How I Prepared For My Role In Jagun Jagun

• Star Actor, LATEEF ADEDIMEJI Tells City People

Lateef Adedimeji is one of the star actors in Femi Adebayo’s trending movie, Jagun Jagun. He had to do a lot to  prepare for his key role in the epic movie. He is a brilliant actor. He is talented and good at what he does.

In a recent interview with Femi Adebayo the producer of the movie, he had a lot of nice things to say about Lateef. “Lateef Adedimeji the indomitable! That was how Femi Adebayo Salami described him. “Lateef stormed the Jagun Jagun set like a true warrior. Preparing for the role, Lateef hit the gym for a month, displaying commitment like I have never seen before. In his first scene, he broke his legs, but continued to do his best despite being in excruciating pain. Omo, me I was scared ooo, but his resilience inspired us all on set to keep on. His mesmerising portrayal of Gbotija left us all in awe of his exceptional talent. It was mesmerising and full of depth and intensity” Femi revealed how he decided months before the movie that Lateef Adedimeji was the actor he was going to use for that role. And he had to get Lateef prepared for it”.

How easy was it for Femi to put together the movie? How easy was it to bring it to reality with the Cast and Crew? “We went through a lot. It was very tasking, I won’t lie to you. It was very challenging. Just like the Yoruba’s will say: eniti o ba se nkan, ti e nikan o se ri, Oju e a ri nkan ti enikan o riri. It was extremely challenging. The major challenges were balancing up the story line. I don’t want any audience to have a feel of what is going to happen next, in the movie. I want serious suspense. I wanted a flawless production. I wanted a perfect Cast. It will cost me a lot to tie down a particular cast for about 3 months. And I needed to tie them down for about 3 months, especially Lateef Adedimeji. I had to call him and I said to him, I have a project I want you to do for me and it will take 3 months and he smiled  and said egbon are you joking? Se e nsere ni? I said a month and a half is going for your personal training. You have to hit the Gym, you have to be physically fit. And  the remaining will be training on set, to get the right Choregraphy, and about 40 days for shoot. He was like, haaa! bawo le se fese, e lo le fe san?

“Another major challenge on set was when Lateef broke his leg on the 1st day of shoot and it was terrible for him” Was Femi Adebayo scared? “Yes, I was very scared. But I was adamant in making sure he played the role. He did. It slowed down the pace of  the shoot but I didn’t mind. I was like this guy has prepared for this job. He has been to the Gym for a month and a half, done sveral Choreographies, I am not going to let him go like that. We did it.”

In a separate interview with City People a few days back, Lateef revealed all he did to prepare himself for that lead role.

How does he feel having been part of the movie we asked him? “I feel great having been part of the movie. Its more like trying to do everything you can to make sure that your career keeps growing the best way it can. I am always giving my all to every role, every character, be it to many scenes, lead role or minor roles. What is important for an actor is to make sure, he delivers whenever he is called upon because you can never tell and you can never know who is watching or which other movie producer is watching that can pick you for another role. And you don’t even know which is really going to go well or go far. I feel great to have been part of this great one that is global, and is on the global space and making Nigerians proud and glad that I was part of  it.  That I took a major part in it. It is a good thing. It is a happy moment for me.”

How did Lateef prepare for the role? And how did he cope with  the injury he sustained? “Preparing for the role was a lot of work When I picked up the script I saw that it was going to be a warrior film and I know that I don’t look like a warrior. I am just so lean. I realised that to  bring out this role and reading the Character Bible of the role, and what it entails, I knew that I had to build muscles, and built the inner strength to be able to achieve the role, and rehearsals and everything. I realised that this inner strength must be there for you.”

“At that time, when  it was getting close, I had to leave the country at some point to go and train. I was in the UK training for like a month and I had to come back and join them at the training ground. I still trained for about 15 days before the real job had to start. During the training it was tasking. It was fun. And at the same time. I had to request for a masseur at some point because I was having body pains every now and then. So, I had to keep a masseur so that each time I was in pains they can massage my body and be set to go again because rehearsals was constant in the morning and in the evening. It was like 5 hours in the morning and 4 hours in the evening. It was a  lot of work. I didn’t sustain no injury during the training and all.”

“But it was in the first day of shoot and it was in the 1st action that I broke my leg. I cried. It was really painful. But because from the onset I had prepared myself, and my mind that to the fact that no matter what happens, no matter what it takes you will give your all to this job, you will give you all to this role. So, despite the injuries, despite the pains, the cries, I had to just go on about the promise I made to myself before.  The success is worth it and it came out really fine and well. Thank God.”

Let’s tell you more about Jagun Jagun movie. It  is a distinct movie that has been  efficiently handled. The movie packed a sterling Cast, a captivating Story, and all the Action and Special effects you always wanted to see. Femi Adebayo surpasses Agesinkole in every ramification.

No Nollywood movie has portrayed such realistic violent action before.

The film tells the story of a blood thirsty warlord, Ogundiji, played by Femi Adebayo, who feels threatened  by a young warrior (Lateef Adedimeji) whose only desires are the basics of life; power and the love of a woman. Right from the very first scene, Jagun Jagun will get you hooked and give you goosebumps; the fight scenes, the stunts, the bloodshed, emotions, slow-mo effects, subtle love stories, and sweat all looked real and firmly kept me on the edge of my seat all through. It felt like one was watching the Woman King and Agesinkole all together. Amazingly, despite the crowd and star-studded cast, everyone was given an opportunity to shine; every single character fit their roles perfectly. The absolutely perfect soundtrack and background music is topnotch, and the best part was the ‘Agemo’ twist one didn’t see coming towards the end..

The major message it preached towards the end of the movie is to all Nigerian viewers, especially youths, to stop allowing these power-hungry politicians to use them for their dirty work, while they keep their children safe!!! Also worthy of appraisal are the props, settings, Make up,  and costumes, all brilliantly and perfectly done … The costumes and props were lit.

The movie featured A-list actors like Adebayo Salami, Yinka Quadri, Dele Odule, Ibrahim Chatta, Odunlade Adekola, Faithia Balogun, Liz dasilva, Muyiwa Ademola, Lateef Adedimeji, Biodun Okeowo, Bimpe Oyebade, Tope Adebayo, Ibrahim Yekini Itele and many others including Peju Ogunmola, a silver screen legend.