By Olamide Jasanya
Blunt and intensely controversial Nollywood producer and director, Charles Novia has waded in on the long-standing argument over which actress is better between Omotola Jalade Ekeinde and Genevieve Nnaji.
Congratulating Ekeinde, Joke Silva and Kenneth Nnebue for the national honours bestowed on them just yesterday, Novia wrote a detailed opinion piece on why he thinks Omotola is better on his facebook page.
He wrote: ‘Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde is known to many. Her acting prowess is arguably in a class by itself and her being nominated as one of the world’s 100 most influential persons by TIME magazine a couple of years back must have paved the way for her present national recognition by the Federal Government. Frankly speaking, I personally think she has more depth in acting than her ‘rival’ Genevieve Nnaji.‘
This conclusion, he said, was formed by his work relationship with both actresses.
‘I have worked with both of them in the past and also studied their acting styles. Omotola has the gift of role immersion. She gives everything into her characters. There is an organic style of interpretation she is gifted with. Very few actors have that. She is not a method actor, mind you, but she has delivered roles which many method actors would give her a standing ovation for,’ he said.
He went on to describe Genevieve as a fantastic but artistically lazy actress
‘Genevieve Nnaji, on the other hand, is a fantastic actress and a trend-setting one too, who was first honoured by Mr President a couple of years ago. But she lacks the intrinsic ability to evolve artistically beyond her present heights in her career. That is my opinion. There is an underlying stereotype in her interpretation of her roles in many of her movies; a linear aloofness and veiled disdain at the thought of being pushed further down the exploratory lane. Of course she has an uncanny screen presence, which generally veils her artistic shortcomings when it comes to acting, and between her and her rivals, she comes tops on the fan base list. However, with an attitude which seems to say she has nothing more to prove, even the fans would become restless if new artistic exploits are not offered from her to which they can beat their chests.’
