“Your Calling Is Not Your Child’s Calling, let them find themselves”; Akah Nnani Speaks about his first Leading Role as Samuel King in Bolanle Austen Peter’s latest Movie, Man of God, Now Streaming on Netflix.
Bolanle Austen-Peters, award-winning director of movies including high-grossing blockbuster “The Bling Lagosian”, recently premiered her latest movie “The Man of God” on Netflix, a classic prodigal son story, which follows the life of Samuel King, played by Akah Nnani. The movie tells the story of Samuel, a man who forsakes his harsh religious upbringing to live his own life, but his soul remains caught between the world and the faith he left behind. Due to his estranged relationship with his preacher father, vows against following his faith but soon finds himself behind a pulpit.
Business Day got a chance to speak with Akah about his first lead role as Samuel king and about his experience on working on the title.
Here’s what Akah had to say.
Are you excited about the premiere of Man of God?
Yes, it hit me for the first time a day before the premiere and I was questioning so many things, hoping people won’t think me a fraud after watching the movie. But the support was massive, especially from a lot of people I know, and trust would give honest feedback. After the trailer came out, the response was so good, many people were so excited about the movie, some said it was the best trailer they have ever seen. It was something fresh and new and I think we did a good job.
How did you get in character for this role, were you transformed by the character?
I don’t think my character transformed me; I wasn’t true to myself because I became someone else to be honest. At the reading, I performed horribly, I’m not even going to lie, couple of people even advised BAP to use someone else but she already made up her mind that I was the guy for the role. I took three days before meeting her for a second reading, read the scripts twice, prayed and it started coming to me in figments, then it became more tangible. After the second reading, it was spectacular, she asked questions and I was able to respond adequately because I was in the frame at this point, I was already thinking like my character. Two weeks later, I became Samuel.
Read also: Netflix points to competition, password sharing as users drop
What are some of the specific things you like about your character?
What I like about him is whenever he sets his mind to do something, he does it. He’s a doer, who a lot of people aren’t. Whether it’s bad or good, Samuel is a determined guy and I like that. He’s a music head, he really knows a lot about music, he can write and compose, he knows how to get a crowd going. He also had charisma and he’s a fine boy like me.
What other lessons did you take away from this script did you take away?
There are a lot of lessons from the story, first don’t let people dictate who you are, especially for parents, children have their own lives to live, they are not an extension of your own lives. They won’t make the same mistakes you did if you give them the right tools and put them in the right environment. Your calling is not your child’s calling, let them find themselves and be who they want to be because all Samuel lacked was the best tools and environment to be who he wanted to be.
What Other roles are you interested in playing?
Scripts and roles that challenge me and give me an opportunity to show my range. I ‘ve acted as a driver, bus conductor, rich man, fine boy, ghosts, sergeant, to mention but a few. I want to get to a place when people see that I’m in a movie and they want to see that movie because they know I’m going to kill it. So the bar has been raised for me and I must be careful about the scripts that I take and be intentional with what I do. I got to be the Denzel Washington of Africa.
Growing up, did you have a good Christian background and how did it assist you in your role?
Yes! I had a good Christian background, I’ve been a church boy since my formative years, my mom used to drag us to church from Catholic to Pentecostal, so I’ve seen and observed a lot of church culture in the society and that helped bring out the pastoral part of my role.
When did you discover your love for acting?
From a young age, I just wanted to be Oprah because she was good at talking to people and that resonated with me. It was easy for me to have conversations with people, everyone was always happy with me, and I think it’s just how I made them feel, so when Oprah ventured into acting, I got interested in it too. I figured that if she could do that, so could I and that was the beginning of my love for acting and I wanted to be on TV, not for fame though but because I realized Oprah was touching lives in different ways. Before entertainment, I got a job at a popular telco where I did well, but it was not the job for me, even my friends and colleagues would tell me the same thing. The day it got to me was when my manager said to me in passing, “you’re bigger this organization” it stuck with me and that was it for me, that message in passing! Later, I resigned, travelled to Dubai twice and came back broke, before I ventured into acting and here, we are.
You started with TV before moving to movies, how did that all come about?
Yes, I called a friend randomly, and she said they were having auditions at her office the next day and I should come over and so I went to her house that night. I asked how auditions went and she put me through that night. The role was for a TV show host, and I was to give the intro to the show and talk for a bit before ending the show and we literally did this for about an hour. I went for the auditions with high hopes the next day and I failed woefully. It was bad and there was this guy at the auditions, he was the best. He was from UNILAG radio, and he did his auditions, and we were all so impressed that and we knew he was going to get the role. When it came to my turn, I couldn’t remember what I had memorized the previous night before, but the panel told me to take deep breathes and turned off the lights to the studio and asked me to try again. Eventually I was able to do well, although the other guy got the role. After a month I received a call from my friend and she said her company wanted me and I was shocked because I knew the other guy got the job, she said they let him go because he had a bad attitude and that was how I got my first job as a TV host.
Tell us who you are?
Who I am is anchored more on my spiritual core! I am a son of God, a father, and a husband. When I was quite young, people asked me ‘what do you want to become’, I’d say the best father and husband in the world. For me, that is the best fulfillment than even being the best actor. The two things that make up who I am is, my relationship with God and my family.
Thank you so much.
