By Agatha Emeadi
Mr Erhabor Obakpolo, who is popularly known as Obas, is a movie producer born and raised in Benin-city, Edo State.
But he currently lives in Arizona, the United States of America.
Apart from having passion for movies, he loves football, writing and producing movies.
Through determination, Obas has made his first movie which will hit the film houses soon.
In an interview with the Sunday Sun, Irabor recalled how Christian Ronaldo’s mega box signing inspired his father to allow him play either football or venture into entertainment. Excerpts.
Are you an actor or just a producer?
While growing up, I acted in school and church plays and drama, but I found more passion in writing and creating, not just in movies, but even in music. Even in soccer competitions, I love to see opportunities being created for strikers to score. I fall in love with the creators of such opportunities. That is even what pushes me to be more creative.
Would you say you had someone out there who inspired you?
Yes, I was inspired by Sunder Wright who is the creator of ‘How to get away with murder”, “Scandals”, “Station 19”, “Bridgettine,” and other humorous series she had written and produced. I think and will work hard to have same genre that will align with her writings and production.
Where did this passion materialise in you, overseas or before you travelled out?
Well, after I graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the University of Benin, I moved to the United States. There, I started working in the Accounting and Finance industry. But one fact is sure that when one gets over there, one starts all over again sometimes from the scratch. Yes, I played a lot of football, and got injured; that led to a surgery as well. Before the football injury and surgery, I was writing on my blog; during my healing period, I finished the things I had in place.
Now, let’s talk about your movie ‘Revenge.’ You worked with Chidi Mokeme?
Revenge is a very fascinating movie because it has everything; I will not like to reveal all aspects of the film here until it hits the cinema house. But the message is relatively for youthful people who indulge in cultism causing chaos. They have to know that life is not black and white; they have to know that families suffer setbacks when they lose their children or wards through gang clashes and violence. The storyline is deep, not just for the youths; it is also about adults because they can connect with the movie. I do not want to reveal all parts of the story yet.
Your storyline ‘Revenge, and ‘Do not agree for anybody’ is also trending, is there any link between the two?
Yeah, first of all, one cannot touch my father, siblings and ask me to fold my hands. No, it does not work that way. The storyline also involves a father who lost his only daughter/child on her matriculation day. Theirs was a happy family that went to cheer their daughter up on her big day, only for her to be killed right before her family and it continues from there.
What was the experience working with Chidi Mokeme who is an A-list actor, and you are an upcoming actor?
Before I met him, people confessed he was kind and jovial; when someone is highly rated, one wonders how good the person can be; but meeting and working with him, I discovered that everything said about him was simply perfect and more.
Mokeme took the movie like his project, as if his money was running through. That was how passionate he was about the project. He was not just kind, but professional and passionate about it. He guided me so well and was more than what people said about him. There are times when people recommend others, and that turns out to be the opposite, but in this case, he was more of a great boss and we created a relationship from there.
As a first timer, what were the challenges you faced?
Nothing is ever easy. At the end of the day, we all will say it was a smooth production, but we all know there will always be a rough patch behind the scene. There were extra days spent, extra money getting the crew members who had other engagements. Those were the challenging issues. Otherwise, we had a smooth production and a fantastic crew; they put in a very good amount of work.
Where was the movie shot?
It was shot in Lagos in a total of 17 days from July 16 through August 5. It is my first movie and my personal project. So that day, I was like a third director, but it was a very good experience. The inspiration also recalled the San Diego, California shootings in school; the story was based on that outing.
Now, talk about the cast?
We featured Kate Henshaw, Segun Arinze, Tina Mba, Mike Afolarin and many other stars who brought so much energy, passion and took their work very professionally.
Why did you choose to shoot the film in Nigeria?
Even if I have the chance of shooting a movie over there, I will still touch my base because I am a very versatile person who is looking forward to bringing up myself in the future. Again, in my mind I am hoping that a day will come and there will be a collaboration between Hollywood and Nollywood doing a movie together just like where the music industry is heading to.
Having been out there, what new things did you add to the film industry?
Honestly, I value team work a lot; it was what I saw out there. I tried to sell the true meaning of ‘how are you’, from how are you this morning, did you sleep well last night.’ Over there, they value team work a lot.
What is your assessment of Nollywood?
Nollywood is growing very well every day. There is so much positivity to talk about in the industry.
Parents then did not want their children in entertainment industry, but in professions. How did your parents see you then and now?
I think it is quite different now. But it actually affected me because I really wanted to play a lot of football while growing up and my family was aware of that. But my dad preferred to say ‘I have 10 graduates in my family.’ So, he prided himself in academics not entertainment and football. When I raised the issue of professional football outside the country, my father would admonish me to finish my education first. I told him that I could multi-task by going to school and playing professional football. After sometime, my father called me after watching news about Christian Ronaldo being signed by a club for a huge sum of money. He said, if I had known, I would have allowed you to do your thing. But today, with the exposure in the music industry, social media, young people creating content and making great exploits, life has become more flexible.
How was growing up days like?
Growing up was actually good. I am the youngest in my family. I have older brothers and sisters. But when I tell people that I am the last born, they think, I am a spoilt last born. No, my parents had children who grew and can take care of their younger ones. They were very strict. For me, last born was not really last born, because if you do anyhow, you see anyhow then. My siblings are all over the globe.
What advice would you give to upcoming entertainers?
I will tell them that they are naturally creative people, I have seen a lot out there and agreed that ‘Naija no de carry last.’ Though the economy has posed a lot of challenges, but I believe that they can be deep-rooted into their creativity and pull through. The sky is the limit for everyone who believes in what he or she does. I do not believe in obstacles; problem can never finish; life is not easy, but at the end of the day, there is nothing like failure if one insists on his or her dream.