''Room 027 was a Mistake'' – Collins Onwochei Finally Admits

Room 027 threw the whole of Nollywood into a frenzy when clips of the film emerged online in 2013 for its explicit scenes of sex and nudity. The culprits in the film, Collins Onwochei, Tony Umez and Chinelo Ememchukwu have since defended their roles in the film, saying it was not soft porn.

However, in a new interview with Vanguard, Onwochei has finally come clean with his role in the movie. According to him, he even got punished for making the movie which really is a mistake he will never repeat. Excerpts:

• You’re getting younger by the day……

(Cuts in) That’s because there is peace at home. There are a lot of intrigues and stress in the industry, that’s why you notice that most celebrity marriages break up. So I try to separate my entertainment life from my family life. That doesn’t mean that I indulge myself in immoral affairs in the industry.

When I’m at home, I’m no longer an actor, I’m a husband, I take care of my kids and spend time with
them. My children’s welfare matter more to me than hanging out in clubs spending extravagantly. I’m a domestic person.

• How many kids do you have?

I have a lovely wife and four beautiful kids; three boys and a girl.

• How did your wife react to your role in ‘Room 027’?

Badly, like every woman would. Room 027 was a big experiment for me. A lot of Nigerians have criticized me and understandably so, because we are very protective of our culture and values. Nudity is not part of our culture. It is cheap publicity to sell a movie by doing some sexually explicit scenes. The original idea was to do a story that the whole world can connect with.

I didn’t want to do a movie that has a girl going to the bathroom without her clothes on. It doesn’t make sense. We watch foreign movies and we see how they do these things. We see them making love and nobody frowns at that. If you check statistics, Spartacus was one of the most viewed series that came into Nigeria. Millions of Nigerians viewed Spartacus and nobody complained about the nudity and violence.

I felt I could tell a good story, I didn’t do a pornographic movie or soft porn, I wanted to tell a story with a touch of reality, but it backfired and I won’t do it again. I understand the Nigerian market and besides a lot of people are looking up to me. As a filmmaker and as a creative person, we work within the means of our creativity, but it backfired. It isn’t something I want to do again.

• How did it affect your family?

I won’t say it affected it, but my wife did not like it because we are Christians and she felt I didn’t have to do that kind of story. I was even suspended in the department I work in church. I am active in church, that’s not to say I’m a holy man. I genuinely love God even though I have my weaknesses and might sometimes get carried away by the flow in the industry. I belong to the protocol team in church.

So if I have a budget for Room 027, I won’t do that kind of story again. But again, life is a learning process. As a filmmaker, I look back and say, ‘Room 027 was a mistake, because it didn’t represent my faith which is key. It’s not all about money and fame, but guess what? The devil is crazy! Do you know that in my almost 20 years of being in this industry, I’ve not gotten the kind of attention that Room 027 gave me? But I won’t repeat it again.