In Nigeria, movie directors are not usually known, because they are behind the camera. But that is not the case with Dickson Iroegbu. Since he came into the industry, the scriptwriter and movie director/producer has always been in the news. But Iroegbu also has many scandals trailing him. He speaks with ‘NONYE IWUAGWU about the scandals and a new project he is doing with Onyeka Onwenu.
How come you enjoy being behind the camera?
I enjoy creating characters and watching them become what I made them to be. I enjoy being there without being known. I enjoy expressing what I have inside me. The only way I found I could do that was by writing scripts, producing and directing movies. I have refused to do anything that will give me visual fame. I thought I should concentrate on my arts and not be distracted. I enjoy a situation where I am being discussed and people don’t know I am the one being discussed.
But many people know you still.
Unfortunately, because of my dreadlocks, you can place some form of identity on me. Before now, I didn’t have all of that. I could go anywhere, do anything and get away with it. But it is all show business. I had to devise a means of having a special identity. I couldn’t be more fulfilled in any other profession as I am as a film director.
Don’t you feel bad that the actors you made have shone brighter than you?
If I suffer from an inferiority complex, I would have felt bad. But I don’t. I know who I am. What I am is not a mistake. I don’t want to be like any other person. If I were having some ambition, I would have felt that way.
But if you have observed, I can’t be at any function and anybody would have reasons to think I have been outshone, unless I am not myself. You can’t be everywhere. You have to choose a direction and do well in that direction. I have not finished exploring the artistic values that I have in me. When I am through with it, I could be aged by then, it might be too late for me to start acting. No actor can take the shine off the director. It is only in Nollywood that value is not given to the man behind the camera. But in all, the directors still matters. Viewers still call and appreciate what I do. I relate with the actors. They are my friends and colleagues. Without them there would not be me, and without me there wouldn’t be them. We co-exist in the environment we have found ourselves.
We hear most directors can make very good actors…
I really cannot begin to place the director and the actor. But if you ask me, acting is somehow different from directing. But there is no way you would say a director could not make a good actor, except the director is fake. There are directors who forced themselves into acting because of the hunger for fame. Everybody can become an actor, but not everyone can be a director.
How did you begin your acting profession?
I started with writing poems. From there, I felt I could go into prose. As at then, Nollywood had started booming. I understood they needed writers.
But you didn’t do Arts in school…
No, I did Business Administration in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. I had so much interest in the arts. It was a passion. Because of the flair I had for creative writing, I had to learn scriptwriting. I understudied those who were there before me. I studied films and then I wrote a script and somebody thought it was going to make a commercial success. Amaco Investment bought the film – Just a Mission; I was on location with them. I worked as a production assistant on that set. I saw the director interpret my work and I felt there were things I would have done better if I were given the opportunity to direct the movie.
That made you decide to become a director?
That was how I got interested in directing. From the first day I came into Nollywood, I was not distracted by fame. I didn’t want to become a star. I wanted to express my writing skills. You can have a wonderful script and one director messes it up. I have had that kind of experience. When my script was not interpreted the way I thought it should, that was when I decided to become a director. I worked under the likes of Andy Amenechi and Teco Benson. What really got me this far is the passion I have for the industry. It wasn’t because I felt I could make money from this. It wasn’t because I felt I could become famous. I got myself into it and since then, I have been in it.
So, what is happening to your Business Administration certificate?
It is gone. It has only helped me to manage my business as a film producer. But to dust my certificate and go and look for a job, I don’t think I would do that. It may probably be when I become a politician that I would do that. Even if I eventually become a politician and end up as Mr. President, I would still be a film director.
How many movies have you written and directed?
Honestly, I refused to count them. Some of them have given me some form of recognition; like Women’s Cot, Kill the Bride and The Mayor. Being modest, there is no way you would mention 20 directors and my name would not be in that list.
When you came into the industry, you were not wearing dreadlocks…
No, I wasn’t.
So, what made you change your looks?
It may be that I have always had dreadlocks in me. The Rasta in me was flowing. I have always sung and enjoyed reggae music.
When fame started getting attached to Dickson Iroegbu, I started wearing it.
But then I have asked if it is wrong religiously. Great men in the Bible wore dreadlocks. Jesus did not shave his hair. John the Baptist did not shave his hair either.
And so, in my adult life, I realised this should have been part of me. I am not ready to shave this hair.
Never?
I didn’t say never. But I am not ready right now to shave it. I am not thinking of it, at all.
Is your family comfortable with it?
My wife likes it. My kids like it. I have been able to defend it. My immediate elder brother is an ECOMOG soldier. There was something he did and my dad asked him why he did it and he said it was part of his trait as a military man. When I started wearing dreadlocks, my dad was very furious about it; I had to tell him it was part of my trait as a director. My colleagues and friends have started getting used to it. When the hair starts becoming a burden, we might do something about it. I wasn’t born with it. I love Bob Marley. I thought I should follow some of the things he did, which included dreadlocks.
And marijuana too...
In the entertainment industry, if you cough, it will be exaggerated and the person is given a bad name. Meanwhile, worse things are happening in other sectors.
Everybody now wears dreadlocks. I don’t know why marijuana is identified with those that wear dreadlocks. It may be because of the likes of Bob Marley.
You have not really answered the question. Do you take marijuana?
If something is not harmful to me, I take it. If I take it and become a nuisance, then you can condemn it. If I tell you I don’t smoke it, that would be like condemning it. If I tell you I take it, that would be like giving myself a sort of tag. So, I will neither condemn nor identify with it. Maybe my wife and others who know me will tell you better.
You sing as well.
Yes, I sing reggae music. That is basically why I wear dreadlocks. I knew that somehow someday, that part of me would be unveiled. But let’s not forget that I have an album, which was released in 2000. It was a gospel album. Then I was wearing skin cut. That was my style.
Are you that religious?
I am not a religious person, though I am spiritually very conscious. It was just that I was experimenting with everything, So, I did that gospel Igbo song and it was released. But I didn’t publicise it because of the fame it would have brought me. I didn’t want to be identified with that particular kind of life. Even if I don’t do any song again, I can go back and say I was able to do a gospel song. People call me the Conscious One. I have accepted the name.
I am still learning how to sing. You may have the voice but not the technique. I have consulted the likes of Sammie Okposo, Oritz Wiliki and some others. One way or the other, I am understudying those who have excelled in the music profession.
You intend to go back to that genre of the arts?
Yes. By the time I am through with learning how to sing, I will unveil that part of me, so that I will not make a mockery of myself after getting this far as a director. If I go into music and I don’t succeed, that would be a dent on my image. That is why I am being careful.
What could have given people the impression that you were gay?
In case you don’t know, I shot the first gay movie in Africa. It is not out yet. I am not particularly a public person. I have the understanding that I could be weak sometimes. But I try not to make this weak part of me public, like womanising. You will not hear, except it is a rumour, that I have had this or that relationship. I have understood how important it is that your tomorrow will be judged by your yesterday. I have to be careful how I relate with people. I try to run away from the sex scandal that is being identified with Nollywood. But that does not mean I am a saint. Because they don’t get to see me with girls, they conclude whatever they can.
Then again, I think my dress sense should have been the reason they concluded I was a gay.
How do you dress?
I wear suits a lot. I hear that a man wearing dreadlock should not wear suit. But see me, I wear suit even more than bankers. I also use a walking stick. All this gives me carriage.
So, are you gay or not?
I don’t know if this rumour came out before I shot the gay movie. If I were gay, God forbid, do you think I would do the movie and expose this gay thing? Oh, God of mercy! Gay? If I were gay, I wouldn’t have been bold enough to put it in pictures.
But people think you are pretending?
Yes. Anybody can say I am pretending. But I think you should ask my wife and some other girls who know me.
Did you feel bad when you heard the story?
Not really. But remember I have kids. Imagine them going to school and their dad is being discussed as gay. I have friends who respect me. I am a member of a church. I have my family, my in-laws, my friends and even my enemies. They all would be disappointed by that story. If it is about me alone, I don’t particularly care. Is it not somebody who has something doing that people discuss? If I wasn’t doing anything, I don’t think anybody would have talked about me. It does not move me. Conscience is what God has deposited in every man. As such, whatever crime you commit, whether anybody sees you or not, your conscience will judge you.
As for the person that wrote the story in the newspapers, I don’t know if it was a lady who wrote it, I probably would go and toast her so that she would know that I am not gay.
The story didn’t move me. It is just that I have fans who might have been disappointed. Take it or leave it, I am sure there are people who would want to be like me, who see me as their role model. They would have been disappointed.
A lot of people think you are eccentric.
I am just me. I go about my life. I have never been someone else and I don’t intend to be. From childhood, I knew I was the only problem I had. The opinion you have about me does not count. What counts is the opinion I have about myself. That is what drives me. I don’t care what anybody has to say about me.
I am conscious of the fact that I am a mirror. How I reflect is how I am being perceived. That is how I would define myself. I don’t care about how any other person defines me. It could be gay, eccentric or whatever. I know who I am.
We hear an hotel in Surulere (Lagos) seized your jeep because you could not pay the hotel bills…
Before they wrote that story, they called me. I laughed over it. Before I got that car, I had two other cars. I go to the hotel sometimes, especially when I want to write, I go there and I think. My wife has decided to cope with that aspect of my life. Nothing can come between my creative ability and me.
Honestly, it was for security reasons that I parked the car at the hotel. When I bought that car, people were amazed and they kept asking what I did to afford that kind of car. Some even said it was the gay business that gave me the money to buy the car. They even said a politician I was ‘doing’ gave me the money. That was not all. I have a white cousin; she came back during that period. In fact, she is my closest relation. As such, when she came back to Nigeria, we were always together. People who didn’t know who she was said I was dating a white woman who bought the jeep for me and also gave me money to shoot the gay movie.
But why park the car in a hotel?
There was a time I noticed that some people were trailing me. This is a society where you build and people try to destroy and try to reap where they did not sow. I know they said you would step on serpent and scorpions and they would not hurt you. But that does not mean that if you see them, you go and match on them. I saw danger and I felt I should be careful. I had to park the car. The car is still parked there.
Really?
Yes. The owner of the hotel is my friend. He even told me to come and remove the car when people started talking about it. But I have not built my own house and you now expect me to park three cars in one man’s house, especially when I command such attention. People would think I’m swimming in money. I just had to be careful. If anybody does not believe this, too bad. It is my car. If I slept in an hotel and decided to use my car to offset the bills, there is nothing wrong with that.
Why didn’t you marry an actress?
My wife is indirectly working in the entertainment industry. She works with Censors Board.
Doesn’t she mind that you do a job that requires you to be with actresses all the time?
I didn’t pretend about what I do when we met.
How did you meet?
I met her in her office when I went to censor my film. She quarreled with the content of the movie. In fact, I quarreled seriously with her that day. But that incident sort of pricked my interest in her. In less than a year, we got married. She is used to the scandals that come with my job.
There was day we sat together in the sitting room with some other family members. Then came the news that I was getting set to marry an actress. They were all looking at me. I couldn’t deny it. I just told them that they should wait till I marry the actress.
I know that my job bothers her sometimes. I see it in her face. But you know it is the woman that keeps the home. I think she has decided to keep her home. However bad it is, she is the shock absorber. Being married to Dickson is not an easy thing. I have my bad side.
I know she tries to hide it, but I know this job bothers her. The important thing is that I still come back home to roost. Every woman, no matter how terrible a husband is, should give God the glory that he has not been taken away completely, that he still comes back home.
No matter how it is, I am still the best husband and the best father to her kids.
But why didn’t you marry an actress?
I wanted to marry an actress but somehow, I couldn’t. Remember, I got married before fame came. I started dating my wife before I directed my first movie.
What we do is showbiz, and a whole lot of us get carried away by the things we do on TV. As at that time, I didn’t see any actress that was not fake and didn’t allow what was in the movies to influence her.
Tell us a bit about your childhood…
I am from a polygamous family. If I didn’t go through what I went through when I was growing up, I don’t think I would have been here today. Given a second chance, I would grow up that way. If I were from some rich home, I probably wouldn’t have been anything. I would still have been depending on my family to feed me.
You are involved in a new project called Omenuko…
Oh yes. It is about a great Igbo man. He embodied the personalities that you would want to see in an Igbo man. It is a true picture of an Igbo man. It is a true life story. It is also the first Igbo novel to be published.
For those of us who went to primary and secondary schools in the East, the Omenuko novel was compulsory. We want to have it in film format.
Why?
It is a historic event that took place in the East. The Igbo speaking films are no more there. Our language seems to have been erased even from our homes. We don’t speak our native language any longer. Our culture is no longer valued by the average Igbo man.
In the entertainment industry, we intend to inform people about what exists in the western world. We have to understand who we are so that we can know the direction to follow. The word corruption does not exist in Igbo language. The current fight against corruption can only be achieved if we go back to our culture.
Those days, if you came home with something that was not yours, you would be queried. Today, nobody cares how you make money. People are even proud of being corrupt nowadays.
After documenting this project, people will have a different perception of the Igbo man. We want to portray that resilient spirit that the Igbo man is known to have.
You are doing the project with Onyeka Onwenu…
I am the director of the movie. She and I are the producers of the film. The project is a collective effort. We are involved in this because of the understanding that our language should be given proper positioning in our entertainment business.
What do you hope to achieve in life?
First of all, this Omenuko project, I feel the combination of Onyeka and I is a classic when it comes to the environment that she is coming from and where I am coming from.
This is one of the most wonderful experiences I have had in Nollywood. I call her Adanne (big sister).
There was a rumour that something was happening between the two of you.
When I heard the rumour, I was like people will never stop talking. I have a lot of respect for this woman. For her to find me worthy to have this level of alliance with me, it is awesome.
At times, I look at myself and I ask myself if indeed I am having this project with Onyeka. It was not like that. I can’t wait for the movie to come out. I can’t wait for people to sit down and do a critique of the movie.
I have announced to whoever cared to listen that Nigeria is taking a film to the Oscars.
Could it be ‘Omenuko’?
You said it. Thank you for the confirmation.
We learnt that the African Movies Academy Awards that you won sometime ago sort of got to your head. Most people felt you became arrogant as soon as you won the award.
Everybody has a right to his opinion. I will not argue with you. It is someone’s personal opinion. Pride is something I have always known would get me down if I get involved in it. I don’t even know where the award is. I have never mentioned that I won an award. Some people take such awards to their villages and a massive reception will be held in their honour. AMMA can never end without mentioning Dickson Iroegbu. I won the first ever award given on the platform of AMMA. It was the best regional screenplay award, and I won it. I won the best director award for that year as well.
I did not make any noise about it and I am not making any noise about it now. Probably when I win the Oscar, then I can allow it to go to my head, but not before then. God will definitely see me through all the stuff being said about m
