Nigerian singer and actor, Olurotimi Akinosho, better known as Rotimi, says he was excited to be a part of the new movie, “Coming 2 America,” saying that the movie portrayed Africa in a good light.
Rotimi disclosed this on Sunday during an interview.
Rotimi said: “Being on the project was something legendary. I felt like I was a part of something generational. As a first-generation Nigerian-American, I watched the first part of the movie as early as when I was six years old. I recall that I was then living in a one-bedroom apartment in East Orange, New Jersey, United States of America, with my family.
“Fast forward to 25 years later, and it feels great to be part of something so iconic. When I got on set, it felt like a dream because I was surrounded by many great actors, directors and other crew members. It was just a different experience that any young artist would have been overwhelmed by. I love the fact that we made Africa look like royalty, and that’s what I love the most about the movie, because we don’t do that enough. I think people are starting to understand how beautiful our continent is. The movie is a step forward in the right direction.”
Released in 1988, Coming to America was a brash romantic comedy; a box-office juggernaut for Hollywood comic actor Eddie Murphy. But, despite its contrived plot and fairy-tale schmaltz, it was, in its way, revolutionary.
The Eddie Murphy film Coming to America busted some clichés about the continent. It told the story of Akeem Joffer, the prince of the fictional African nation of Zamunda, as he headed to the US to find a wife and avoid an arranged marriage. In the late 1980s, it was remarkable among mainstream Western films for its depiction of Zamunda: a wealthy African country that was entirely self-reliant, worlds away from the kind of downtrodden stereotypes found elsewhere. Now, as a sequel to the film, Coming 2 America, is released, 33 years on, it is astonishing to consider how little has changed.
In the intervening years, only one other widely-watched US film has depicted an empowered African society in such a manner: Marvel’s Black Panther (2018), which again featured a fictional kingdom, Wakanda.
Murphy was determined to depict Africans as rich, equal to white people and proud of their roots. He assembled a stellar, though wholly African-American, cast around him that included fledging black talents such as Arsenio Hall and Eriq La Salle alongside trailblazers James Earl Jones and John Amos.
The film was so successful that, with a $288 million (£224 million) worldwide gross, it remains one of the most commercially successful movies ever to have a predominantly black cast (a record now held by Black Panther) and is still cherished today by many people of colour for its humour and its empowered characters. It certainly showed that global audiences wanted to see more stories about a different sort of Africa from what they were used to watching on screen.
The actor, Rotimi Akinosho also disclosed that he was open to starring in a Nigerian movie.
He said: “I would love to. It just has to be the right one. I feel we are super talented people, and there is nothing we cannot do. I hope I can (feature in a Nigerian movie) one day and that is the goal.”
On the kind of Nigerian movie he would love to participate in, he said: “I would have to read the script and ‘feel’ it to know if it is something I would want to do. That is how I have done all through my career.
“I am open to receiving scripts from Nigerian directors. It is just one of those things that feel right.
“I don’t want to put any pressure on anyone but I think as long as it makes sense, has depth and substance, I am open to working with anyone. It could even be somebody not known yet.”
Talking about his music career, the singer disclosed that he would soon release an album.
He added: “It is going to be an album filled with great music. I am excited because I have never done a project like this before. It is going to be a bridge between America, the United Kingdom and Africa. I really cannot wait for people to hear it.”
Answering a question on which Nigerian musician he would like to work with, he said, “I would like to work with Banky W because he is my brother. I think he is extremely talented and a good man. We had worked together back in the day and I’ve seen what he has done as well. There are so many Nigerians around the world that are super talented.”