“I’ve Sent Her Like 25 Messages And She Hasn’t Responded” Basketmouth Open Up As Funke Akindele Stopped Picking His Calls after One Phone Call They Had

In a recent interview on Arise TV, the Nigerian comedian and filmmaker discusses collaboration and how he worked with other filmmakers throughout the film’s promotion in addition to the people he collaborated with on his latest project, A Ghetto Love Story. Basketmouth was frank and honest throughout the discussion about how Mo Abudu and other people truly helped him out and how Funke Akindele stopped returning his calls after they had one. This is what Basketmouth said.

During his interview, Basketmouth was asked about collaborations, with the people he worked on his movie with, and also with other filmmakers when it came time for promotion. Speaking about it, Basketmouth said:

BASKETMOUTH: So, in terms of making the film, you know when we decided to work on the project; I’ve been watching the industry for a very long time and I’ve seen the flaws. Most movie makers, they make movies to make money. It’s an investment for them. They want to put in 200 million or 150 and expect to make a billion, that’s what they do. So when your your intention is to make money, without knowing, you’re already cutting down your budget because you do not want to exceed the budget. You want to make profit so you are scaling down on the substance of the movie, the quality, and everything. But in my own case, I didn’t make the movie to make money.

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I made the movie to create art, to create excellence. Like I felt, or I feel, that Nigerian films can be better. And I got tired of complaining. So, the plan was you know what, assemble the best. Don’t compromise, because if you want the best, it’s either you bargain, you batter, or you go look for the money. So I tried all three. I used I used all three. I bargained, did batter for some of them, but I did not cut down on the quality of the movie. That’s why you see how great the movie is. I’m bragging about it right now, I’m not trying to be humble right now.

With collaborations with filmmakers, it was dramatic. When I started calling all these like Mo Abudu and the rest of them, you know, I had a plan. I was going to start with Funke Akindele, and just run it all through. But when I called Funke, she was excited and that was in August, and then the next thing, she never picked up my calls again.

But she was making a movie, maybe she was busy, or her phone is on silent, or maybe the phone got spoilt. But yeah, I hope she pick up or responds to my messages. I’ve sent over like 25 messages or whatever, but she didn’t respond. So I had to change the whole plan and re-strategize. I had to go to Mo, this and that, but the rest of them came through. I called Mo and normally she doesn’t do stuff like that, but she jumped on it. Sooner or later, I believe that filmmakers in Nigeria will get to understand that collaboration is the new competition. I am in this space. I’m not competing with anybody. I’m just here to make movies, good movies, that can represent Nigeria worldwide