Acting was a beautiful mistake for me – Ibrahim Jammal

Ibrahim Jammal is a Nigerian actor and production manager. He is known for his roles in The Delivery Boy, Baba and Green White Green. With a background in Television Production, Jammal began his film career as a production manager, he later added acting and has featured in several films. In this interview with MUTIAT LAWORE, Jammal spoke about his cop role in Showmax Original series ‘Crime and Justice’, his sojourn into acting and how the beautiful mistake that shot him into limelight happened. Excerpts:

To start with, do you believe or have any hope that this show ‘Crime and Justice’ is going to improve the relationship between the Nigerian police and the people, and also help citizens see the police in a new light?

This series is fictional but also, we hope and pray that we get the attention of the Nigerian police. We know where we are as a country, but we want to be better and we are hoping that this is something, and the police will attain the level of international standard. Nobody wants to live in the past, everybody wants to live in the future and that is what Crime and Justice is doing.

Are you worried that crime dramas like this might increase crime rate in the Nigerian society?

Some believe shows like this romanticize the idea of crime. If people watch the news, are they going to end up doing what they see on the news outside? I feel like t his show is more informative. This is more of you seeing what is actually happening around you and realising that since this can actually happen, what can I do to keep myself safe, how do I go to the police station, how do I approach the police, how do I protect the people around me? I think our thoughts should be more positive on seeing these things and find ways to protect the people around us. I think that is why the lead actors are like the heroes of the film. They are humans, and they are the ones protecting the city. Then there are some cases where we end up losing. We win sometimes and then we lose sometimes, that is how life is. While we were shooting some episodes, there were some things that happened really that were in line with what we were shooting in the episode. But I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag till everyone watches.

Was acting always the goal, or was it something you just stumbled on?

Acting was actually not the dream at first, it was a beautiful mistake. I loved being behind the scenes. I had been doing production way behind the scenes more than in front of camera. The camera happened by mistake. But for me, anything worth doing is worth doing well. It happened and I said, if this is the path, then why not, let’s just see how this goes. I put work into it just to make sure that I put my best foot forward and it’s not so bad.

Do you want to share how it was a mistake?

It was a beautiful mistake. I escorted a friend of mine to an audition. They were reading in pairs and when it got to his turn, there was nobody to pair with him and they said, ‘your friend is here, read with him’. When we started, I was asked to switch characters with him. That was confusing though. When we were about leaving, they said, ‘oh, you too, write your name down!’ So, I wrote my name down and we left. I eventually got the role and he didn’t. But I have always been behind the scenes, so I understand the acting process but I have just never done it.

What year was this?

This was 2016. It was ‘Green White Green’. And that was my debut as an actor. Up till date, I am so grateful for the fact that he dragged me there.

What has it been like so far?

I am enjoying it. The best thing about being an actor is that you can be anybody you want to be. You can just live the life of different people. It is all about experiences. This is something like a gift. I am grateful for that opportunity and that is what I mean by beautiful mistake, and I am enjoying my mistake.

Do you have any kind of routine that you undergo as preparation before going on set?

I am very picky and very particular about the projects I work on. I am big on storytelling. Stories for me are the first and most important things. Any other thing, production-wise, follows. Whenever I read a script and I don’t see myself in it, I don’t work towards it. For the rituals, whenever I read something, I envision how the character looks like, how they talk, how they behave. I go back and do my background check, I try to find out their back story, who they are and what they have been through and then I factor that into myself as the person. Most of my rituals are basically research on the character; if you don’t know who this person is, then you cannot be this person.

Are there any similarities between you and the character that you played in Crime and Justice?

One major thing that Danladi has that I also have is, I don’t make rash decisions. I am the kind of person that gets the joke later but getting it later means I have to think about it first. I am the kind of person that will sit down, let the moment marinate before I make a decision. Danladi is basically that person, he would never just say something, he would have to get all the details, facts and information before he answers. And he has this thing where his instincts tell him to stop when he is doing something wrong or going somewhere wrong. I think we have that in common.

Did you have to draw from any experiences of watching foreign cop-dramas to play your role perfectly?

I do enjoy crime dramas, t h e f a c t that you can’t really tell who did something till the end of a story is so interesting and intriguing for me, so I have always been that guy. I watch a lot of crime dramas; it is like I have actually binged on all of them. Life is all about experiences obviously and that is what makes you into a person. So you never know what you are drawing from but it’s from what you have watched and stories you have heard. The funny thing about Crime and Justice is that these stories are from life experiences, they have happened. It is fictional but it’s real with things that have occurred with a bit of storytelling to make it more interesting for people to relate with.

Your co-star, Folu Storms, is a very beautiful woman. Is there a possibility that the both of you will end up together, both off and on camera?

There are six episodes, it might happen on or not screen, but I will tell you one thing, we are very professional people. We take our job really seriously. But for your question of whether we are going to get together, you will see it in the next five episodes.

Did you have body-double on set to help you for believability?

We had everything that we needed on set. We had the option of using body-doubles. We also had stunt masters and all what not. We are able men and women; we wanted to do all our stunts ourselves. It was very exciting; if you can do it, why not try? So, we did all our stunts ourselves. We had the option, but we didn’t dance to that tune. Any stunt you’re going to see from episode one to six, we pulled it off ourselves.