| The Re-Invention of Uche Jombo |
| Written by Bola | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sunday, 17 January 2010 06:02 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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NWU: Hi there Uche! UJ: Hi Bola! How’re you doing? NWU: Very well thank you..let me first of all congratulate you on your weight loss! (General laughter) UJ: Thank you! NWU: And youre looking va-va-voom! Care to spill the beans on why and how that happened? UJ: Well, I always knew I was a bit on the big side especially around the hips and when we would shoot I would look even bigger on screen so I took the decision to lose weight. That apart, I also lost weight to be in character for a role in a movie where I play a cancer patient. NWU: Oh really? We’ll come to that later…. Word has gone out that you have been going behind the camera executive producing and co-producing movies..would you clear the air on that? UJ: Yes, I have executive-produced two movies to date..one is ‘Nollywood Hustler’ which we shot last year and is due for release very soon. The other is the one we are shooting right now, ‘Holding Hope’ but Im doing that in collaboration with my colleagues, Emem Isong and Desmond Elliot. NWU: That’s the one where you play a cancer patient right? UJ: Yes. NWU: What the difference between producing and executive producing? UJ: Executive producing merely means you are the one bankrolling the film and producing is when you actually get things done like hire the director, cast, crew and generally make sure the production is going on. NWU: There seems to be a new trend with actors and actresses these days executive producing films… first there was Stephanie Okereke with her film ‘Through the Glass’ Desmond Elliot co-producing ‘Reloaded’, ‘Before the Light’ and ‘Guilty Pleasures’ and even this film you’re shooting and Ini Edo producing her yet-unreleased film ‘Memories of my heart’. What is going on? (General laughter) UJ: Well, I can’t speak for my colleagues but I can say that it’s more about me evolving and wanting to empower myself. Apart from being an actress, I also write scripts and when I would write and sell to some producers, may be due to financial constraints or plain not understanding the story they would end up spoiling it…at least my vision for it so I decided that the next time I have a story close to my heart, I would bank-roll and produce it. NWU: And what has the experience been like? UJ: Hectic as you can see! NWU: Tell us about this film you’re currently shooting… ‘Holding Hope’. Some cast & crew of 'Holding Hope'. l-r; Biola Williams, Desmond Elliot,Emem Isong, Uduak Isong-Oguamanam, Uche Jombo. UJ: It’s a beautiful story…a story about love, one’s faith, life and about cancer. NWU: Why cancer? UJ: Hmm… I was recently on a flight from Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) to Harare (Zimbabwe) and I met a cancer survivor. We got talking and she told me her story about surviving breast cancer. Of all the things she said, what stood out for me was how she was able to live and face life with just one breast. She said she knew her husband loved her but she was apprehensive because he was a man that like physical beauty too but they were able to cope with that. NWU: So did you shoot the movie about her life? UJ: No..but it was part of the inspiration for the film. I say this is a lucky script because all the elements that were favourable to it, came together. Coincidentally, when I got back to Lagos and was chatting with my friend (Producer) Emem Isong she said she had just read a sad story about a lady with cancer and wanted to combine it with a script she had had for ages on domestic violence. So I came over to her place and she, her sister Uduak Isong Oguamanam and I plotted the story for this film which we titled ‘Holding Hope’. When we finished we knew we had a winner. Infact Emem said if people don’t go to the cinema and laugh, scream and cry then the film is pointless. You will certainly leave the cinema with something having touched you. NWU: So it’s a tear-jerker? UJ: Absolutely! NWU: Hmm…don’t get me crying already o!(general laughter) Desmond Elliot and Uche Jombo rehearsing for a scene in, 'Holding Hope'. NWU: Tell me more about your scriptwriting… how did you get into that? UJ: Well, I had acted in a film for Emem way back in 1999 or so and I approached her that I had a script for sale. She took a look at it and later called to say she didn’t like it so I went ahead and sold it to another producer. Some weeks later she calls, asking for the script and I tell her I have sold it. She said though she didn’t like the story she liked the way I wrote it…the dialogue… and asked if I could work on a story she had in mind. I said sure and that was how it started. NWU: So what scripts have you written… UJ: I co-wrote ‘Girls in the Hood’, ‘Endless Lies’, ‘Games Men Play’ with Emem. I also wrote ‘Celebrities’ and a host of others. NWU: Games Men Play’ lets talk about that… it seems it’s the role that made people take notice of you. UJ: Yes, definitely! Before then I had played Campus girl, party girl, spoilt brat..and other such roles. In ‘Games Men Play’(GMP) for the first time, I was played the long-suffering, submissive wife to Jim Iyke’s character and got a lot of acclaim for it. I must have struck a chord in people because they would walk up to me and say, ‘Thank you, you saved my marriage’, ‘That is my story’ and so on. So now I see acting as a responsibility and strive to be better than my last film. NWU: So would you do what your character Tracy, in GMP did? Put a condom in your man’s traveling bag? UJ: Hmm… I don’t know about that! (laughter) But I do know that I wish I was as strong as some of the characters I play and there are others I say, ‘Hell no! I cant be this weak’! I actually learn from the characters I play.
NWU: On a lighter note… we hear you like to party! UJ: (Laughter) Who doesn’t like to party? NWU: I mean like clubbing from 11 in the evening to 6 in the morning! If you haven’t arrived, the party hasn’t started! UJ: (Laughter) Well, I feel after working so hard, a girl has got to play hard too. I like to dance and like you said I can dance all night! It’s a great workout too! Burn all those calories as I burn a whole in the dance floor! NWU: So what’s your favourite song at the moment? UJ: ‘I love you’ by PSquare. NWU: So is there a Mr in the background. UJ: No comment. NWU: Lets us know… UJ: My private life is just that… my private life! (Laughter) NWU: Just before you go…what do you think about the Ghanaian incursion into Nollywood? Hate it or embrace it? NWU: Definitely embrace it! It’s a good thing. As they come here we go there too to shoot. I believe the sky is big enough for all of us. Its not a competition and for those who think it is, then up your game! NWU: Well said, Uche. Thanks so much for your time. UJ: You’re welcome!
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