Movies
RMD Shares How He Prepared for His Role in Editi Effiong’s “The Black Book”
Nollywood actor Richard Mofe-Damijo, also known as RMD, recently spilled the beans on how he got ready for his forthcoming coming role in Editi Effiong‘s “The Black Book.”
He posted behind-the-scenes pictures from the movie set on Instagram. In his post, he spoke about how he prepped for his role, his connection with the director Editi Effiong, how they met, and all the hard work he put in for his big part in this crime thriller. He wrote,
The Black Book!
What a journey it has been. Not done this for a while but let me give you some background so you can appreciate the film a lot more when it drops.
@nicho0le my daughter, says oh you need to meet my young friend who wants you in his movie. I agreed.
I met @editieffiong at a restaurant. Had lunch and he talked me through his film. I’m interested and I agree to do it. We shake hands and he says, “Baba you’ll need to loose some weight” wait did this young man just call me fat? Deep breath, and I go, “oh sure, if you will pay for it”! He agreed. We shake hands again and he goes “you need to be fitter physically sir. You need to hit the gym minimum 3 times a week for some months before we shoot” I’m looking at this young man and his audacity, about to protest but I look down at me and I knew he was right. I had sort of let go at the time and was precisely 120kg. We shook hands on it and this time I walked out and didn’t hear him say anything else.
Fast forward, I’m training with @uzikwendu with @denolagrey who had been given same matching orders too by Editi.
I confess that it was when I started training that I knew this wasn’t for just the film but my own life. I couldn’t do more than probably 2 or 4 press-ups. Weights? I was a mess.
Slowly but steadily my journey began.Covid had kicked in. I kept hearing of the danger for folks over 50. I was 59. Hmmm, I kept saying to myself it wasn’t going to get me. None of my parents lived to be 60. The whole covid thing was already looking like a universal conspiracy against me and my desire to cross the 60 year mark. I ate healthy. Obeyed Uzi’s instructions like my life depended on it. Came to the gym every appointed day without fail.
Even had a Marine come in for weapons training and fight sequences. Take downs etc. I loved it all.
The weight came off finally and I found the character I was looking for. From single digit press-ups to 40 at a stretch. From doing 10kg dumbbells to 50kg or so. Uzi threw in some boxing too and before long I was ready. I could jump, fight, run, etc.Then the shoot started… story for another day
#NetflixNaija #BlackBook #RMDSaysSo
Ps No fancy photos this series
“The Black Book” also features Denola Grey, Ade Laoye, Sam Dede, Femi Branch, Alex Usifo Omiagbo, Kelechi Udegbe, Ikechukwu Onunaku, Taiwo Ajai-Lycett, and Bimbo Akintola. It’s set to premiere on Netflix later in 2023.
See his post below:
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