Actor Charles Inojie tells Nonye Ben-Nwankwo how he got into Nollywood and the challenges that come with being a comedy actor.
You act some roles in movies that may make onen wonder if you are really okay, are you comfortable with such roles?
Even me, I ask myself if I am okay. That is the reason I don’t watch my movies. I am a very shy person by nature. The only time you can see me in that mood is when there are cameras around and somebody has paid some money and it is confirmed that the money has been credited to my account. That is when I can play such roles, otherwise I can’t see myself doing such, am I mad? At times, I may barge into a place where my movie is showing; I would just look at myself and I would say, ‘Charles Inojie, you are just a fool.’ At times, I think I am not just okay. But then, what can a man do? We have to pay school fees and run other expenses at home. Since it is a legitimate business, we are doing it no matter how it is.
But why did you choose comedy in the first place?
I have a very sound training. It wasn’t mandatory that it must be comedy that I do. You don’t wake up one morning and just go and train to be a comedian but you can train as an actor. That was what I did. I am a trained actor. Being able to efficiently deploy the comic role is a function of an innate natural talent that a particular actor possesses; definitely not what he learnt.
Are you saying it wasn’t by choice that you are a comic actor?
No. By the way, I started from behind the camera. I didn’t start my career as an actor. I was a script writer and an assistant director and later, a director.
And how did you end up an actor?
It happened that an actor who may have been given a minor role such as a gateman or houseboy would for some reasons not show up and the director of the movie would just suggest that I, the assistant director, should just pick up the costume and play the role in order to avoid the actor delaying production. I would just play the role and I would do it well. The next time, I would be called again and I would do it. From there, one scene today, two scenes the next day, it began to add up. I think producers started noticing me and that was how it blossomed.
But did you know that you could act?
I knew I could act. I had been acting when I was in school. If there were five prominent actors in my school then, I was likely to be in that list. Whether I could act was not the question but the issue was if I would have the opportunity to act. I was already doing well behind the camera and I felt there was no point asking for too much by going to beg for roles in order to be in front of the camera. I was comfortable the way I was but then, producers noticed me and that was how it happened. I was given sub lead roles and it got to a point that they felt I was good enough to be the anchor person for movies and that wasbhow the lead roles started pouring in.
You have even won some awards since you came on board…
Oh yes, for me, that’s been the highest point of my career. Financially, the take home pay has been more than what I was getting when I was behind the camera but the greatest surprise are
the awards. I didn’t know what I was doing could expose me to am extent that I could stand almost shoulder to shoulder with some of the biggest names in the industry when it comes to
comedy. The first time, I was nominated
alongside two of my big bosses, Nkem Owoh and Mr. Ibu. I didn’t even wait for the award proper to celebrate; I called everybody I knew that the unimaginable had happened. I told everybody who cared to listen that I got a letter from Nigeria Movie Awards that I had been nominated in the Best Comedy Actor category alongside these two big people. They reminded me that it was just nomination and there was no need for me to jubilate yet. I told them I didn’t need to wait to win. Haba! I asked them if they knew what it meant? So that day, they would just mention these two people and mention my name as well? Ha! It was a big deal! Not many people understood what I was talking about.
Did you win the award?
I didn’t win but then, I was so happy that my work was considered good enough to be nominated alongside the works of my first grade senior colleagues. It was a huge achievement. And I also thank God that things changed after that. I had the opportunity of being nominated alongside same persons and other colleagues and I won the awards to the glory of God. It was really a pleasant surprise for me back then. In fact, I am yet to recover from the shock. I never
knew it would get to this point.
Granted you don’t watch your movies but people may have told you that you act foolishly…
It is really that foolish part that I wouldn’t want to watch. I see such roles and I would just be sorry for myself. It can really be very embarrassing.
Do you agree that people may also look at you and think you are really foolish in reality, doesn’t it bother you?
It was something I battled with when I initially started. It was actually Mr. Ibu that came to me one day and said, ‘Guy, as you see me so, I be idiot! I am a foolish person.’ Victor Osuagwu calls himself ‘ mumu.’ So I had to psyche myself. If these people have already accepted what they are, na me go come dey form ‘the boy is good’? I had to accept it.
But was it easy?
It was not. Initially, it was very difficult. You would go to church on a Sunday and you would dress well like every other person would and you try to present yourself as pious as you could in the presence of God. But from nowhere, a woman would just see you and shout, ‘Chie! Junior come and see this foolish man!’ This is inside the church o. In this case, I would just wonder aloud what I actually did to the woman to warrant such embarrassment. But it got to a point I realised there was nothing I could do about it. I realised that it wasn’t intended. I have arrived at that point where I can no longer complain. Just as you are trying to settle from one quarrel arising from someone calling you an idiot, before you take two steps, you meet another person calling you foolish man. So I have accepted it, I am a fool. It is a huge cross that people who do the kind of work I do must carry. Just look at Ramsey Nouah, people see him and they hail him and call him fine boy, handsome actor. They tell him they love him and love his movies. But when they see us, they would just shout, ‘look at this idiot! You dey crase! You no well.’ It is only abuse that people use to celebrate us. You attend an event and dress well and somebody would just come beside you and ask you, ‘why you dey pose? Abeg be yourself joo.’ One woman actually asked me, ‘so you have such fine
clothes and you don’t wear them in the movies?’ What haven’t they told me?
But how were you able to convince your wife to marry you, didn’t she think you were joking?
It is only a comedian that carries the burden of seeing a beautiful lady that he likes, walks up to her to ‘toast’ her and the girl would just say, ‘get out there, you have come with your joke again.’ How do serious people propose to their girlfriends? But the luck I had in my own case was I wasn’t this ‘foolish’ when I proposed to her. If it were to be today, I am sure she would have called the police to arrest me for harassment.
Do we see you going behind the camera again?
I have established myself as an actor. But even before then, I didn’t jettison my roles behind the camera. I have had to act as a director for movies. Some producers would want me to direct as well as play a role in their movies. A
film maker is a film maker. Where I come from, we have virgin stories and I would want to tell them the way I feel they should be told. I am discussing with some people in the government
to see the need to collaborate and see how we can use movie making as a veritable tool to get so many people off the streets.
