“The King of Boys” – Conversation with Richard Mofe-Damijo

S.O.: While we’re talking about money, you have been touted as the highest paid Nigerian actor. Are you?

RMD: Well, I’m told I am by the producers, but a lot of the young actors are getting well paid now. Before, the disparity used to be a lot more and then they used to always beg me not to say how much they were paying me. But I guess now younger actors are getting well paid as well, so…

S.O.: How much do they pay you?

RMD: Unfortunately, my manager says I’m not at liberty to tell. (GENERAL LAUGHTER).

S.O.: Okay, what does money mean to you?

RMD: Just a means to an end. I usually don’t let it get in the way. I usually would make sure that I am swayed more by the content of the script which perhaps account for the fact that in spite of the body of works that I have done now, both released and unreleased, I still do not have up to 20 movies, which is what my colleagues probably would do in 4 months. There is somebody that I know who is not even as busy. I was on a location in Calabar and I said to her, “you’re a young actor, so what have you done this year?” and she says “well, I’ve done maybe like 30 or…” and I said “but we’re in September”.

And I said well I started doing home videos in ’95 or so – or ’96 – Flesh and Blood was my first home video –

S.O.: It wasn’t Violated?

RMD: No, it wasn’t. It was Flesh and Blood and then there was Violated. So I said I started doing home videos in ’95 or 96. If I still haven’t done up to 21 or so, and you’ve done 30 in one year and we’re still in September (and she wasn’t counting the one that we were doing in Calabar by the time).

It got to a point when people where saying that I have retired. So, this year, what I have done is that I am putting together a body of works. I have probably done about 5 movies this year, no, 6 now, 6 movies this year. So what I do is by the end of this month I’m going to go on a break again till April. I won’t do anything till April so that between now and April, the body of work should let them know that I have not retired and then I’ll do another body of work, maybe like 6 again. That’s how I like to do them.

S.O.: Does your manager manage in conjunction with you, staggering the productions you get into, or do you do it yourself?

RMD: I do it myself. We don’t have management in the sense of the word, or agents in the sense of the word here, because the industry hasn’t taken off to that level where managers can be that decisive in terms of your career. So for somebody like me, because I went to school in the area of the industry, I have a good understanding of it, I’ve followed it abroad voraciously. I have an agent now, I have an international agent no in South Africa. She operates out of South Africa. I probably will go to Morocco in December to shoot a movie, a big budget one. There are quite a few things in the pipeline that she’s trying to get me, sort of get me a lot of work so that I can do… She was quite happy with the exposure (and) the reception of Critical Assignment, and it was on the merit of Critical Assignment that she signed me on. She’s trying to get me work now. What I do now is just do auditions on tape for her and I send to her. Hopefully, proper management will come into this country in no time.

I’m also trying to see if I can do that at some point in my career, you know, set up something properly constituted, bringing expatriates from wherever and do something really… I’m trying to do a one-stop shop for the industry that will have everything. All the people I’m talking to, if I can get all of them to agree, see my vision, then we can be able to do something like that.

S.O.: While we’re still on the issue of transcending Nigerian borders into the international world, I know that you were in New York in 2001 at the NY Film Festival, I think, with Out Of Bounds, one of your productions. Are there other things that you have done outside Nigeria, is there something else that you are working towards to take the RMD image outside Nigeria?

RMD: That is the reason for the establishment of RMD Promotions. Its to try and take me out of Nigeria, which is why I also have the website thing (rmdpromotions.com). My son runs my website for now, so there are things that we are trying to do. I said earlier that I probably will go to Morocco in December to do an international movie, so these are the things that I’m looking for right now. Hopefully, by next year, before December next year, I probably would have had maybe one or two more international films. And I’m going to start production again in the New Year.

S.O.: I was going to talk about the website. It is very simple and stylish. Concept-wise, it’s modeled around you, the image of the actor who is also into so many things. Is this again in relation to you using yourself to sell other aspects and other things that you do, White water, and all the other things?

RMD: I think that basically in Nigeria, integrity counts for almost everything. I see myself as a brand right now, so it’s important that I can use that brand name to drive very other thing that is attached to me, which is also responsible for the name, RMD Promotions. I could have said use any other name for it, but I wanted immediate recognition. That way, it makes it easier to be able to talk to people and say I’m going to be starring in this. It makes it easier for them to want to sit down with me and talk business.

S.O.: In business and in the arts, what’s the most challenging thing you’ve ever had to confront?

RMD: I won’t call it the most challenging, but what comes to mind for the arts, for instance, when I went to South Africa to do Critical Assignment, a day before we were going to shoot, I almost walked out of the production. The contract… I needed an exclusion clause in my contract because I knew that it would be very difficult to promote the movie here in Nigeria without infringing on my rights or without passing off that I am endorsing the product. So, I insisted that there must be an exclusion clause in my contract.

We were on for over an hour. Telephone conferences with their lawyer, you know… What was supposed to take five minutes… I had a shouting bout with the producer and al

l of these, don’t forget it’s taking place in South Africa, Johannesburg and they were like why did you come? I said why did you invite me? I told you I needed clarification, you said come and we will clarify. All of these, they’re looking at me and they’re saying “is he an actor or a lawyer? Where is all of these coming from?” Of course they didn’t know what my training was. I guess I’ve found out that the more I tried to improve my person, either by reading or… the better it worked out for me. Also, it gives me choices its good to be able to look at all of that opportunity, the money – we were being paid in Dollars, we were going to be working with an international crew, the film can go anywhere, can end up anywhere – and I was ready to walk away from all of that. It was a very important decision to make at that point in time and I was ready for it.

S.O.: What exactly was the issue?

RMD: The issue was that they wouldn’t give me the exclusion clause, because I knew that –

S.O.: You didn’t want to promote Guinness locally (in Nigeria)?

RMD: No. Because that was not what I was contracted for… I was contracted to be in a film that Guinness just happened to be sponsoring, okay? So, I said to them that it is important that we state that and very clearly because it is a thin line.

And to tell you, the irony of it all was that when we did finally resolve it, when I came back from South Africa to Nigeria, the first thing that was on my table was from the PR company for Guinness telling me of this big presentation, big media event that they need me to come and do everything. So, I called him and I sat him down and I said “hey, it ain’t gonna happen”. And of course there was a lot of talking and begging and pleading…

While all of these was going on, the papers started: “RMD in a multi-million deal with Guinness, RMD does-does-does with Guinness”. So, what I did was that I cut these all and sent them to South Africa and said “what should I be doing to you all now?” (LAUGHING). And then they knew what I was saying, because it wasn’t a premonition. I told them “I’m no Michael Power, but I do know that it is very dicey. I’m a leading actor here. How do you now say that I was in a Guinness sponsored movie without equating me with the brand?” I said it is not possible and they just couldn’t what I was saying because of course they didn’t know who I was. I said “look, my image is too strong for Guinness not to latch on to it. It is impossible. If it is not something that they want to do, their PR company would not let it go”. They won’t let it go, so I had to come to some kind of arrangement with Guinness Nigeria… It was a very difficult decision for me to make at the time in South Africa. Because of my insistence and because they saw that I was ready to walk away from it all, they had to grant me the exclusion clause.

S.O.: So that’s one challenge you’ve faced in the arts. How about business?

RMD: Business… Maybe it hasn’t come yet. Or… What I get is I go to a place to do a presentation, for instance, and people look at me like “I thought you were an actor”. I’ll tell you the reaction. In OTC, I went to the Offshore Technology Conference –

S.O.: The one in the US?

RMD: Yes. The company I was consulting for, they were gracious enough for me to go with them, apart from the fact that I was doing a play with Uche (Osotule). Being their consultant, they needed me to come. And everybody that saw me at the OTC were like “we didn’t know you do this”, and I say “yes I do”. So, that’s the kind of thing that I find.

I remember once I had to do a presentation in a bank, so I took my computer and everything and took my people there, we all dressed up. We were in their board room and I was setting up. When the directors came in and sat down, I stood up and introduced myself that I was going to be leading the team. (LAUGHING) You should have seen… I could just feel… But I love what happens, because the power of presentation that I have, I guess I use it over everybody. There’s no way you’ll allow me to do a presentation – unless I don’t know what I’m presenting – there’s no way you won’t give me the job.

S.O.: The moment you stand up, they listen to you –

RMD: (LAUGHING) They listen anyway, because I put all the dramatics into it. At the end of the day, the MD was saying “my directors love you”. I say “yes, they would, they would”. I love it. I love the transformation that takes place at the end of whatever encounter I have with them. They have no idea of the areas that I traverse. I love the pleasant surprise –

S.O.: That’s a weapon in itself.

RMD: Yes. I tell them that acting is my disguise. (LAUGHING)

S.O.: You know the ladies are especially crazy about you? How does this feel?

RMD: I don’t know… What I do is –

S.O.: Don’t be modest now.

RMD: No no, modesty is allowed. What I do is I ignore fame. If I didn’t ignore fame, I guess I probably would not be here. I saw fame do a bad turn a on a young Nigerian actor that I used to have a lot of regards for… For obvious reasons, I won’t mention his name. And I was a part of his rehabilitation, as it were, and I guess also I can’t talk without having to bring God into my discussion. I guess it’s the grace of God. Fame is something that is so delicate that if you don’t ignore it at some point, it will make you lose focus, because there’s a tendency to forget why you became famous in the first place. It was just from not minding anybody and just doing your own work, you know, following your craft, being dedicated to you craft. If you now go ahead and enjoy the benefits of having worked on your craft and your craft having brought you fame, if you now enjoy the fame too much, you forget to pay attention to the craft. So, I don’t acknowledge my fame. I see my fame through the eyes of other people, so that way, it makes it easier for me to manage who I am. I don’t ever not be able to stop in Surulere and buy my bottled groundnut and taste it in front of the woman. Or walk into a fast food joint if I’m hungry and buy a take-away pack and go away. I never want to get to that level where I can’t do that. I have refused to acknowledge how big a “star” or whatever that I am, so it’s the way that I have survived it.

When the ladies show appreciation and come, I’m worried, but that helps.

S.O.: You’re a Christian?

RMD: I’m born again, God-fearing, devil-chasing, tongue-speaking, everything.

S.O.: What kind of “worldly” movie would you not do?

RMD: Any, so to speak. I believe that everything that I do, if I do it well in the first place, that is the first injunction, that’s what I need to do first. Because if I do it well, it will bring places or it will bring critical acclaim. And my life as it were is a glorification of God. If you look at it in that way, there isn’t any worldly kind of film that I would not do. But anyone that completely dehumanizes and degrades humanity without any form of redemption in it, I won’t do it. That I haven’t found.

– Interview by Sola Osofisan (October 3, 2003)