Why I am making biopics, historically relevant movies — Seun Oloketuyi

Seun Oloketuyi is the owner and curator of the Best of Nollywood awards, one of the most celebrated movie awards platforms in Nigeria. In this chat with ROTIMI IGE, he speaks about his rationale for making biopics, his latest project, ‘Last Man Standing’ which is the biopic of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, among other topics.

What is the story behind your latest endeavour, the movie, ‘Last Man Standing’?

‘Last Man Standing’ story starts from the point Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu became governor and highlights the challenge he faced as governor; the academic issues, local government issues, the Fashola debacle, up to the time Muhammadu Buhari became president. The title was taken from the angle where he was the only one who survived the PDP onslaught in 2003.

 

Wouldn’t the movie be considered a propaganda or commissioned project, seeing that the general elections are approaching?

This movie is not propaganda material for anybody. I made up my mind last year that we were going to make some historically relevant movies. Apart from this, we are also doing one for the late Adedibu, Alhaji Lateef Jakande and Professor Peller. All of these will be within the next 12 months.

When we did ‘Yahaya The White Lion’ about Governor Yahaya Bello, a lot of people said it was propaganda and I asked them to wait until they saw the movie. Now that they have, they can see that first, it is a movie that seeks to entertain. In entertaining, a lot of history is embedded.

 

Why do you decide to focus on historical movies?

I think that audiences are getting tired of all the love stories, comedies and the rest. Even the very big production outfits are beginning to do biopics. Bolanle Austen-Peters is doing one on Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, EbonyLife is doing something on Hushpuppi… We believe that it is time to bring our stories to life, especially for our children who don’t know many of these histories.

When we were working on the script, I discovered that we already had a problem. We had to change scriptwriters four times. Most of the scriptwriters did not even know what happened in 1999, which is the truth. So, productions like these are things that people can look back to and be able to make references. We added a bit of fiction and drama into it, but basically, when you watch the movie, you can have an idea of what the man went through when he was governor. Even getting books about his time as governor was difficult. I sent some of my people to all the major book stores and they did not have a book on Tinubu.

I had to call Uncle Tunji Bello and beg for books. He then sent me three books. If it is difficult to get books on a man like Tinubu that is alive, how can we hope to get for those who are no longer with us but are a key part of Nigeria’s history and story? That is the gap we are trying to fill with the film.

 

How did you cast Lateef Adedimeji for the movie?

Getting Lateef to also play the role was tough because he was scared of politics. Understandably so. One of the things that helped was that when I had a meeting with him, his wife was there and she made him understand that he is simply doing his job and there is nothing political about it.

She said something that day, that people play controversial characters all the time, so there is nothing wrong with embodying another character. He also consulted with a few others, and when he got the go-ahead, he took the role.

 

What are your expectations for this film?

We are looking forward to a good film. Asde Lateef in the role of Tinubu, we have Jide Kosoko as the party chairman, Segun Arinze is playing a commissioner, Gbenga Adeyinka is playing Bode George, Shushu Abubakar is playing Remi Tinubu. Foluke Daramola is playing woman leader while Madam Kofo is playing Iyaloja, Tinubu’s mother. These are just a few members of the cast. Others you will see when you watch the movie.

You shot around the Lagos State House especially inside the Governor’s office. How did you achieve this?

It is difficult to get a facility similar to Lagos House to use. So, when we were going to start, I made up my mind that we must shoot inside Lagos State House, Alausa, we didn’t want to remake. When you remake, it doesn’t just have the right feel when people are watching. Some can even point out that they know the location where it was filmed when it is not original. When we shot ‘Yahaya the White Lion’, the feel was real.

I tried all I could for about one month to get the appropriate people. I eventually sent a text to the Chief of Staff one night and he called me immediately. After I explained what we were trying to achieve, he made it happen and handed me over to his administrative officer to give me access to the facility. They even helped us to get other places that are not inside the government house but is owned by Lagos State. I am grateful for the opportunity to do this.