Femi Adebayo: I Cast My Movies By Divine Inspiration, Team Work

Nigerian film director, actor, and producer Femi Adebayo has consistently defied the odds, establishing himself as a formidable force in Nollywood. With nearly two decades of active contribution to the industry, he has evolved into an exceptional actor and a visionary producer. Femi’s big-screen production career has seen remarkable success, with blockbuster films like Ageshinkole and Jagun Jagun elevating his brand and earning him numerous awards and accolades. His latest film, Seven Doors, has further solidified his position at the top, receiving widespread acclaim from fans, critics, and the community within just a week of its release. Femi Adebayo took Tosin Clegg, into his process of character development, journey as a producer, his latest project, and much more

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ow easy was it to move from Jagun Jagun to Seven Doors?

What is important is that as a producer you are to define the kind of genre or project you want to do. So Jagun Jagun is a war film and we gave it our best then. Seven Doors is a drama and a love story mixed with tradition and it was easy to move into it because the scripts are totally different. And as a producer when you are working on any script what you would be thinking of is how you want to interpret the script, not even remembering what you have done before.

Your scripting is always mind-blowing; how do you go about putting it together?

So I have a team that we work together on any story that I have. I conceptualise it and conceive the ideas but some are born out of social messages, some are from personal stories and when I conceive the idea I call my team together so as to develop the story, then start to plot. It’s not a one-man job or what I do alone but I remember that this particular story when I presented it to my team they condemned it. But I was like I want to do this story and I remember vividly that they all turned it down. And I insisted and by insisting they all felt that it’s my thing and agreed to work on it with me. Why I insisted was that I had a picture of moving away from the action, war and epic films that people have been seeing to a vintage story. And I know my fans were waiting for Jagun Jagun 2 but I didn’t want to stereotype Femi Adebayo to just epic films. Because I know what I have in me; I insisted to do this project. 

With the huge accolades your new project is having how does it make you feel?

Of course, I feel good and I’m excited about the views. Talking about the title, many talk about it the way they see or feel it. But I don’t like giving a suggestive title which might make you understand what my movie is about. But on this project we used doors to represent women because respectfully in Yoruba land when you want to enter a woman’s room courtesy demands you knock on the door. 

What are some lessons to take home from your new project?

For me there are quite a number of things. Generational curses is one and that happened through the character of Kola Adeyemi and the Esusu part which is very deep. Some of us believe in destiny and leaving it the way it is which started from him wanting to get short cuts and damning all the consequences that came with it. Another lesson is to not misuse power which we saw through the character of Gabriel Afolayan and another is also to remain good at all times. 

How do you get in character for your films?

In my own case for interpreting any role I have stages. First one is character analysis understanding who my character is and I go through the character Bible. Also with the help of the director I get to know how to better interpret my character. Secondly I enter into the character like it’s my real self and from there it gets easy to interpret any character. 

Can you walk us through your casting process? How do you identify and select the right talent to bring your vision to life?

For me casting my movies is more of divine and I just get that feeling. For all my movies I don’t cast alone as I have a team that I work with. So when we deliberate I take it back and the divine message would come on what to do. And it’s at this point I start to get God blessings on all my projects and before this movie came out I have seen and heard so many people say I’m repeating faces and all of that. But if a divine message comes that all cast I used on other projects should be in this new project they would be for me and people would still love my movies.

How did you secure funding for this movie and your previous projects?

Funny enough I pitched to them after I have made the film as I didn’t look for investors when I was making the film. So it was self funded and Netflix acquired it after the production. I think it is better to self fund when you have the capacity and put in everything then you would have that confidence to pitch it after. And for all my projects that has been it and it gives me that flexibility of going with whoever I want to go with but it is a lot of risk too. 

How would you say it has been since you started?

Majorly, the prayer is that I want to see my children making me proud and I actually didn’t see myself coming this far, trust me. I only know I can do better and that’s all I know. Getting to this level I actually didn’t picture it because we came from YouTube and African Magic productions probably because of our capacity. So many people have asked why I do Yoruba films only when I can speak English but I would say I fell in love with Yoruba language maybe because my father acted Yoruba movies more. When they say adages and proverbs I ask questions on what they mean and when they break down the meaning I started falling in love with the language. 

But for me I don’t like to do what everybody does as I wanted to do things differently. And I actually didn’t see myself getting here this fast as my first big screen, Ageshinkole is just two years and a half. So I believe there is so much to be done with prayers, belief, commitment and hard work and you can’t be praying without work.