Banana Island Ghost is a spring board for my career- Patrick Diabuah

Patrick Diabuah is one of the fastest growing Nigerian actor, musician, voice-over artist and part time sculptor. Patrick who became more popular after starring in the award winning stage play Saro the musical and has equally featured in several theatre productions like Wakaa the musical, Kakadu the musical and London Life Lagos Living to name a few. His film/ TV credits include the award winning 93days, Tinsel, Boomerang amongst others. In this chat with MUTIAT ALLI, Patrick reminisces on his career as actor, musician and sculptor, his role in coming movie Banana Island Ghost (B.I.G) and what attracted him to the script amongst others.

So how easy was it for you blending knowing that you are coming from stage?

It wasn’t easy at first but you know having that stage partner that we were trained on the stage to be large, to be very big. It wasn’t easy but I got over it after first two days of shoot.

What will you say attracted you to the script?

It’s the story and the kind of story that it is, it’s not the normal every day story that you will find  in Nollywood of a   boy just meet a girl and for the sake of love they just go on, but you know the story of a ghost coming, it’s never being told at least not that I know of it but then there is something that they will have to discover, she has to discover, he have to help her discover it and in helping her to discover it, he discovers what he should learn himself. So that kind of attracted me. Am a story teller and when am on set, before the camera go on stage I always want to tell a story that will touch people, that will resolute with people that people can learn something from it, so that was my main attraction, the story was good and it needed to be told.

We saw a lot of stunts, were those stunts real?

They were real, most of us did the stunts ourselves, we had Brenda, and some others from South Africa, they were our stunt coaches, they came in, showed us a little bit of fights and told us how to fall, take kicks without getting injured and it was fun.

At some point did you actually fall in the cause of the stunt?

Oh yes I fell down but I didn’t fall down because I was the one beating everybody so there was really no need for me to fall. But it was a great experience because as a child have always wanted to play action because I wanted to be a soldier too and this was like a dream come true for me.

Let’s just say the action in it is in actable?

Oh boy have you seen the trailer, it’s very actable and it’s one thing for you to be part of the creation process and then see the finish work and love it. I saw the finish work, I saw the stunts, and I loved it, this wasn’t because I was part of it but because I saw it clearly, I saw the skill in it.

Are you ready for wearing the cap of the ghost you know when it comes out then beat everything in the market, definitely the cap ghost will be on you, are you ready?

I think it will be a cool nickname to call someone ghost, it kind of create mystery around the person. I will say am preparing myself, I won’t say am ready because I don’t think anybody is ever ready for anything that happens in life whether good or bad but am preparing myself to take on whatever it is because I know that after this it going to be more hard work like they say there is no rest for the wicked even if you are good at what you do, you are wicked so there will be no rest for you

Are there any takeaways?

Uncle Bimbo Manuel is a genius, he is one of those people I never get tired of working with. Banana Island Ghost would be my first time working with him infact I think it will be like third work I would be doing with him and each time he is always exemplary. It is a privilege being on the same set with him.

With all this, you have tried to put a whole lot to BIG?

Yes

Financially how rewarding did you say it is?

I don’t think everything is about the finance am happy with everything in BIG so far because personally for me it’s a spring board for my career and I will like to look more at the holistic reward, I will say it’s very rewarding for me, even as an actor I learnt more from it and it’s not something you can learn from an acting school because acting school only prepares you it doesn’t really tell you what is out there.

Is there any other dream role that you would love to play?

Like I told have always wanted to join the army but my mother prayed it out of my brain, I will like to do more of action, do more of stunts like I said earlier it has always been my dream as a child and these things are driven just by the desire to just change the world

Do you see Nigeria public actually embracing Banana Island Ghost?

From the response we have been given through the trailer, I have friends who have been calling me every day, who have been texting me on Instagram telling us dude that trailer is on point, that trailer is great when is the movie coming out. I want to believe that good things sees another good thing, we have done our best to make a good movie and I want to believe that the movie is going to be great and that people will enjoy seeing it when it finally comes to the cinema

How did you become an actor? Was it by coincidence or by choice?

Initially the plan was not to become an actor, although I’ve always wanted to perform on a stage or in front of a camera from when I was pretty young. I mean as young as age seven, I was already mimicking the characters I saw on TV. But I really decided to be an actor after secondary school. I left secondary school as a science student but realised a few years after that I wasn’t cut out to be a scientist. I wanted to be a doctor or a pilot in the army. In fact at some point, I wanted to be too many things. So I thought to myself, how can I be all these things? I decided to become an actor. I went to the university to learn performance.

Who or what were your early influences?

My earliest influence was Patrick Cargill who played Patrick Woodford in the British comedy many ‘Wives of Patrick’. I didn’t know what the show was about. But I was just drawn to the character or shall I say the actor. There was also Mr. Olu Jacobs, Joke Silva, Funsho Alabi, Robert Powell, and let’s not forget Michael Crawford and John Clease. I have a long list but let’s keep it short.

Would you regard Patrick Diabuah as a lover boy?

Lover boy, well, I know I like women and I respect them and will never treat them as “a play thing”. I can be smooth if I decide to be, but I think I’ll reserve that side for stage and screen.

How do handle romantic roles?

Romantic roles have always been the most difficult for me to play. I believe it’s because of its subtlety, but then it has to be big enough for the viewers to feel it and yet authentic enough for them to believe it. So what I do most times is build trust with my scene partners. So I start off by knowing who my partner is, what they like. Basically we just become friends. It’s easier for me, to play romantic roles with a friend, than a complete stranger