Tope Tedela is More than an Actor
In this short Q&A, Tedela shares how he tries to separate his work from life, the influence of streaming services in Nollywood, and his latest project.
After a long hour ride to Muri Okunola Park, where the shoot with Tope Tedela is holding, I finally arrive. The park on Victoria Island, Lagos, is vast, and after a few minutes of setting up, I join Tedela in his car.
We exchange pleasantries for a few seconds and dive right into it after assuring the Nigerian actor and Africa Magic Viewers Choice Award (AMVCA) winner of not being misrepresented. When I hit the record button, Tedela is ready.
Starring in Netflix’s Disconnect: The Wedding Planner, a sequel to Disconnect, directed by David “Tosh” Gitonga, Tedela plays the role of Dele, a Nigerian who decides to have a Yoruba wedding in Mombasa, Kenya, after his friend Otis (Pascal Tokodi) assures him of planning it. The film, a collaboration with Kenyans and Tanzanians, was a heartwarming story for Tedela. “I haven’t done much work in the RomCom genre, so I thought it would be interesting to flex my muscles,” he says. “I also loved the idea of the Pan-Africanism of the project.”
Majorly set in Kenya, it was a different experience for Tedela working outside his home (Nigeria). “This is one of the few times I worked outside home, and I really loved the experience. I loved the performance, my co-stars, and all. It really was beautiful watching them work, and I loved every moment of it.”
For this issue, Tedela talks about Nollywood, being an actor, and filming.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
This is a Netflix film, and I know you starred in Blood Sisters last year. So how would you describe Netflix's influence on Nollywood?
Well, over the years, if you ask a producer, distribution has been one of our major challenges. Even if you want to look at it, from a theoretical point of view, we don't have that many screens to make all the hard work pay off. So, with the streamers coming, it's another avenue to almost be sure that you can get out what you put in. So we're able to take more risks. Do you know what I mean? We're able to tell more daring stories. We can explore more stories that we might not have explored before. So it's really a plus on all sides.
There's an argument, however, and it's not just like, here in Nigeria. It's a global argument on the advent of streamers and if it stifles cinema culture. And I don’t think so. I feel like there's a place to sit in front of your television, laptop, or phone and watch a movie. There's also a place to go out to experience certain kinds of movies on the big screen. So I think they can coexist.
So far, how would you describe your experience as an actor?
In the industry so far? It's been topsy-turvy. There are times when you think it's going really well, and there are times when you feel like, what am I doing with my life? What I've learned to do is to try to separate my work from my life, and it's hard to do that as an artist. I don't know how to explain that, but my work is not my life. I have a family, and I have interests beyond just being an actor. So I try to look at my life more holistically and not just about how my career is going, how many films I've done, and how many films I haven't done. And I think that's what's really helped me in recent times.
I've just learned to give myself a break, to understand that it's not my life — I love it — but It's my work. And there are many things to explore in the world beyond just that.
Do you have a scene that was fun or challenging to film?
I mean, there was a scene I had to shoot with Pascal Tokodi while in the bathroom.
Aha, I was coming to that.
It was just weird. Maybe, not weird, but it was like, this is madness. However, it’s part of the beauty, and I didn’t see that coming. The whole time, I wondered how that would be filmed. Then, David Gitonga helped us in bringing it together which was great. So yeah, that scene was pretty interesting to me.
How about the scene where your character, Dele, arrives in Kenya with his family? What was filming it like?
[laughs] It depends. Are you asking as Dele or Tope?
As both?
Okay. So, the scene wasn’t shot on the day we arrived. It was shot, like, days after. But filming it was interesting, and I really enjoyed making it. I remember the director asking me to commit and not holding back my annoyance or anger. Specific instructions and specific directions. It was fun filming, and I thought it was a good scene. Also, Pascal Tokodi is a really good scene partner. Together with Meg Otanwa and Katherine, it was collaborative. I definitely had fun.
So are there other scenes apart from the bathroom one where you question yourself and what you were doing?
I’m trying to remember. I mean, there are a couple. But I liked the wedding day scene when I had a face-off with Pascal’s character, Otis, about investing in his company.
When you’re on a project, at least for me, I am constantly in my head. Constantly brooding trying to find ways to approach a scene and asking myself, how will I do this? So filming that scene was definitely another highlight and a high point for me.
Were any scenes shot in Lagos, or did everything happen in Kenya?
[laughs] I signed an NDA.
Okay, so while watching, I noticed that the portrayal of the Nigerian characters fed into stereotypes and was quite a lot. How did that make you feel? What was that like?
Sometimes as an actor, your creative control is largely over your work. And even then, you're still under the direction of a captain who is the director, and if you have reservations, thoughts, or opinions about certain things, you share if it’s that kind of environment. But the buck doesn't stop at your table as an actor. So you do the best you can with what you have and with what you're given, and I think that's the best answer I can give to your observations. You can only do your best, and you're the president of your being, of your vessel as an actor.
But I have no control over production. So I may not be able to answer that question fully. But from where I'm sitting, that's what I can see.
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