In film, to type cast is to assign (an actor or actress) repeatedly to the same type of role, as a result of the appropriateness of their appearance or previous success in such roles.
The primitive notion that has unapologetically been adopted by Nigerians, mostly in the movie industry is “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Most of us don’t believe in improving anything, as far as it still works.
What’s exactly is stopping Nkem Owoh from playing a honest to God doctor in his next film rather than a perverted, foul mouthed village choir master. Quite similarly, it has become a running social media joke that whenever Kanayo O. Kanayo is featured in a film trailer or poster, you can automatically deduce that someone’s ass is going to be used for blood money at some point in the movie.
The same goes for! Okafor who is probably the most type cast Nollywood actor of all time. John Okafor has been played the same role in 30 or more films. The village idiot or the fool at 40. No, he literally stars in a film called ” Fool at 40″.
In the western scene, Edward Norton dropped out of playing the hulk after just one film. This was because realized that he’ll have to sign up to play the Bruce Banner in subsequent movies. He wasn’t in for it, as a matter of fact, he wanted the expand his acting range, he certainly didn’t want to be associated with the same role for the rest of his life. When the young Kevin Hart started starring in films, he was always this loud mouthed, fast talking character who relied heavily on slapstick comedy.
It eventually got tiring when he started to repeat the same formula in every single film he appears in. If you’re a Nollywood comedy actor, why not audition for more serious roles? Jim Carrey is yet another Hollywood actor that was treading a dangerous waters in his early days as am actor.
He passed through a series of different versions of what was basically the same character in some memorable comedies (Dumb & Dumberer, The Mask, Ace Ventura) before he finally starred in the drama Truman show(1998) proving his versatility.
When it comes to Nollywood , its not about the art of filmmaking anymore, its just to make the cash and dash. Film makers need to encourage actors to try out other genres of movies. In Hollywood, actors who are just starting out their careers, suffer from this Ill faith because they’ll take anything throw at their faces.