Producer explains why ‘Money Miss Road’ didn’t use A-list actors
The producer of “Money Miss Road,” Joy Odiete, has explained why she chose not to use A-list actors in the action-comedy movie.
The filmmaker of the film, Obi Emelonye, will release his much awaited film on July 22.
It includes well-known personalities including actor Jide Kene Achufusi (Swanky JKA), internet comedian Josh Alfred (Josh2funny), musician Charly Boy.
But Joy stated during the press screening of the movie on Tuesday at the Lagos City Mall, Onikan, in Ikeja, that she doesn’t think the term “A-list actors” even exists.
An A-list actor is a well-known movie star or one of the most financially successful actors in the business.
However, as a method of actor segregation, the film producer called it “something we build up ourselves.”
“Money Miss Road is different,” said Joy, who doubles as the CEO of Blue Pictures, refuting the assumption that a movie needs to star a lot of big names in order to be successful or convey its message.
“And I believe there’s really no such thing as A-list actors or something, the segregation is just something we make up ourselves.”
“The casting for ‘Money Miss Road’ was deliberate because we needed someone that could go from being just a regular actor and can deliver the character well, or would you rather prefer that we use square actors who can’t perform well? Our choice of cast was deliberate and of course, we had to stick to the budget.”
Swanky JKA Achufusi discussed the diversity of the project and his feelings upon receiving his script during his speech at the ceremony.
“When I got the script for the film I was excited because Nollywood nowadays is revolving, we no longer have the era that if you’re Mr. Ibu you have to act like Mr. Ibu. The new Nollywood like I call it has strengths in diversity and range and I’ve always been excited to try new things irrespective of the genre because if you think about it, the film is an action-comedy, so the beauty there is that both genres were nicely combined.”
“In the scene in which I was seen punching another character, I dislocated one of my fingers and I still have scars from some of the injuries I sustained while filming even Josh, also had injuries he sustained on his own part but it was all part of the job.”
According to Emelonye, who created the screenplay for “Lucky Joe” in the 2000s, “Money Miss Road” is a remake of that film.
Emelonye further said:
“‘Money Miss Road’ is actually a rehash of a movie I wrote in the 2000s titled ‘Lucky Joe’. But unlike some of the remakes that we have currently in Nollywood I was determined to do better so I did, the film is a labour of love. The film was shot on an Arri Alexa mini using high-quality camera lenses, with most of the action in the film happening at night, we wanted to use that to create a really dark cinematic mood to the film, although the subject matter is light and comedic.”
“This played into the thriller elements of the film, all in all, I wanted to do a more physical, more action comedy instead of the talky drama that we’re used to. If you liked films like ‘Rush Hour’ and ‘Bad Boys’ then you will love ‘Money Miss Road’.”
Blue Pictures’ second production is titled “Money Miss Road.” It follows the critically acclaimed movie “Gone.”