Categories: Entertainment

I knelt down, prayed to be part of Blood Sisters’ cast —Ini Dima-Okojie

Bold, emotional, intentional and courageous are some of the words one could use to describe the life of famous actress, Ini Dima-Okojie who played the lead role in the Blood Sister movie. From quitting banking to featuring in top rated Nollywood movies, life could not be better lived than what it is now for Dima-Okojie. In what was a behind-the-scene interview orgnaised by Netflix, SEGUN ADEBAYO engaged the actress in a conversation that probed into her acting career and life.

The movie Blood Sisters must have taken your career to a new level judging from the deluge of positive comments that have been trailing it since its release. For somebody who played the lead role, how much of yourself did you throw into this project to bring it to life?

It was not really all about me and what I did into the project that made it what it is; it was a collaborative effort of everybody, including the director, crew, producer and Netflix who ensured that we give our audience within and outside this space the real movie. We believe that nobody can tell our stories better than ourselves, so it was a job that we all had to give the best of ourselves to. I am truly happy that the audience appreciates the end product.

How would you describe the experience shooting this movie?

The experience was beautiful and I can tell you for a fact that it made my year already. It was one movie that brought out another side of me that had to be real or we will lose the essence of the story. My character (Serah) was an interesting one that was truly touching for me. I had to play that role with so much passion because of what I have learnt and how life had been over the years. It was a complicated character for me but I loved every bit of the role.

Tell us about how you landed the role?

That was another big moment for me. I remember when I first had the sight of the script during auditioning; I almost could not believe the moment. I remember that I knelt down and told God I really wanted to be picked for this role; I wanted to be part of the cast. I actually went through all the audition process hoping and trusting God that I would get the role.

So when the call came that you had been picked for the role, what was the first thing that came to your mind?

Oh! It was celebration time for me. I remember celebrating the being considered and then I also had to remind myself of the big task ahead of me because you just have to give your best to this kind of job. You don’t want to live anything to chance. I looked at myself and said this is one big job for you, and you must do it well no matter it takes.

You had to be emotional and tough at the same time. Have you always been an emotional person?

For me, in terms of when I have to be emotional, I truly don’t know how to bring it out from the surface; it has to come from the inside. So I really had to go down into the deep place to bring out the character and show it that it was real. It is actually funny because as an actor, you know that there is thin line between acting and reality. You know that this is a piece of material that you have in front of you and you already know what the script is about and what is going to happen but I had to do my research to dig it up.

You had to go that far?

Yes, I did a lot of research here and there for this character. You had to go down into a deep place. Apart from the material I was given, I had to build a world for this character outside of what I already had. I had to look at it from the very beginning, the day she was born, her secrets, how many siblings she has and find out what makes her who she is. You need to almost be in a place where you let go everything you know but you are still conscious because you have lines to say. I think that is the most amazing thing about acting and what makes our job so special.

You and Nancy Isime who played the character of Kemi in the movie seem to have a special bond. How did your role bring that to life; did you think any other person would have done it better?

Nancy (Kemi) was Serah’s backbone. I would not have been able to deal with all that madness if I didn’t have Kemi behind me. She represents my relief and was the only one I could open to about my troubles.

You have done a lot of movies before this, what makes this so special for you?

You know I didn’t get to see the entire script until we had auditioned and were picked for our roles but I don’t think there is anything more special than that for me. The fact that I was going to be part of a series that was so powerful and extremely pulsating that people could sit down and watch made it special for me. It was such a powerful show. As an actor, I was so happy to be part of the movie because I love story telling due to the feeling I get. When you watch a good film, you will feel like you are floating. I have always wanted to be part of something that people will watch and don’t get distracted by the mishaps; I love that people are going to take all the lessons from this movie.

Personally, what do you think the movie taught you?

It taught me how to be kind, intentional and deliberate because as human beings, it is so easy to point fingers at people while we forget that four other fingers are pointing back at you. It is so easy to be judge, jury and executioner but if we all just take a minute, we will realise that we are not perfect.

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