‘It’s a Sorry Tale’ – Bimbo Manuel Speaks Bitterly About Unprofessionalism in Nollywood
Veteran Nollywood actor Bimbo Manuel is speaking during a new interview with The Nation about the conversation of old Nollywood vs new Nollywood, and also about the unprofessionalism he has witnessed especially from younger actors on set. Here’s what Bimbo Manuel had to say.
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During his interview, Bimbo Manuel was asked “Who do you think are the most creative and professional between veteran actors and the young and emerging actors?” to which he said:
BIMBO MANUEL: You see, I don’t even understand what Old Nollywood is and what New Nollywood is yet. So, it’s hard for me to compare them, you know. What makes one old? What makes one new? I honestly don’t know the difference. You see, everybody, everybody is reacting to the most current challenges. Challenges in the sense that you encounter a character. You encounter a script. It makes demands of you. And what qualifies you as a good actor or director or whatever is how you react to it. So, the realities of the people who are coming from the past or who played in the past were totally different. You can’t say five words these days without referring to social media, without referring to all those high-tech things and so on. But back then, the TV we knew was grounding, no remote control. Yes, you go there and turn it ka, ka, ka, ka, ka. You get to the channel. Fuzzy and you wait for it patiently to clear. We didn’t have any remote control. We didn’t have all of that,. So, the realities are totally different. Our stories back then were also usually about mature people, maybe because the population was also relatively middle-aged at that time.
But now you’re dealing with a population in Nigeria that is about 60%, 67% young people. So, how they react to the stories that they tell themselves cannot be judged in any way using the same yardsticks as what happened to people in the past. So, if they’re good, they can only be judged based on what is the truth of that character, not compared to how so-and-so a person from the past might have done it. So, it’s hard to compare them.
“What about their level of professionalism?”
BIMBO MANUEL: Oh no, that’s a sorry tale. That’s a sorry tale because one, because most of them, or quite a number did not come from a background of training in the craft. You have lawyers, you have medical doctors, you have engineers, you have scientists of different kinds, you have philosophers and everybody wanting to be actors.
And there is room. It’s not a gated discipline in practice, like law, medicine and so on. It’s not. It’s not gated in any way, you know. So, because nobody ever taught them those things that they’re just going to act as their natural instincts dictate to them. Don’t come late. We’re meeting at 7 o’clock. A professional actor would probably get there at about 6, max, like 6.45. So, 6.30, 7 o’clock that you say is call time, he is checking in and ready to follow the process. The other fellow, because he didn’t know that it’s supposed to be so, would probably get there at like 8.30 and explain to you how there was traffic getting out of his gates and expect you to understand. But you can’t go do that on a show day, on stage. That’s part of the issues that I thought you were referring to. You can’t do that because the audience is waiting for you. You’re not going to keep them waiting.
“Have you had a scenario where you’re on set and a very junior or younger actor has kept you waiting?”
BIMBO MANUEL: Yes.
“How does it make you feel?”
BIMBO MANUEL: I try not to be too emotional about things like that because I have my way of dealing with it. It is not my fellow actor’s problem. It is the problem of my producer. If you say, Mr. Manuel, I want you to get here at 3 o’clock and I get here at 3 o’clock, I sign in and the understanding I have with you is that I will work with you for 6 hours. By 9 o’clock, whether the other actor comes in at 8.15, it does not matter. I will leave by 9 o’clock. I will leave at 9 o’clock. It will not be out of any fury, not out of any anger. The actor that came late, I will relate with you normally because it is not my place as a fellow actor to discipline you. So complaining to you about your lateness I think is futile. It is totally worthless. It is not going to bring anything back to me.
