Blessing Egbe: Filmmaker talks challenges encountered making "The Women," inspiration, casting

Blessing Egbe has released her latest movie, "The Women."

The film follows the events that occur when a group of women and their partners decide to go on a weekend getaway, and stars Kate Henshaw, Omoni Oboli, Ufuoma Mcdermott, Kalu Ikeagwu, Femi Branch, Anthony Monjaro, Gregory Ojefua and Lilian Afegbai.

In an interview with Pulse Nigeria, Egbe, who is popular for "Lekki Wives," "This Thing Called Marriage" and "Two Brides and a Baby," shares what inspired the movie, her favourite scene and box office expectations.

On what inspired "The Women"

True life events inspired The Women. The story was created from an unfortunate event that happened to an acquaintance but I Spiced it up some more for juicy dramatic effects.

On favourite scene

My favourite scene would be the climax of the movie where the women had a go at each other baring their secrets in the presence of their husbands (laughs). Action time!  The performances in that scene are memorable

On challenges encountered during filming

Two major challenges I faced. The first was during filming of the climax scene where the owners of the location we used became rude and impatient resulting to  us rushing the scene.

The second would be during post-production when I had to find an editor to handle the final cut down and fine tuning I desired  due to the non-availability of the first editor. In the process we had to cut down on the quality from 4k to 2k. But in all of this, I thank God that everything went well and in the end we have a movie we are proud of.

On casting

The decision on the cast was purely based on performance, chemistry and wanting to nail the belief factor. I wanted actors who would look, sound and become the part and in the end , that was what I achieved. Thankfully so.

On what distinguish "The Women" from her other projects

This film distinguishes itself in the approach: More attention was paid to detail. We pushed to achieve better picture, sound and other elements of film making and we believe that we have, going by the few reviews we have had from those who have watched it.

On what her films say about the world we live in

The films I make simply tell stories that are relatable and speak to us as a people in different ways to either better ourselves or restrain from activities that are destructive to us as a people.

 

On Box office expectations

I expect to see numbers rising to crown our effort and encourage us to do better.

"The Women" is currently showing in Nigerian cinemas nationwide.