Sex scenes must be played very well —Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde speaks out

Nollywood actress, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, has spoken out about the interpretation of sex scenes in the Nigerian movie industry popularly known as Nollywood, stating that they should not be played down, but rather portrayed “tastefully” and “convincingly”.

“There are several ways to shoot a sex scene tastefully,” she expressed. “I’m all for playing a sex scene convincingly and my husband knows this.”

The actress, who recently featured in a Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder movie entitled, Alter Ego made the disclosure in an interview with an online platform.

The mother of four also inferred that marriage and other factors should not pose as barriers to professionalism in the movie industry. She revealed how she gets her husband’s consent for such roles.

First she said, “Some of the sex scenes in Alter Ego were downplayed because I’m married. But I won’t play the sex scenes if it wasn’t necessary to be included in the film. I know by starring in this movie that my fans would either hate me or love me forever. But while shooting the film, I knew I was doing something quite risky.

And then she stated, “I tell my husband, “You know what darling, you married an actor”; and secondly, he is my biggest fan. I tell him, “Do you want me to be great or do you just want me to be good?” He will say, “I want you to be great, sparklingly great.”

“Then I’ll say, “Ehen, we go love o” and he’s fine with it. He understands but just like every other human being and the professional that he is, he too wants to be convinced that I played a sex scene because it was necessary.

“I know when he watches movies sometimes he would say, “Did they have to kiss if they were not going to kiss well?” When I wasn’t even confident, I starred in a movie called a Prostitute, which was released 22 years ago. If I didn’t die then, is it now? I’m ready.”

The award-winning screen diva worked with a younger actor, Wole Ojo in most of the scenes in Alter Ego and she spoke about the importance of forging bonds and chemistry between actors prior to movie shoots.

“In Nigerian movies, we have downplayed chemistry”, she said, “I hope we can bring that back. Back in the day when I shot Mortal Inheritance in 1995, I had to spend time with my co-star, Fred Amata. He was already a renowned director and in those days, directors were revered. So, imagine, my director who had directed me in a movie prior now acting as my lover. I was really afraid that we broke the ice by spending time with each other.

“So, he demystified himself and we had chemistry and you could tell. So, I’m hoping all of this returns to Nigerian movies. So, as professionals, we need to ask ourselves if it is necessary for a movie to have a sex scene and when it is, it should be done well.”

Omotola is perhaps the first well-known actress to boldly admit the need for professional portrayal of sex scenes, a highly hushed, but secretly voiced topic among movie makers and actors in the Nigerian movie industry.