His latest film casts American actor and comedian Mike Epps as a self proclaimed African aficionada who knows nothing about his African traditions. For director Alfons Adetuyi (“High Chicago”), Epps, a stand-up performer best known for “The Hangover” and “Meet the Blacks” was the perfect actor to embody that role.
“In a movie like this, you need those comic element that he does naturally. I thought he could have fun playing the uncle and I wanted to see him in an Agbada. He looks great in it and he really loved it and he loved the whole cultural aspect of it. We had a Nigerian dialect coach, but Mike is such a quick study and really surprised me with the African stuff.”
With superb comic timing and a satirical edge, “Love Jacked” which won the Programmers’ Award-Narrative Feature award at the Pan African Film Festival centers around a headstrong young women
who decides to travel to South Africa for inspiration and returns with a fiancé, much to her father’s chagrin.
“The idea is that the protagonist in this film thinks she is going to fall in love with one particular person, but by the end of the movie, her heart has been hijacked by love,” says Adetuyi, an award-winning producer and director whose credits include episodes of the TV medical drama “Jozi-H” and “Survivors.”
“Love Jacked” stars Amber Stevens-West, Shamier Anderson, Lyriq Bent, Marla Gibbs, Demetrius Grosse and Keith David who plays the movie’s matriarch.
“I needed Keith to get away with the African nuances as he does make fun of Africans,” adds the Afro-Canadian director whose father is Yoruba. “People will understand that even though he makes fun of Africans in the film, he is just trying to protect his daughters and has an overbearing love.”
The film also marked the opening night movie at the annual Pan African Film festival (PAFF).
The Pan African Film & Arts Festival is directed by Hollywood veterans Danny Glover (The Color Purple, Proud Mary), Ja’Net DuBois (Good Times) and Ayuko Babu (Executive Director). Now in its 26th year, it’s the largest black film festival in the US and showcases new films from over 40 countries within five continents and in 26 languages.
Photos courtesy of Inner City Films & Royalty Image
