerism, same vocal pattern, same gait, same accent, same physicality, same emotional delivery. Same everything. They go as they are. No difference between their real life selves and the characters they play.
“RMD uses the same unhurried, guttural vocal pattern for all his characters. Omoni wears the same honey brown contact lens for all her characters. How and why? A lot of our actors do not put careful and deliberate thought into putting some degree of radical difference in the physicality, emotional experience and delivery of their characters. We are not all the same in this life. Our experiences are different and they shape our external and internal qualities. Same as the characters you play so you cannot afford to play them in the same manner.”
“Actors need to discover the physical qualities of their characters; Mannerism, physicality, posture/gait, vocal pattern, behavioural norms, culture… the internal qualities; Thoughts, feelings, motivation, internal truth. Once you know these things, you will be able to convincingly delineate your character and deliver a performance that will resonate and linger. Dear Actor, give your character a soul. Once you discover the very thing that lies deep within that character, you will feel different in your body, soul, approach and delivery,” she advises young actors.