The
name Zack Orji has been there since ages. He is a veteran actor who has
seen all the tricks in the movie industry. Though he recently took up
the cloak of a pastor, it doesn’t appear the vineyard of the Lord has
taken all the tricks away from him as a consummate thespian.
His
age and pastoral duties seem not to deter female fans from harassing the
talented actor. While recalling a recent embarrassing moment with a
female fan, he said, "Some time ago I was in Washington DC when a lady
saw me in a super market and there were a lot of people there. It was
unbelievable to her and she said, “Oh my God!
I just watched you
this morning, oh my God” She started shouting and called the attention
of the entire supermarket, “Come and see, he’s an actor from my country,
Nigeria.
I just watched him this morning!” I begged her to stop
and she paid for everything I bought in the supermarket that day. I was
also in Johannesburg sometime ago, when a lady walked up to me and just
stretched out her hand. I was a bit embarrassed because she just came,
looked me straight in the eyes and stretched out her hand for a
handshake.
I looked back at her and said, “In my country, young
women do not stretch out their hands to shake older men or to shake a
man”. She said, “Oh I’m very sorry, it’s just that I’ve been watching
you and I can’t believe that you are in my country”.
She then
said “Ok, what am I supposed to do? I said “You will bend down and I
will pat you on the back”. Immediately, she bent down and I patted her
on the back and she just stayed like that, walking, shouting and saying,
“He patted me on the back."
Zack also believes that indeed the sex for roles in Nollywood is not a fallacy but a day to day happening.
"There
may be some truth in it and there has to be proof. I know that as a
producer, I have never harassed anybody. Besides, people are so
desperate these days that they offer themselves. Also, some of these
people just want to give producers a bad name, sometimes, some of them
do not measure up.
They think it is by sleeping around that they
would get a juicy role. It’s not necessarily by sleeping around, but by
applying your strength, talent, expressing and proving yourself. I do
not deny that there is sexual harassment, but it is everywhere, not just
in the movie industry. The thing is that human beings are predators.
When
human beings are in a position where they can dole out some largess,
some now exhibit their terrible characters. Some people just need to be
put in a position of authority and you will see that they are animals.
That
doesn’t mean we do not have genuine producers who are thoroughly
looking for talents to want to use in their movies, because at the end
of the day a good actor is a good actor. If you do not deliver, people
will watch and they will see that this guy is not good or this girl is
not good," he insisted.
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