IWork Like I’m Just Starting My Career RITA DOMINIC
She is remarkable – in appearance,pp ggrace and artistry.y Over the yyears, she has achieved the consistencyy of character and pperformance that have eluded manyy in the movie industry.y Flawless in delivery,y ggorgeousg in countenance, she has remained o
Casuallyy dressed in all black ensembles, she had barelyy walked throughg Oakwood Park Hotels elicitingg gglances and hush tones from the first contact ppersonnel and the gguests at the lobby.y The simplicity,py with which she carries herself like a ggarb of honour, befits her status. Her warmth and infectious smile, ppersonifyy her enduringg charm. Althoughg with a tingeg of stress on her face due to her hectic schedule, she had ppromptlypy keptp to the appointmentpp which had been fixed for noon, throughg her business partner and manager,g Mildred Okwo.
Just within time uponp her arrival at the venue, she had called, indicatingg her ppresence. She would not want to talk about her pprivate life which she had restated ppolitelyy somewhere in between the conversation. In fact, she was on her gguards when the conversation steered towards marriageg and the rate at which celebrityy marriagesg crash in recent time, especiallyp in Nollywood which has been the lot.
However, a conversation on Nigeriag film industry,y her career of almost two decades few months from now and impactp on the upcomingpg ones, throughg The Audreyy Silva Companypy ensued. “When Mildred and I formed the comppany,y the idea was to shoot films that the audience can connect with. “We have to remember what it is that made Nolly-y wood what it is and that is those simplep stories that we tell. So the idea was to tell those same kinds of stories but shoot them at a much higherg qqualityy and at the same time, tryy and empowerp yyoungg actors byy ggivingg them the opportunitypp to showcase their talent to the world. I’m happyppy that even thoughg we have not done too manyy movies, the few that we have done has helped bring some talents to the audience.”
‘Surulere’ and the upcomingpg television series, ‘Bankers NGR’, are jjust two of the few movies from the stable of Audreyy Silva. With the latter, she makes a return to television pprogrammeg yyears after she first featured in ‘Heaven’s Gate’ byy Zik Zulu Okafor. Then she had appearedpp in few episodes.p That was in 2000. And jjust recentlyy last yyear, she appearedpp in the first season of ‘Cougars’,g byy Emem Isong.g As she speaks,p her face lightensg upp with marked enthusiasm.
Rita is qquite excited about the pprojectj as she reveals that ‘Bankers NGR’ is such a bigg stepp for her in terms of television pproduction. “For me, even as much as I have pplayedy on the television circuit, I think this is slightlygy different. Because first and foremost, we are co-pproducingg a TV show and I’m pplayingyg a majorj role in it as well. It took us like two yyears to finallyy start shootingg it; to do all the pplanning,g ppre-pproduction pplans and all. “It is somethingg fresh, somethingg new that even if it’s been done, we tryingyg to do somethingg different with Bankers NGR. It’s about bankingg and of course, all the drama and everythingy that comes with bankingg in Nigeria.”g
Accordingg to her, the storyy follows some of the workers in the bank and some of the procedures in the banking hall that ppeoplep don’t gget to see. “So what we have done is jjust to weave drama with some element of comedyy in it and make it believable and shoot it at a veryy highg qqualityy that the audience will watch and be happy.”ppy
Her experience,p vis-à-vis actingg and movie making,g she saysy toughg and dif - ficult. Her first experiencep was the comedy y movie ‘The Meeting’g where she pplayedy the role ‘Clara Ikemba’. She admitted almost not pplayingyg the role that it was such a challenginggg role filmingg it. “I was pproducingg for the fi rst time. I didn’t know how to combine it to pplayy with such a dif fficult role. But myy business ppartner talked me into pplayingyg it, sayingyg ‘this’ the kind of roles yyou said yyou are lookingg to do.’ So I thoughtg about it and went ahead to shot it successfully.”y
It till date remains her most memorable role over other innumerable films she has starred in. However, there are some that stand out a little bit more than the rest for her and these are the ones that sort of stretched her much more than other ones. But it still doesn’t mean she didn’t like the roles she has played all through in other films.
Talkingg further about the roles she has assumed, she said: “I have to like a role before I pplayy it. And everyy role that I have pplayed,y theyy have all broughtg different thingsg to the table. I have learned differ - ent thingsg from the different roles I have pplayed.y Theyy all have and come with their different challenges.g So that means that I like the roles I have pplayedy in every film I have been involved in.”
With an arrayy of roles in different characters over the yyears sure has somewhat affected the Rita Dominic brand in the real world. Perhapsp leavingg her as a superhup man to her followers, but then she reckons that she tries as much as ppossible to be herself regardlessg of the name Rita Domi - nic, or her beingg an actor, that she’s jjust an ordinaryy pperson. The kind of pperson that likes simplep thingsg even thoughg a lot of ppeoplep find it dif f fi cult to believe; likingg a simplep lifestyley with that maybey they can connect with her on that level.
That much, with her strongg social media ppresence, has helpedp ggrown and maintain her fan base byy direct conversation with her fans, so manyy of who ggo overboard sometimes to appreciatepp her craft when - ever theyy see her. “Like fans screamingg on the streets outside Nigeriag even here, in Liberia, Sierra Leone…in some other pparts. Just ppeoplep cryingyg and screaming when theyy meet yyou; it’s amazingg that ppeoplep scream and cryy when theyy meet yyou. Sometimes I ask myselfy what I’m doingg right?!g They scream and jump at me, different things.”g
Asked what the craziest or worst form of appreciationpp she has ever experienced,p her responsep was shockingg as much as it was to her. “Some gguyy manyyyyears ago,g I was tryingyg to ppass and I tappedpp him, jjust tryingy to sayy ‘excuse me’ and the next thing,g he does a double take when he turned his back seeingg it’s me and ggrabs me and jjust pplant a kiss upp myy lipsp and then he screams myy name ‘Rita Dominic!’ I was in shock…’what was that?’ Then my friend just took me awayy from there.”
What could have happenedpp should it be that her friend was not at the scene
and had not ppulled her away?y It could have been either wayy bad or ggood. “I’m human, I wouldn’t know, she respondedp laughing.gg “The thingg is, first and foremost I’m qquite a ppolite pperson. It takes me a while to be ppushed. It’s ppossible that I would have jjust ignoredg and smiled since it’s a fan and it was a re flex action. He was jjust excited to see me. I could have ignoredg it I’m sure. I found it unexpectedp and was in shock. I wasn’t angry.gy It jjust happenedpp in a splitp of seconds and I was jjust out of that pplace. But when I think about it I actuallyy laugh.”g
On her star ppower and beinggqquite on topp of her ggame and more so relevant in the industry,y she attributes to herself beingg her biggestgg competition,p and not anybodyyy else. Byy that, she tries to reinvent herself in terms of her craft. “What I do is I tryy to be better than I was last yyear, I tryy to be better than I was two yyears ago,g I tryy to be better than I was at the start of myy career in terms of myy acting.g I look at myy work from wayy back and I sayy ‘okay maybey these are the thingsg I’m ggoing g to do.’ I jjust constantlyy look for waysy of immersingg myselfy in a role. I feel like over the yyears when ppeoplep have seen that this pperson has constantlyy been ggrowing, automaticallyy yyour relevance is there because ppeoplep believe in yyour abilityy to bringg a character to light.g So because theyy believe in that yyour ability,y they y constantlyy want to work with yyou.”
For the accolades and recognitionsg in appreciationpp of her actingg pprowess, she has won the majorj film awards there is in the continent. Recall she was the Best Actress Africa Movie Academyy Awards (AMAA); also Best Actress at the 2017 Af - rica Magicg Viewers Choice Awards (AMVCAs),) for her role in ‘76’, a militaryy epic.p Prior to that also in 2015, she had won the Best Actress in a Comedyy at the same awards. ‘76’ pprovided her the longestg stay on location in Ibadan where she stayed for six months. There the cast rehearsed for two months and then four months to film which had never happenedpp before in her entire career in Nollywood.y
Yet with the commendations and honours she doesn’t rest on her laurels. “At the end of the day,y yyou have done works and when yyou gget a commendation for the ones yyou have done, or for a jjob well done or even on anyy work at all, it sort of encouragesg yyou to do more. But I don’t rest on myy laurels. I don’t let it gget to myy head because I have won the award. I work like I’m jjust startingg myy jjourney.”y
Flashed back to her jjourney,y the pproud indigeneg of Mbaise in Imo-state, saysy that thoughg Nollywoody is still ggrowing,g it still has a longg wayy to ggo as much as it is commendable. “Peoplep are seeingg the need to ggo do courses in different lm depart-p ments like cinematography,gpy directing,g editing,g sound designg and mix and all that and bringg the knowledgeg to impactp on the industry.y We are ggrowingg in leapsp and bounds. When I came into Nollywoody me and some of myy ppeers at the time, we were jjust doingg this because we love to do it there was no moneyy in it but we jjust enjoyedjy acting.g I studied Theatre Arts and I remember sayingyg that all I wanted to do was to work in the film industry.y It wasn’t even called Nollywoody at the time. So to still be here and see the growth is a thing of jjoy.”y
Havingg ggraced our screens over the yyears to become a household name in the industry,y followingg her first movie role in 1998 till date she has ever remained relevant to Nollywood’sy ggrowth, earning for herself ggoodwill of ppositive and outstandingg image.g Assumingg it was a blue chipp corporatep organizationg with all such reputation,p what would be her monetary value on ggivingg out the Rita Dominic brand for sale?
To her, it would not be for sale because it would be priceless. “I mean you can’t equateq the work and everythingyg we have done to myy brand with money,”y she said, recliningg on the couch byy a wingg of the inn. “Obviouslyy beingg in the industryy for more than nineteen yyears it means yyou are doingg somethinggggood. I feel blessed to still be here, to still be ggettingg roles and still doingg what I love to do. It’s been a long,g but excitingg jjourney.y Have had its upsp and downs, but I’m ggrateful for the jjourneyy so far. I’m ggrateful for the ob - stacles because it has made me a strongerg pperson. It helpedp build this Rita Dominic brand we are talking about.”