Kemi Adetiba: Sola Sobowale’s flogging scenes in ‘King of Boys’ were real

Kemi Adetiba says the self-flagellation scenes of Sola Sobowale in the ‘King of Boys’ series were real.

The Nollywood film director said this in a magazine publication attributed to her on the Netflix political thriller.

‘King of Boys 1’ had seen Sobowale play an influential businesswoman who got caught up in a power tussle and trust game that eventually threatened everything around her on account of her then-growing political ambition.

In ‘King of Boys: The Return of The King’, she reprised her role, returning to haunt her rivals after a five-year exile.

One of the scenes of the first episode of the seven-part series saw Sobowale resort to self-flagellation to atone for her mistakes in the prequel. She used a whip and a bowl of liquified powder pepper that left her back bleeding.

Making reference to this scene, Adetiba took to Instagram on Friday to share the magazine publication quoting her.

“I feel as if I’ve held my breath for over a year. This was a sophomore effort to a very successful title. The stakes were high. So, as a team, we’re grateful to be here. Sola Sobowale is a method actor,” the movie director said.

“So the whipping you see is [real]. It was a very somber shoot for me and the crew and I remember needing to look away many times. She insisted on it playing out that way. This is why it comes off very realistic on screen.”

She didn’t, however, comment on whether or not the scars and blood were achieved through makeup and effects.

Adetiba had earlier revealed that she never had to pitch the series, which debuted on August 27, to Netflix.