Jude Orhorha is a naturally humorous person, as exemplified in his role as a deaf and dumb character in the popular Fuji House of Commotion. In this interview, Orhorha speaks with OSEYIZA OOGBODO on his long years met him, and he acquitted himself appropriately based on his multiple years in in the nation’s entertainment sector and sundry issues. Excerpts:
What are you engaged in now?
How do you mean? Professionally or personally? Professionally, I’m still an actor. I’m in the first 3D musical animation Nigerian movie. It’s called Sade. I happened to play the male lead and Omawunmi Dada played the female lead.
When is it coming out?
I don’t know. But it should be soon.
Initially, when I asked the latest about you, you said, ‘I’m still an actor.’ What does that mean? That response is filled with unexplained nuances, because everybody knows you’ve always been an actor.
Well, for some time, people have not been seeing me. But I’m still an actor. If they invite me for their programmes, movie activities, I’m very much available.
You used to be in Lagos. But you’re now in Abuja. What are you doing out there?
It’s kind of personal, because it’s an office job, and it’s a personal thing to me, anyway. I do other things outside acting.
It takes time to mature into a character, it takes time to build it up, and it takes time to maintain it. It was from Checkmate, ten years down the line, Amaka Igwe started Fuji House of Commotion, from 1990 to 2000. From 2000 to 2010, it stayed consistent. So, everybody sees me and says that’s that deaf and dumb guy
How long have you been doing this job in Abuja?
Since September last year (2017).
Is it that you can’t be a full-time actor?
Of course, I’m a full-time actor. Once there’s a movie job, I take excuse from the office, I go out and do it and come back to the office.
But would being a full-time actor give you time for a 9 to 5 job?
Yeah, sure. My job is not 9 to 5, anyway. It’s 8 to anytime and it’s not subjected to weekdays alone.
Some people say Nollywood is more about quantity than quality. Do you agree?
Now, it’s more of quality, because we’ve been able to penetrate the international market, that’s one. Two, there’s a series of film festivals, a series of trainings, a cross-pollination of both worlds, Hollywood coming to Nigeria and Nigeria going to Hollywood. So, there’s a lot of improvement in terms of quality.
You’re an actor who’s been lucky enough to become successful in Nollywood, despite the difficulty involved in breaking through. How would you advise an upcoming actor, who’s striving to become successful?
If the upcoming ones have a mission or a vision, they’ll not be easily distracted. Some of them go into it because they hear lots of actors are making big money out of it, while some people are in it for the passion, you know, and you can actually deduce from both, you understand. People, who are in it for the money don’t last; that’s it.
Recently, Uti Nwachukwu said acting doesn’t pay that much. Is that true?
I beg to differ. It’s about you being at the right place at the right time. I mean, actors now earn three million, four million per script. Yeah, that’s true. Some even earn more than that. And if you’re a good manager of money, if you’re very good in managing your resources, I don’t think you’ll ever be poor.
Have you ever produced your own movie?
Oh, yeah.
How many have you produced?
Ehn, just four.
How easy or difficult is it to produce a movie?
It’s easy to produce and it’s easy to fail. It takes a deep person to understand how I put my answers because it’s not just going into it for the sake of doing it, because you see other people doing it. You go into it because you want to add fans in your profession, you understand. Before, an actor produces, acts the movie, directs, becomes the marketer, becomes the location manager, blah blah blah. But now, everybody has been wise enough to know that, look, you have to draw a line, it’s either you’re going into it fully or you’re not. If you’re going into it fully, you’ve to take your time and it’s easy for you to succeed. If you’re going into it because other people are doing it, then it’s easy for you to fail.
When did you release the last movie you produced?
It’s not out yet. It’s still under processing.
Are you implying it’s going to be a cinema release?
Something like that, yes.
There are some movies that’ve been setting records at the box office. Can your movie also set a box office record like The Wedding Party, A Trip To Jamaica?
Sure. I don’t need to travel abroad to make a statement. And everybody has his own, how will I put it, everybody has his own manner of approach, his own style. You want to make a hit because you’re using actors, who’re faces, who have their own followers, then you now want to put class by going to Dubai, US. I can as well make a movie with just six, seven people and shoot at Obudu Ranch and have a tight story and yet make my hit. So, it’s not how many people you use but how well you use the small people you have. And I strongly believe in strong content.
In Fuji House of Commotion, you were that guy who couldn’t talk and all that. How were you able to play that role so well?
Well, that’s because I belong to a school of method acting. A method actor takes his time to do research, ask questions, read lots of books, then get to know the character inside out. So, it takes time to mature into the character, it takes time to build it up, and it takes time to maintain it. Now, that character itself has been in existence since 1990. Checkmate. It was from Checkmate, ten years down the line, Amaka Igwe started Fuji House of Commotion, from 1990 to 2000. From 2000 to 2010, it stayed consistent. So, everybody sees me and says that’s that deaf and dumb guy. Some people even believe that I can’t talk.
