Nollywood has many veterans, but very few of them have been as critical of the sector as Norbert Young, who, in this interview with Assistant Life Editor, TERH AGBEDEH, talks about his calling
Are you retired?
Retired?
You don’t seem to be doing many productions, even for the stage that you are quoted to have said gives you fulfilment.
This is very surprising coming from you. I have been very active on stage. As a matter of fact, on April 20 and 26, I will be on stage for The Five Maid of Fadaka. Last year alone, I did up to six stage plays: Kakadu, the main thing last year that ran for like six months; the Muson Festival play. How come you say I am retired? I teach active acting here at the Centre for Media Development (CMD), direct plays here. I have also been regular on television soaps.
But you have never been one to get on every television soap.
I just finished shooting a soap titled Lincoln Clan for six weeks in South Africa. So, I am very active. There is also Binding Duty for which we are going to start in a few weeks in Abuja. I am all over the place.
But you are still not doing Nollywood.
Well, they classify all as Nollywood (laughter). That is what they call them. But if you say home videos, maybe, yes, basically because they don’t come my way and I don’t go their way.
There are many soap operas on Nigerian television now with storylines calling to mind the Nollywood you have always been critical of.
With the liberalisation of the broadcast market, a lot of things come on. Unfortunately, what happens with Nollywood is going to happen also with television programmes because we don’t have enough personnel to go round the number of television stations in the country. So what do you get? Mediocre productions. And where would they come from? Nollywood. Unfortunately, that is the way it is going to be for now.
But there is a new trend, the ‘New Nollywood’, and you have not been featuring in these films either.
I don’t agree with Nollywood and you are talking about new Nollywood.
The new one seems to be doing things differently. Collaborations with foreign production houses, actors from abroad and cinema premieres.
That is our mentality. To authenticate Nigeria, put a white face. Does it make them better? Even some churches do that. They bring white people to deceive the people. Anyway, I have not seen most of these productions you are talking about. My schedule does not allow me to watch television that much and I am regretting that because I really like watching television.
Have you seen Half of a Yellow Sun?
I saw the premiere on Saturday.
What do you think?
I think it is a very wonderful movie. The director did a very good job; the colour is good because it showed time. I think the acting is superb. Things that I heard about Chiwetel Ejiofor didn’t do him justice; he is a much better actor than I heard.
So, he should have won the Oscar for 12 Years a Slave?
He should have. That guy is a good actor; very intense, very coordinated, very real, very grounded. He knows what he is doing; he didn’t even speak with any foreign accent. He spoke like a Nigerian. I was very impressed.
This is classified as one of the New Nollywood films.
Is that what you call New Nollywood?
Yes, that is what they call films like that.
If that is the case… The acting in Half of a Yellow Sun, for me, is very good. I hardly use ‘very’, but that film is very good. Even the little roles, everybody carried it well. Thandie Newton from South Africa was wonderful. The girl who played her twin sister was wonderful. The white man too was good. It is a beautiful movie, well put together. I hope it goes far.
Did you read the book?
I didn’t, but from what I saw, it is like Chinua Achebe’s There was a Country.
O.C. Ukeje and all the other actors that emerged from Amstel Malta Box Office (AMBO) talent show must be making you proud.
They are all making me proud, all of them. O.C. Ukeje, Bhaira Mcwizu, and Wole Ojo. I am very proud of some of the ones I meet on stage; so I can beat my chest and say yeah, I have a hand in the training of these guys.
You and your wife act. Is your child showing promise in that direction as well?
Yes. As a matter of fact, CMD runs a children academy and my daughter was part of the first set. She does monologues at home and insists that I should record her.
So, the acting continues at home.
I have always said that there is a performer and there is a showman. I am a performer, not a showman. When I finish my job, I leave it there at the stage or at the studio, and then I am myself. I don’t carry my work into my private life. So, I am a performer. But the showman, for me, is that kind of person who will live his performance in his everyday life.
Third Eye, Checkmate, Edge of Paradise and Binding Duty are soaps that all tend to be different. How do you choose the productions to work on? Is it the script or the person doing the production?
I think all those things combine, but it starts with the person who calls me. There are certain people I respect, that I will like to work with anytime and incidentally; those people have always come with beautiful scripts. For some, I go for auditions not knowing the script, and it also turns out that the script is good. Some just call me to come and play, believing that I can do it.
You seem to be the only Nigerian actor not on Tinsel.
I used to be on Tinsel. I was Ade William’s lawyer. But I don’t know what happened to my role. For about two years now, I have not been contacted. Again, it is the right of the producer.
How does one become an actor?
Everybody has talent to be anything; it depends on what you give your time to that you now develop as your profession or your trade. If I had wanted to be a pilot, I would have been a pilot. I was interested in being a theatre person. What all of us believe is that theatre is acting alone. But that is not it. I was interested in being a theatre person; so I gave it my time, I believed in it, concentrated on it and spent time on and in it. So it is what you give your time to that you will become. If you have the interest, the interest will sustain you over the years.