Acting is not about over-acting, it just flows…..Adedimeji Lateef

What makes you a thespian is to see a different you in different movies….Adedimeji Lateef
He is passionate and understands the acting craft very well, his interpretations of roles is second to none; fast rising Nollywood actor, Abdullateef Adetola Adedimeji is one of Nigeria’s top most sought- after actor, TV Presenter and a fantastic script writer who has featured in several movies. The graduate of Mass Communication in this chat with MUTIAT ALLI, spoke about his career, what keeps him going, what determines a good script amongst others.

What is your take on the interpretation of roles by the real Theatre Art graduate and those tagged armatures?
Theater Art graduates , they know the rules, they are thespians because it goes beyond mere talent, it is the other thing to have a talent and it is another thing to go extra mile to actually upgrade that talent that it can actually stand out.

So that is what takes a theater Art practitioner to be quite different from somebody that just have the talent decide to go into it and try to perfect it, so no matter the level of perfection when somebody knows about it knows the rules knows the duos and don’ts, plus the perfection; he stands out from the person that actually has the talent and he is perfect will always come out for a theatre art practitioner they know the rule and they are well grounded.

How were you able to make yourself different knowing the industry you are going into?
At first I am an armature too, but for me I stated acting from a very strong grassroots one like a non-governmental organization that trained me and mold me into an actor.

Basically they deal with grass root people; get the information across to them via dance, acting and songs, so they go to secondary schools and pick one of their best and train them as a pair educator and I was trained to be a theater person then later went to school, read communication.

So combination of all thing I have learnt makes me a bit different but majorly is I won’t just dabble into any act or script, I will do a research, I will make sure I find a character that is quite different from every other character because what makes me an actor and thespian is that they see a different me in different movies, if they see me in 20 movies then am not there am not an actor yet so for me each time I tried to read I try to upgrade myself so I just not meet anybody and don’t work pass anybody without picking up something from that person, so it makes it easier for me to dabble into different characters of different people because I make friends to learn and I make friends to pick.

Talking about scripting, have you got to that stage of your career where you reject certain script?
Yes I have been rejecting scripts not that I wish to but it’s just that at a stage we actually need to do that because back to back can be killing at times and when someone die like that it is just the end of the person; so you need to take it slow, no insurance, no life policy, no nothing, you die

So when I see that it is becoming too much back to back I reject script but there are same script that I know that if there story line is nice the cast on set the director and all that even if am not too fine I can actually struggle to pick up some script to the fact that you know this can actually push you to a reasonable aspect that you can actually seat back and watch and say that I did this I was a part of this.

As a thespian, what determines a good script?
A good script is determined by the story line, the body, the characterization, because in the Nigerian world or in this part of the world, you write a script and there is no characterization you just call the actor and you narrate.

They expect you to pick the character by yourself but a good script and a good writer would know what he has in mind and for every character, so I expect every good script to have a characterization of every of the character in them, if the character is soft spoken person, did he go to school or not , is he a light complexion person; all of those things will help an actor to look for a particular actor to actually deep himself into and before you know it, it flows.

So for me I know that is not happening in this part of our world, so if I pick up a script I try to look for it, read it from the beginning to the end then try to characterize it myself and fall into it.

Any regrets so far?
Well Well!!!! There are times I have cried, I cried that day that I have to call Ibrahim Chatta that I was leaving the industry that I was going to dust my certificate am tired and suffering; and Ibrahim was like, my brother you can’t leave at this stage because I told him I also have families to take care.

I also called Muyiwa Ademola and he said , if a lot of people would leave, if you leave then I will tell you, you are mad, then you shouldn’t you are at a stage that you won’t have to leave you, have to just face it if you really want to make it, because if you think about the money that is coming and the face, fame that it has brought to you, they don’t even tally and a lot of people look up to you, but I know with time it is beginning to pay off am over shadowing at part that regrets part of ah no , I know it will get better.