INTERVIEW: Patrick Doyle, Sebastian Ukwa discuss ‘A Danfo Christmas’

‘A Danfo Christmas’ brings to life a relatable tale of family drama, love, and surprises. The festive comedy captures the challenges of navigating familial relationships, financial pressures, and the unyielding dynamics of life in Lagos.

TheCable Lifestyle’s PELUMI BOLAWA speaks with some prominent characters from the film, including Patrick Doyle, Myde Glover, and Loveth Ogbene, about their experiences on set, their perspectives on the themes of the movie, and the unique challenges of bringing this story to life.

Pelumi Bolawa: How was it like to embody your characters in ‘A Danfo Christmas’?

Patrick Doyle: The character Agbayomi was the patriarch of the Akinola family. He was a man who was recovering from a stroke for the most part. He was an upright character, so embodying that character was something I could relate to and relate with, in the sense that here is a man with adult sons who he depended on the most. Not only did one of the sons leave the entire town, he also left the business and the family business and went live far away in Lagos. That must have broken his heart, and now how to rely on the younger brother who is not as trustworthy as the first son and, for his reasons, had to leave town. 

I could relate to him because I have adult children, most of whom have flown the coup, so I know what it feels like to be a father with sons who choose a path at some point or the other. But like him, among my sons, the one who is interested and talented and engages in the same business I am in. 

Myde Glover: It was amazing, to be honest, because the character Juwon is a lover boy who genuinely cares about Tracy. I have played a couple of characters. I have played bad guys, village boys, and secondary school boys, but I am playing this boy who has life figured out for him. I love this character because he loves the village and city, and his meeting with Tracy and their friendship helps him to make her realise the beauty in both worlds, the village, and the city. I love that I played a responsible character and someone caring and loveable. 

Loveth Ogbene: It was interesting for me. I have always admired Madam Carol King. For the whole casting thing, we did not know who was playing who. When we were having the first reading, I learned who the characters were, and I felt like Madam Carol King was very easygoing. She came to the set with that character in her. Initially, I was fidgeting, but she made it easy. Everybody came with their A-game. It was beautiful. 

We built the chemistry off-screen and also built on it on-screen. Tracy was a very interesting character. It was my first time playing such a role, and before now, I had always played intense roles. 

One of the challenges I had was when we were shooting. One of them includes when I was riding a bicycle. I fell, and one of the handles pierced through my skin. It was a lot. I had to wrap my leg with a band-aid. I just had to pretend to be working. In the scenes where I was riding a bicycle, I had a band-aid under my lap. I could not walk. I had to pretend that I was fine on camera for the show to move on. It was challenging because the moment the scene cut, the pain intensified. 

Another challenge was that we were atop the mountain, shooting under a hot sun for hours. The sun was directly on our faces. It was goring my face so much that my eyes became teary, which I could not control. But we just had to take the shot because, in the evening, we may not get what we wanted. 

Pelumi Bolawa: What sets the movie apart?

Patrick Doyle: In my extensive career in the movie industry, I have worked on, particularly in every genre of filmmaking, and I have worked with good numbers of people as directors, producers, and co-actors, so this production was like any other production with the provost that we have as the director, a young man who I was told would have been his second feature film and because I understood the ambet of the expectation of the executive producers of this movie I felt a little to bit worried to entrust a film that you have high expectations for in the hands of a fresher, I think that was very courageous of the executive producers. 

I have my apprehension. However, on set, I began to see them with the director of photography, a man who handles the photography. He struck me as a young man, but on set, as we shot, I saw that he was not just a young man but a young man with skills and insight into filmmaking. The director was very obstructive but did his work very nicely. Suggestions were politely offered, and when one acted on those suggestions, one saw their wisdom. I thought the crew was inexperienced, but seeing the quality of work done. 

This movie speaks to family values, love, loyalty, and trust. It inspires the feeling of confidence and camaraderie that is urged to exist in families as a family has difficult moments. For instance, the lead character, the Danfo driver, had a rough time when he married against the advice of his mother, causing tension that took him out of his native Idanre and brought him to Lagos, where he was living beyond his status that he urges to behave living if he had remained in Idanre where he would have been managing a large plantation that was his location in the family but this Christmas the family comes home in his Danfo all of that, all the apprehension of the past and his choice of the wife all of that came together family got reunited, businesses got liberated and all the children, grandchildren my grandchildren everything worked out well in the end so like every good family movie, and they all lived happily ever after. 

Myde Glover: First, a Christmas film set it apart from every film I have done. It means people can still watch this movie for many years and Christmases. Aside from that, I think it’s also beautiful because it’s set at Christmas like you are traveling home for Christmas. It’s a film you can watch at any time because the film’s theme is all about Family, Love, Forgiveness, and acceptance. It’s universal, so it doesn’t matter what period if it is Easter, if it is Sallah, whatever festival, whatever thing we are celebrating, I think it’s a film that can resonate.

Pelumi Bolawa: What are the lessons from the movie?

Myde Glover: More than anything, this film teaches about forgiveness and acceptance. As they say, blood is thicker than water. If you don’t feel safe at home in the family, I don’t know if you can feel secure anywhere, so it touches on family and forgiveness. It teaches that family is all we have at the end of the day, and this is one of the reasons I love this film because it talks about family love. Family is all that matters.

Loveth Ogbene: I recall when I was in Uni at the time. The only time I came home was during the festive period. And it is expected that as you are coming home, you will be happy. Sometimes, when I come home, I argue with my brother and feel like ‘I regret coming home’. You can see that something like that played out in the movie. It tells us that these things happen in the real African society. I think that this film is change-driven. The ending was the most joyful with the resolution. It is a film of love and romance. 

Pelumi Bolawa: Can you speak about making the movie? 

Sebastian Ukwu: When I read this one, so many things got my attention in that story. Even though Uncle Steve added some little backstory for some characters to make the story much stronger, it made many things more justified as we have it now. At first sight, it was very exciting. It came in September, and we were supposed to deliver the film in December. 

I have never been rushed like this in my life before. For a short film, it would have been easier. But I did not fret because Uncle Steve had taken us through some training that would have me deliver my movie. I had one year of production time or even two weeks of production time. What are the things to look out for? There are certain things to look out for when I have one year or two weeks of production time. The title for ‘A Danfo Christmas’ is already there. There was not much to do in the first draft I read. 

A lot of things had to come in to make Danfo a character. Danfo holds so much for the family. If you take this Danfo out of Akin’s life, there is no physical achievement he could point to. Danfo was the only property he could get on his own without the help of his father. 

I went to Ondo State twice before the team members went. I was in Idanre. When I went there, we ransacked the whole of Idanre, looking for the kind of house that was in my head. I told Uncle Steve I needed a bungalow with red brick. Someone described their family house to us, saying he had not been there in about 20 years. We shot in Idanre, Owo, and the mountains. We also shot in Ojuelegba, Lagos. I am grateful that despite the challenges, the project came out at the same time we scheduled.