Lots of Talents Are Yet to Be Tapped in the Movie Industry
Daily Champion (Lagos)
INTERVIEW
February 7, 2004
Posted to the web February 9, 2004
Lagos
Mr Valentine Awuruonu, 40, from Mbaise area of Imo State, is a known face in the local home video industry. A 1989 graduate of Business Administration from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, (UNN) Valentine, who plays role of a clergy, chief or an elder, most often, told Saturday Champion that this was because of his birth mark, a tiny white patch hair on the front of his head.
He came into the industry in 1993 after watching the movie, Living In Bondage, where he saw the star actor, Kenneth Okonkwo, (Andy in the movie) Okonkwo was his classmate and pal at the university and this spurred him on.
As he succinctly put it "if Kenneth, (Andy) can be a star, then I can be one" Thus the journey which started 11 years ago has seen him as one of the popular faces in the home video industry; with about 70 home videos to his credit. He spoke to Saturday Arts.
HOW he started?
I started acting from primary school but I never thought I could make a living with it because I read Business Administration from University of Nigeria, Nsukka. I finished in 1989 and served in 1990. I came into acting in 1993.
Why did you abandon your profession to switch over to the home video industry at a time society's view on it was skeptical?
It happened when NEK videos did "Living In Bondage", there I saw my friend, he was my classmate at the University, Kenneth Okonkwo, a.k.a. Andy "In Living In Bondage. We were in the same class studying Business Administration when I saw him, I shouted; 'ah! Kenneth?' I now told myself that if Kenneth can be a star, I can as well be a star. Though I have that inclination of acting I'm a public orator,
PR person, I meet a lot of people and I know how to move along. I said ah! If Kenneth can do it, then I can. He really inspired me and that was how I came into home video.
Do you still see the movie industry with the same eye you saw it at that time?
I read Business Administration, I look for work, I could not get the kind of work I wanted. Then I told myself that I am a business-minded person, I entered into the industry for business, and not for the glamour of it. Secondly, to communicate to the world, teach the people because moral instruction is nowhere thought these days, the only way we can remould the people is through creative acting. That was my motive of coming into the industry, I don't know about the next person.
Why do you always feature as elderly person or clergy man?
Yes, I am always playing the role of a chief, elder, reverend gentleman, doctor, lawyer, because of my nature, I'm a soft person by nature, easy-going, I look gentle, but what makes them to use me as an elder is because of my white tiny patch of hair at the front of my hair. The time the movie industry started, the elders we have now have not started. So we had searcity of elders, and because of the little patch of white hair in my front, they could make a little white patches and I become an elder. And God so helped me, I always carried out that role convincingly. That's where my elderly and chiefly roles come in.
What makes you to accept a script?
If I look into the script, first thing is to know the content. Secondly the message it is conveying and finally the money, that is the package, if it is comfortable, I accept the work.
What's your mission?
My mission is to shape the society, correcting the ills of the society through acting.
Do you at times play your real-self?
I have not really played my real self because what I put on the screen is different from Valentine. I portray the character they want me to portray.
The industry, any prospect?
The future is so bright. There are promises of better tomorrow. Everyday, stars are made, everyday stars are gone. And the ones there are established. I like what is happening in the home video industry. The older ones are being recognised, like the awards they are getting, like that Federal Government award Pete Edochie received as Best Actor of the year, was so rewarding. The man had put in enough effort in the industry and getting that award from the Federal Government was a kind of national merit award. Such awards make us to aspire to a greater height, it spurs us on. There are a lot of potentials, the industry is still untapped, it is so virgin and so wide.
Why do you think movie-makers like to use popular actors/actresses instead of grooming new ones?
It is the investors preference, it is the sponsors interests that are being protected. The investors want to make returns on their investments. If an investors puts in like N3 million on a movie, and wants his return within one month of release, so, those marketers are not ready to try new hands. The risk of using new hands may jeopardize their chances of making profit.
But in as much as new ones are really trying, putting in their best, what they are now doing is pick little of the popular ones and then pack them up with upcoming ones. The new ones will be climbing up gradually until they get to where we are now.
You have been here since 1993. Do you think if you had been in your field, you would have made more in terms of personal accomplishment?
Accomplishment could be a relative term.
I'm looking at it in monetary terms.
Well, I'm getting inward satisfaction from what am doing now. Monetary aspect I know will come gradually. I get to know people and people get to know me and what it takes in Nigeria is connection, knowing people. You still achieve your dreams.
Do you think your mates who have stuck to your course of study are faring better?
They are not doing better than me. What I do, because am a business man, I do other thing to complement my acting.
What's your view on artistes unstable homes?
They are very stable - like Joke Silva and Olu Jacobs, Zack Orji and wife and many others. What is happening is we are like a little sample in a larger population. What happens within the movie industry is also what happens in the outside world. The only thing is that we are just like a dot in a white plane sheet. So ours is always public issue, public interest. I don't pray mine will be unstable, it will be stable.
On female artistes?
They are trying, putting in their best. I encourage them. Gender is all about male, female male cannot act without their female, just like God's created Adam, and saw the missing link, then created Eve. I want them to continue, endure, they should know why they are here, where they are going and then package themselves well.
Nudity movie?
The one you see on the screen is what the script says, and for you to act convincingly, you have to be like that. It's like if I am acting a mad person's role, I have to behave momentarily like a mad person before I can convince my audience.
Can you name your price tag now?
No!, this is the private side of me which I cannot reveal. I am comfortable and hoping to improve on my present status.
When are you wedding?
I will be wedding very soon this year but I don't know when but definitely this year.
Linear Mode
