Why I cried a lot on ‘Diiche’ series — Gloria Anozie-Young

For someone who debuted in Nollywood as a ‘senior girl’ in the classic ‘Glamour Girls’ in 1994, painting the big screen with words and actions is not a big deal for 55-year-old actress Gloria Anozie-Young. A veteran in the Nigerian entertainment scene, she plays Adaure Nwokeji, the mother of Nnamdi Nwokeji, in the latest Showmax original limited drama series, Diiche. In a recent interview with FRIDAY TREAT, she spoke about her character in the series, her experience working on the set and why she ‘pities’ anyone coming with their own psychological drama series after Diiche.

Being a psychological thriller, what was your first reaction when you read the ‘Diiche’ script?

I must play this role! I must play it.  I figured it was going to be very challenging. And it was, absolutely.

 

How long did it take you to get into character?

I don’t think I got into character the very first day. It took me a while, from the beginning to the end because it was a really tough one. I don’t get to play that role a lot. I had to do a lot of crying. So, I needed to internalise my character. You know, it wasn’t just a surface thing. There was many scenes of crying, so I worked really hard at it.

 

How do you get out of character?

I don’t think I’m out of it. I actually thought I was but when I started taking pictures just now and they wanted me to, you know, give them those reactions. It was coming and I was shocked. I was like, it’s still there. So basically, I don’t think I’m out of it yet. It’s not just the crying, I needed to bring out the emotion. Imagine a woman losing her son, her only son, an Igbo woman. I needed to put all of that into, playing the character without having to say it, you understand?

 

How would you describe your character, Adaure, in three words?

A very confused yet loving mother.

 

What do you think viewers will find most fascinating about Adaure?

They would be enthralled by how far she was willing to go to find out who killed her son—those kinds of women. I mean, they’ve suffered all their lives. She’s a widow. So, she’s used to suffering more or less. She’s the kind of person who someone would say, “it’s okay. Don’t worry now, it is well”. You know, those guys that say “God gives and God takes, don’t worry” and some women will just accept. This one was not ready to accept. She wanted answers and was willing to do anything to get answers.

 

What should viewers expect from Diiche?

Suspense! They should expect a really great story. They should not think that they know the story from maybe the first or second episode because there are twists and turns until the very end. You just might be very confused. Then of course, great acting, awesome acting.

I was privileged to work with really professional guys; from the crew to the cast. Every single person was at their best and that helped, that really helped.

 

How do you think this original, being Showmax’s first drama series in Nigeria, will set the tone for other productions in terms of quality, originality and relatability?

I pity anyone coming after us. I really do because we actually did give it our best without realising it. Maybe it has a lot to do with the production team. It must have. But these are professionals who know what they want. A lot of work and time had been spent on it so we were not willing to make any mistakes. If there were mistakes, we even had to reshoot. You understand? So anybody coming after us will really have to work hard; from the camera equipment, lighting, sound, the acting itself, costumes, everything. In fact, when I looked at myself while I was watching the trailer, I couldn’t believe it was me. I was like “that woman is ugly,” but hey, go watch it.

 

You’ve been in the Nollywood industry for years; how have you been able to stay top of your game?

I don’t know if I have stayed tops, just like every other profession. If you do not flow with the times, you will get left behind. So, one has to really keep working at it. A few times I stayed away were when I first got married and also when I had my child.  When I came back, I wanted to find out what the others were doing. Also, we had newer ways of helping us prep up our career and all of that.  We have Instagram, we have all we didn’t when I started. That helped a lot. Plus, this babe no dey gree sha.

 

What was your first movie role?

My very first role was Doris in ‘Glamour Girls’.

 

The Nollywood industry is known for telling epic stories. How important do you think it is to preserve our culture?

It is very important. I’m a student of history and I understand the importance of having our stories and being able to hand them down to the children coming after us. Especially now that our culture is acculturated, you know, mixed. How did our parents do it in those days? Did they use to die of all the illnesses they die of now? What were the different things they did then? All of that is really important because that also helps, you know. Nigeria is a very diverse country, and every single culture is unique in its own way and is beautiful.

Why would you want to lose it? Why do you want to become a simple ordinary person when you can be one who is very complex and very interesting? Every day you are different; every day they turn the news pages and different things are happening. And that’s basically because you’re a Nigerian.

 

What would you say is your creative routine?

I read it from beginning to end many times over. I read my lines and try to understand them. I build the character in my head and even sometimes help out with costumes because that helps me with the character.  There was one I did recently where I had to bring the costumes because I wasn’t ready for anybody else to do that for me, because the costumes helped the character. I do that a lot and that helps in the creative process. These help me get into and stay in character because sometimes, with our shooting schedules, you may take a few days off and come back. Costumes help you stay in character, not just the lines alone, but the costumes.

 

What was the most challenging thing about shooting process?

The most challenging thing about shooting Diiche is the crying. It was intense. Also, James Omakwe, the director, did not let me rest. I mean, all he had to do was say, “you know, you can do it now”, to get it done. I did not cut onions and I didn’t rub ‘Robb’ in my eyes. Somebody rubbed ‘Robb’ in their eye, but I won’t tell you who did. They almost held up production for that day. For me, I just had to remember how I felt when I heard about my brother’s death and everything we went through and all of that because we were very close. That helped.

 

What’s the hardest thing about being an actor?

It has to be being away from my family because we’re pretty close. Well, since they’re all actors; my husband, daughter, everybody’s an actor in the house. When we’re together, we’re close and then we have to be away from each other; that’s the hardest part of it basically.

 

What do you have in common with your character?

I don’t have anything in common with my character. I’m not a cry baby. I do have one thing with my character. I will go out and look for whoever tries to mess with my family.