Nollywood actor, Enyinna Nwigwe, has narrated how he got his first movie role.
The movie star while speaking in an interview with The Cable disclosed that he got into the movie industry by accident. According to him, he had gone to watch a director on set it while he was in the university.
“It wasn’t in a conventional way. I was on a set to observe the director working while I was in the university and he just pushed me into the film after he needed an extra person to fill up a role which was in my age group. That was how that started. I was never a performer prior,” he said.
“I had come out of my shell and started pushing it until it felt right. I didn’t like to do things I couldn’t reconcile with my mindset and what I could give my genuine passion to. I grew into the actor I’m today paying attention to the times. When it felt true, I pushed. When it didn’t, I stepped back. I was pretty much the same when I pushed the throttle full. The first I played is ‘Wheel of Chance’, the film on HIV.”
Speaking further, Nwigwe explained that the roles he accepts is determined by how “exciting” the script of the movie is.
“…when it excites me from the first read; when I can read and images come with the words. If, after the first three pages I don’t feel that, it’s not for me. In truth, there are times when it reads well because you’re going to get paid big. Maybe if you weren’t in need of some good money at the time, it won’t excite you as much. We make decisions based on the moment a lot of times, even though there’s a core of what you wouldn’t go below,” he added.
“But there also room for a play-around without rejecting scripts all the time ’cause it’s not a socially relevant narrative. There’s a market for regular slapstick or straight-to-DVD movies that these other ones may not reach because they go from cinema to Netflix, festivals. Before they do their tour, it’s two years. This is while you have some that just keep feeding another market too; which comes together over time to define what you represent. It depends on how you feel as the actor.
Enyinna Nwigwe is widely known for his performance in the box office hit The Wedding Party 1 & 2. He has featured in a number of critically acclaimed movies including Black November, Hell or High Water, Living in Bondage: Breaking Free, Red Code, Cold Feet and the forthcoming collaboration between Nollywood and the Nigerian Air Force, Eagle Wings.
