We traced the story of her life, probing without borders, digging deeper than a Julius Berger drill, and almost giving her goose pimples.
From her days on Molue buses, preaching away like a career evangelist, to her cross over from movie to music, her alleged snobbish attitude, and that celebrated enmity with fellow movie star Genevieve Nnaji, she spoke with Dimeji Ogedengbe until the recorder batteries were completely exhausted...
To start with, do you still find time to cook your hubby's meal?
I do all the time. I always cook in bulk if I am travelling. They bring it out and warm from the microwave. Even if I'm in the middle of a shoot, if I have to, I'll come back, especially if something urgent comes up. It hardly happens. Basically, I cook in large quantities. It's something I've trained myself for. The only problem is NEPA. There are times when there's no light or the generator is bad. Then they have to turn out stuff. I don't like de-frozen food.
Before Ije, We had stopped seeing you in movies. We only heard about you in the music industry; is music conflicting with your movie career?
No. Absolutely not. I'm just chilling not to be in too many movies at this period; because there are not too many projects out there right now that I really want to do. There are a few movies that I love and recently I've have shot about four of them, that's straight to video movies. Otherwise I'm also looking more to shoot movies like 'IJE' and also to encourage the producers and directors of such movies. You know, promoting such movies takes a lot of time; you have to travel around and all that. I really have been travelling to promote other movies. I have another project called 'Mind game' and I've been promoting that since last year as well, just as i did 'IJE' . So, that's what I've mostly been doing with the movie side of my life but otherwise I've shot other movies on the local scene.
You have one album to your credit and the second one is coming out; has it been promising so far? {EDITOR'S NOTE: Omotola's second album Me, Myself and Eyes, has since been released}
Absolutely! Extremely, in fact. I've always known that nothing good comes easy so I'm not one of those people who come in and think everything has to go their way. I know most times that you really have to work hard to get things and I know that if nothing else, something has to give you a fight. I know that I have to be strong-willed, confident and hardworking. I know exactly what to expect. I think I'm surprised that things are catching up quickly and faster than I thought it would. I'm really bracing up for a big fight not only in Nollywood but around the world. It's never been easy for people to cross over from movies to music likewise from music to movies. I envisaged a very tough fight and very hard terrain. You know, a lot of people think it's just something you do to pass time because you are bored or there is something else you are looking for..
But what can you say is your priority Music or Movie?
None necessarily. My priority is entertainment first and foremost because that's the profession I've chosen to do. It's like asking a doctor – GP has to be your specialty. I mean they can decide to take another course and do other parts of medicine. My specialty is entertainment. I could be a poet, a dancer, stage act, singer or an actor. It's all within entertainment.
You and Genny – Is this the first time you are doing a movie together?
No.
Why does 'Ije' seem to be more pronounced?
Well, that's because it's actually a big movie. Other movies we've done like 'Games Women Play' and 'Sister in love' were big too, 'Blood Sisters', is one of the biggest African movies in the world till date. So, I mean we've done a couple of movies together but I guess 'Ije' is just on another level. It's big, it's a film and it's well promoted.
A lot of people see you two as rivals; with 'Ije' it would seem you both have a robust relationship. Are you guys quite close? Did you get along well while on set?
That's the irony. There is nothing to get along and nothing not to get along. The idea is actually in peoples mind. People read meaning to everything. The point is we are not best friends or close friends and we are not enemies too. We are just colleagues and we are cool. I mean if I see her somewhere, I would be like 'hello hello' and we'll go our separate ways like every other person. I really don't understand what the fantasy is with me and Genevieve in particular. She's not the first person I'm acting a sisterly role with and she will definitely not be the last but I know, somebody or people just have feelings of those two brands. I don't even think we look alike so it's an irony why people keep tagging us as sisters. It's weird but it's what it is.
You were alleged to have snobbed a male fan who offered you a handshake on the red carpet of Ije premiere in Lagos. Are you truly a snob?
Wow, I'm hearing this for the first time. I don't remember anything of that nature happening. Are you sure I saw this person? There was no way anyone could have even come up to me because I had a bodyguard with me. Are you sure he was trying to shake me or he was giving me something? That's not possible. To everybody who said 'hello' to me that day, I said 'hello' back. I was even over friendly. We even had a situation where i was playing with the area boys. So if I could play with area boys outside my car why would someone try to shake me on the red carpet and I won't respond to the gesture? That's strange..
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