MUTIAT LAWORE 
Presently one of the most sought after actors in the movie industry, Adedimeji Adetona Lateef has evolved over time from featuring in home videos to big screen. Adedimeji who joined the Nigeria’s film industry 15 years ago has featured in over 100 significant films including Ayinla. The Mass Communication graduate in this interview with MUTIAT LAWORE spoke about his career, how playing Ayinla impacted his life, his personality
For you, how did the journey begin?
It started so many years ago, in my JSS 2. Basically, I was trained by Non-Governmental Organisation, ‘Community Life Project (CLP)’ in Isolo, Lagos. In those days, there was limited accessibility to television for grassroots people so there is a need to sensitize people especially the youth about HIV/AIDs, STDs and other diseases.
So, CLP would go to secondary schools to pick the best students and train them to be peer educators through 18 topics so that they can impart the knowledge to their fellow youths. I was lucky to be part of the trainees who passed information to people via dance, music and acting. So, that was how my acting career started and I was with them for seven years. After that, instead of me studying Theatre Arts at the university, I felt it would be a total waste of another four years so I decided to opt for the Mass Communication Department to study Public Relation and Broadcast at Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ogun State. I came out of school and I became a presenter on TV for like five years with Nigezie. So, when my acting became demanding I had to drop my broadcast job for acting.
If not acting, what would you have been?
I always wanted to be a lawyer but I do a lot of silly things and people laugh. So it was when I joined the NGO I found out that acting is my line.
Is it good to say Ayinla was your best movie?
I think Ayinla is. If you look at it, I’ve featured in a lot of amazing movies but Ayinla was on another level entirely, in a way apart from others.
How has playing the role of the legendary Ayinla Omowura impacted your real life as an individual?
The movie, Ayinla, placed me on another level entirely. The story itself teaches me a whole lot. It shows that when you are famous in life, rest assured that things that don’t make sense will confront you. So, you must be prepared on how to attend to issues and learn how to react to every situation that comes your way. If Ayinla had taken caution at the time somebody upset him, he might probably still be alive because when you are popular every dog can choose to bark at you. So, it teaches me that I need to be calm in every situation. It’s not everything that people say to you that you must react to, just overlook it and move on with your life.
Do you think you’ve been stereotyped since you’re always given the same kinds of roles?
Not at all; I’m not a stereotyped actor. At first, it was me playing only romantic roles and crying. At a point in time, I realised that it could get me nailed to a particular role. So, I was like, ‘people have never seen me in a comedy role’ until I played the role of an Igbo man in a movie and people were surprised
Like every other filmmakers, have you also rejected scripts?
Yes, recently I turned down a lot of scripts because I felt they do not convey a good or genuine message. Then what is the essence of doing it? I’ve realised we don’t act in movies for the sake of it. We need to be deliberate and intentional about the message we want to get across to people. Everybody wants to be an actor or a star, but the profession is beyond you just going to be there. You have to merge the talent with the right things so that you can have it well nurtured and well-tuned. Do you think a good storyline is better than fantastic acting or directing? You can have a good storyline but you don’t have a good person to bring that vision to life. So I think all three go hand in hand.
There is a belief that fe-male actors are more successful than male ac- tors; do you agree with that?
I don’t believe in that because it depends on how you plan to live your life. Some people can buy a car today and choose to show it to the world while some may buy four cars and not even post one of them on social media. But a lot of people feel when you post stuff, it gives you hype and brands will come for you. You know, people with different orientations. I might post nothing, it doesn’t mean brands will not come for me, you may post something, it doesn’t mean brands will come for you. I believe everybody is successful in one way or the other, so, it depends on how you portray it to people. I’ve been in the industry for quite some time before my fame finally came. I’ve done movies for 10 days for N1, 000, I played lead roles of 98 scenes for N4, 000 and many others but today I can be paid millions for a consistent film.
Away from movies; how is your wedding preparation going?
Alhamdulillah, its going smoothly and I can only wish for the best knowing that I am being joined by a person I hold dear to my heart.
In the past you debunked getting involved with your soon- to-be-married colleague; why was that so?
For me, I would say, I felt the announcement and confirmation would be made public at the right time and that was all we did on our part even though we have both denied our affairs at one point or the other. We can only seek for prayers so that we can journey well t o – gether not just as colleagues but as husband and wife.
What’s your opinion of the Nigeri- an mov- ie industry?
G o o d impression. In every industry, there will be right and wrong. What is important is where do you want to stand? You wanna go with the wrong or stand with the right? You can go with the wrong and have a lot of crowd following you but what does that teach you? And you can be with right and have limited people with you because negativity trends more than positivity, especially on social media. Many people picked negativity because they want to be noticed by fans, you can be noticed at some point but what happens afterwards? So, always stay on the positive path no matter how long you’ll get to where you are going.
What is your take on the interpretation of roles by Theatre Arts graduate and those tagged amateurs?
Theatre Arts graduates know the rules, they are thespians because it goes beyond mere talent. It is one thing to have a talent and it is another thing to go the extra mile to actually upgrade that talent that it can stand out; so that is what makes a Theatre Arts practitioner to be quite different from somebody that just have the talent and decided to go into it and try to perfect it.
