INTERVIEW: Filmmakers put their work on YouTube for autonomy and direct earning, says Kanayo O Kanayo

Kanayo O Kanayo, born Anayo Modestus Onyekwere, is a prominent Nigerian actor known for his productive career spanning over three decades. He has been featured in several Nollywood film projects including ‘Living in Bondage’, ‘Blood Money: The Vulture Men’, ‘Billionaire’s Club’, and ‘Lion Heart’. In this interview with TheCable’s DEBORAH BODUNDE, the movie star discusses being typecast in ritualist roles, his identity, the need to prioritise training in the movie industry, homosexuality in Nollywood, and why actors should invest in alternative income sources. He also explains why YouTube is becoming a go-to distribution channel for Nigerian filmmakers.

Deborah Bodunde: What inspired you to get into acting, and how did you first get your start in the Nigerian film industry?

Kanayo O Kanayo: It’s a story as long as the movie industry. We started with television. We acted in soap operas, series, and dramas with the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) in the 80s. We did stage and radio drama. With improvements, we got into home videos and streaming platforms. We set an agenda for what we do. We taught society lessons through our drama. We were the conscience of the people. Through storytelling, we hoped that we’d achieve a better society. The situation has always been seeing people who say they’re impacted by a drama they watched. So we didn’t just start by coming into the movie industry. There were some things available that set up the pace.

Deborah Bodunde: You’re widely known for your role in ritual-themed movies. How do you feel about being typecast in these roles?

Kanayo O Kanayo: I’ve never been typecast. If those storylines were not selling, we wouldn’t be doing them. There are no bad roles and good roles. Every role complements another. I have been playing different roles. I’m dynamic from one role to the other and that’s what I keep on doing, teaching society lessons from each story told.

Deborah Bodunde: Do you struggle with separating your real-life identity from the persona of the characters you play in films?

Kanayo O Kanayo: In this part of the world, people see you playing the role of a wicked father-in-law and attach you to that role. They say you’re a wicket man. People see you as a billionaire in a role and assume that you must be a billionaire in person.

But the actor has only done an excellent job if the audience believes he is the character he plays.

Over the years, I can assure you that my identity has not mixed with any movie role and character I play, even the good roles. I don’t want to live the characters I play, even the good characters. I want to play the role well enough for you to believe it because role interpretation matters in this job. Any actor who tries to live his movie role has to either steal or engage in some corrupt practices. An actor should be comfortable and invest his money in alternative sources of income.

Deborah Bodunde: As a veteran, looking back on your career, is there anything you would have done differently?

Kanayo O Kanayo: There have been a lot of challenges and sometimes you begin to ask yourself if you made the right decision by being in the entertainment industry.

You find out that most of the questions we had in the 90s are still prevalent today. I’ve always craved professionalism in the industry and I still crave it even at this level. So doing anything differently would be to stick to the armpit of professionalism and to ensure that actors get good benefits for engaging in their trade.; to engage in policies that make us see ourselves as a serious industry; to ensure that people who are in the entertainment side of the economy become policymakers of implementable policies for practitioners in the areas of their health, royalties, take-home pay and so on. It should be an industry that prides itself in being comparable to others in the world, not one where actors are seen as hand clappers and drum beaters and those who always call for public support when their health is in bad shape.

Deborah Bodunde: What is your take on sentiments that Nigeria’s film industry today is full of untrained stars?

Kanayo O Kanayo: The Nigerian movie industry has the most outstanding talents in Africa and can compare favourably with any industry outside the shores of Africa. Our talent is enormous and we are doing well — from the youths who want to hone their skills to the older ones already established in the industry.

However, we also need a lot of training for those already practising and those who want to come in. For every trade, you have to up the antics. That means innovation. So actors must innovate, actors must believe in mastery, and actors must obey the ethics of the profession. Real training has become vital in a world that evolves every day. I need more training than even the younger actors. There must be time for rest and training — voice training or creative training in other areas. The majority of people we have right now, unfortunately, do not involve themselves in training. But I believe it should be a practice that actors must always embrace.

Deborah Bodunde: Your new film ‘Weight of Loyalty’ premiered recently on YouTube. Several other filmmakers are now putting their movies on YouTube. Why the shift to YouTube as opposed to streamers like Netflix and Prime Video?

Kanayo O Kanayo: We came from a background where there was a set of people who doubled as marketers and producers of home videos. They didn’t give a lot of respite to filmmaking. They made the rule and also interpreted the rules. Actors were just pets in their hands. What now happened is that there needed to be a level playing field; an opportunity where people could practice their trade without inhibitions. This is because, at a point, these people became inhibitions to even the trade by instituting certain elements that were not practicable professionally.

This and so many other factors have caused actors to seek new alternatives. There was a time when some marketers in Onitsha, in Nnamdi Azikwe Road, and Idumota in Lagos made some very uncharitable rules that you could only market your film with a certain amount of money. This excluded a lot of people from practising their trade.

So when YouTube came, it afforded people the rare opportunity to shoot their content, post it on their channels, and earn at the end of every month. With YouTube, filmmakers didn’t have to go through the National Film and Video Censors Board.

YouTube also has its rules. If you meet up with those rules and you have the necessary traction, they will pay you for your content. That allowed people like Broda Shaggi, Mr Macaroni, and Sabinus to shoot their content, put it on YouTube, and make money. It also gave actors equal opportunity. If you build traction and people follow you, you begin to achieve some mileage and that mileage is in dollars.

It also keeps you away from sharing your revenue with somebody and not being in charge of your content. People have as many as 5 to 15 channels for the distribution of their content. Some of my colleagues have said that they don’t act in movies that are not their own on YouTube but I still act for other people. The idea is that we all go around to patronize each other, enhance our trade, and enlarge our creativity. So the rush to YouTube is for accessibility, direct earnings, and being in command/control of what you do. You’re no longer answerable to any or somebody sitting in one corner, telling you that your films are not selling or that they don’t like your story.

What I don’t like on YouTube is the use of fine faces. The film is not about fine faces but about telling a story and telling it well. I’ve seen that some names are trending on YouTube but that’s not filmmaking. Tell your stories well. That is what should attract people to watch and not because of the fine boys and their faces. When we started Nollywood, it was the stories that attracted people and that is also how it is on Netflix. People are looking for fine stories and that is what movie-making is all about. That is what the discovery of new talents should be about. My films on YouTube ‘Weight of Loyalty’ and ‘A Weekend with the In-laws’ are doing very well. I’m trying to be different. People don’t expect that, with the high status that one has gotten, I’ll start producing on just the issues that are trending.

Deborah Bodunde: You’ve aired some takes on homosexuality in Nollywood. What informed them?

Kanayo O Kanayo: I won’t want to speak more on this issue but the fact of the matter is that unholy conduct should not be allowed to be part of the trade I practice. Unholy and unnatural conduct and those who are engaging in it should not be allowed.

I have not had any personal experience but when things happen. We are not blind or deaf to stories that are told. Those who have put their monkey hand in the soup should remove it before it becomes a human hand.

Deborah Bodunde: You recently threatened to disrupt movie sets involving Angel Unigwe. What transpired between you and the teen actress?

Kanayo O Kanayo: Angel Unigwe is not the problem, it’s her mum. I think Angel is an 18-year-old. Her mum is not managing her well and she has been doing this to other people. As a lawyer, I will not threaten anybody but I will urge you to obey the contract as stipulated.

The law recognises oral and written contracts and many people in the industry are guided by oral contracts.

People obey and the industry has been flourishing. I heard that the woman said her lawyer was going to write to me. I am waiting and then I will open up. There was no intention to ban Angel from acting. It was just a simple case of her mum bringing her on set to finish the remaining days agreed upon. If you enter into a contract and the agreement says you are giving me three days, if you bring your daughter at 10 am instead of 7 am, then three hours have been lost. Now you forcefully take her out of set by 9 pm but the day ends at midnight. So what have you done? You’ve breached the contract.

In the movie industry, we operate as a family. If you shoot till midnight and a minute after midnight an actor says their contract has ended, it’s a practice in the industry for someone to plead for an extra hour. If you want to charge for that one hour, then that’s a different ball game. But you can’t just walk out of the set. It’s never done anywhere.

This woman is trying to destroy her daughter. She has been doing it to others and getting away but people are only hearing about it now because I’m a big name in the industry. She needs people to counsel her because she can’t go around threatening the peace of the industry with her conduct. What I will not do is give the woman relevance.

Deborah Bodunde: You expressed your opinion on how monogamy isn’t Nigerian culture. Can you speak more about this?

Kanayo O Kanayo: When I speak, I speak for my side of the country. Polygamy was in the Bible. Our fathers and great-grandfathers managed polygamy very well and they were all happy.

And then you didn’t have men who contracted viral diseases from their women. The issue or circumstance that I proposed does not mean that we have to go back to the dark ages. It doesn’t mean that we have to go back to how our grandfathers lived but what works for Africa is what I’m talking about.

I’m saying this is where we’ve gotten things wrong and religion has done us a disfavor. What I’m saying is that our great-grandfathers had command and control over their marriages and they never believed in outside relationships.