Lilian Amah Aluko is the incumbent Vice-President of the Association of Movie Producers, AMP. She’s a novelist and an actress many young ones look up to for direction.
Having had her fair share of success and pain in the movie industry, Sweet Revenge with Emem Isong; She Devil; The Triangle and Jungle Ride(yet to be released) are some of the movies she has produced till date. Part of Lilian’s dreams in life was to become an air hostess, an actress, a doctor and a banker. Some of these dreams has been accomplished while many others are yet to accomplished. But one thing is certain and that is, Lilian is today living out her dreams. She shares her story with Showtime Celebrity.
Lilian Amah-Aluko
Why my face has not been regular on screen
That means you have been watching movies. I have never been frequent in movies. Rather, I have done a couple of TV soap series. Even right now, I have about three to four soap operas already running on different TV stations. My face has never been regular when it comes to acting in movies. In my whole career, I don’t think I have featured in up to ten movies and several reasons are responsible for this. I have always been working full time and doing other things. Acting has been on the sideline for me. Secondly, it’s not every script that comes my way I would want to accept. This is because anything that has to do with the screen is going to outlive the person. So, I’m trying to be very careful on what I put my face on.
Nollywood stars preferring to feature in soaps
I don’t know about others, I only speak for myself. I get better scripts from TV series than from films. I think, there are very good scripts from films too, but such scripts have not come my way. The ones that come my way, I try to be selective in a way that the script must meet the standard I want to associate myself with.
So, I have been lucky with the kind of scripts I have been getting from soap operas. They are of very high standard. I started from the screen, featuring in RMD’s ‘Out of Bounds’ being my first movie. Later, I did about two or three other movies, including ‘Untouchable’ by Emem Isong, and ‘Hit and Run’.
I also did a soap produced by Emem Isong which is titled “Inheritance”. After that, I started doing other soaps, as I keep getting invitations from other producers.
Produced my own soap opera?
I haven’t done that yet, but I have produced my own films. As the Vice-President of Association of Movie Producers,AMP, I should be producing films. I have produced a couple of films including Jungle Ride, Strict Revenge and many others. I’m currently working on my latest movie.
My journey into acting
It has been a mixture of good and bad, rough and smooth. It’s like a journey of life. For me, the good aspect of it is that I have had the opportunity to live out my dreams. It has been one of my dreams to be an actress and also, a producer. I have had the opportunity to live out these dreams.
That for me is good. The bad aspect of it, is having been in Nollywood almost 30 years, I thought the industry would have got to a certain level. Between the menace of piracy and lack of support from the private sectors, the industry hasn’t grown the way it is supposed to. For me, those are the sad aspect of the journey.
My movie released in the cinemas
My movie, Jungle Ride went to the cinemas. It ran for two weeks in Silverbird Cinema, Lagos and later, six weeks in Silverbird Cinema, Abuja. I stopped it from running in Abuja.
Why?
I didn’t recoup my money. That’s why I stopped it. If my movie is running for six weeks, and you are still running it and at the same time, telling me that you are not making any profit, then, it means that something is wrong somewhere.
I’d rather put my movie in my cupboard than have somebody feast on my sweat . I don’t know what went wrong but I just noticed that I was not satisfied with the fact that six weeks after the film hit the cinemas, it did not reflect on my pocket. So, I just decided to stop it.
Any misgivings?
Life is full of ups and downs. I’m in Nollywood because I choose to be in the industry. I’m a Master degree holder. So, good or bad, I’m here for keeps, I will slug it out for the rest of my life.
When I’m not acting
I read and I write. I’m a published author. I have a novel in the market, and my second novel is underway. My writing is a part of me just as my acting. Different things inspire me to write. My two books are totally different stories. My published work is “Echoes of a Heartbeat”, and yet to be published novel is “Dramas of Yesterday.” The novel is a tribal relationship during the Nigeria Civil War.
Taking after my late father-in-law
I think Pa Aluko liked the fact that I was writing my first book before I married his son. The novel was launched while I was married to my husband, and he was very proud of me. He encouraged me a lot.
Writing about my relationship with him
Writing about him involves my writing about myself. That kind of book will not be written by myself. Some of his children are writers too. May be, I think, writing about their dad will be the only way to immortalise him, they might consider writing about their relationship with their late dad in future.
Whether my late father-in-law’s writing influenced my decision to marry his son
What attracted me to my husband is immaterial.
Between acting and writing.
Both of them give me fulfillment.
Do you write script?
I have tried my hands on it. But I prefer to let other people write my story. When I have a story, let those who have a craft on script writing do it for me. Script writing is a specialised field.
Becoming an actress
When I was a child, I had several dreams. I wanted to be an air hostess, a doctor, a lawyer and an actress. I have accomplished some of these dreams. I was an air hostess, may be in another life, I will be a doctor.
I worked with ADC Airline for two years as a hostess. When the airline commenced operation, I was one of the first hostesses the company employed. I worked with the airline for two years before I went into Banking. While working in the bank, I was also pursuing my acting career, meaning that I could only do a few other things. Luckily for me, the bank I worked with then, was more of a family business. Most corporate organizations wouldn’t tolerate that, but the bank allowed me to have my way until I resigned in 2005. I featured in “Doctor’s Quarter’ while I was still working in the bank.
Leaving lucrative banking job for acting
I didn’t walk out of the job for acting. Rather I wasn’t getting self-fulfillment working in the bank. I spent ten years of my life in the banking hall. Money is not everything. It has never been so important to me. Yes, money is necessary to get on with life. But it’s never been the reason I take decisions. I needed to be fulfilled. I needed to wake up in the morning and feel happy that I’m going to work. I wasn’t feeling that anymore while working in the bank. So I had to take my destiny into my hands.
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