Ufuoma McDermott’s journey into Nollywood began when she held movie buffs spellbound with her delivery in Zeb Ejiro’s 2004 movie, The President Must Not Die. Today, she is an A-List Nollywood actress. The former beauty queen is returning to the cinema this September with a new comedy flick, titled ‘What Just Happened’. She tells PREMIUM TIMES more about the project and her career in this interview.
Excerpt:
You hinted earlier that it took you three years to shoot your new movie. Why did it take that long?
Ufuoma: The idea of perfection for this movie was my husband’s. We had spent so much money shooting the movie and when it was ready it wasn’t what we wanted. I wanted to release it but my husband wasn’t in support. I said okay let’s just throw it online and make it into DVD.
He said “unless you want to keep it under your bed. This film is not leaving this house”. To be honest with you it took a toll on me. I was heavily pregnant when we started shooting in 2015. We shot in and out of Los Angeles.
What’s the plot of the movie?
Ufuoma: The story is about a disgruntled professor who goes in search of a man. She takes up her brother’s offer for the position of a visiting lecturer at the University of Ibadan. So, what should have been a one-hour journey from Lagos to Ibadan ends up being a disaster.
Partly, (this was) as a result of her high-handedness and selfishness. The entire movie is a testimony, which is being recounted in church.
PT: Is this your first shot at comedy?
Ufuoma: Well ‘Christmas is coming’ is a comedy but it was a romantic comedy. It wasn’t an entirely comedy film as this. So probably yes, this is my first.