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Your new movie Exceptional
Beings - in a few words, what is it about?
Exceptional
Beings is a fantasy dramatic feature, which follows two gods, Athena and
Hermes, through their existential crisis when they figure out
after four thousands of years of existence, most of everything they
believed they know,is a lie, which makes them question their Godhood. All
this comes about after they encounter Mina, a music teacher, who they can't
understand what she is.
With
religion at the center of Exceptional
Beings, what can you tell us about your research on the subject,
and your personal thoughts on religion? Exceptional
Beings is the prequel to Godhood. The tail of my research for the book,
was rooted in where monotheism over-rode Polytheism
as the major religion which began with Emperor Constantine and the Nicene
Creed. Prior to that, both the movie and book, fed a lot
into the recycled nature of religion, the similarities with the Gods and
the need for us to believe in something greater than ourselves. I
especially loved the recycled nature of the Gods, like Neith becoming
Athena, Athena becoming Minerva and I’m positive there are different
versions of the goddess before, in between and after. (Other) sources
of inspiration when writing Exceptional
Beings? There
was a book called Greeks and Trojans I read it as kid, and that lit my
fire for my love for Greek mythology. Beyond that, African mythology is a
well of untapped mythological stories that I grew up listening to. Despite Exceptional
Beings tackling some heavy themes, it's at times also wickedly
funny - so was the humour in your script from day one or did it sneak in
only gradually? And what can you tell us about your movie's brand of
humour? Oh my goodness, that’s a very interesting question. The humor wasn’t in,
on day one, it probably snuck in after the 20th draft.
I am a fan of serious humor, I personally coined it “Robert De Niro”-humor. When he does comedy, he doesn’t go out of his way to try and be
funny, he brings out the humor in a real ordinary situation, case in point
Meet the Parents, Midnight Run, Silver Lining
Playbook. That’s the kind of humor I try to squeeze into my scripts,
a normal situation, that the humor doesn’t derail the story but keeps
you moving forward.
Exceptional
Beings also features its fair share of special and visual effects
- so do talk about the effects work in your movie for a bit! For
the VFX, we were blessed to have a worldwide network of talented geniuses
from across the world, we had people from Egypt, Thailand, India and the
US. It’s a very detailed process, I have a lot of respect for the work
the on-site and post production crew did and we were blessed with the
final product. A
few words about your directorial approach to your story at hand? My
producing partner Justin Morgan always keeps reminding me to let everyone know we
did this during the pandemic. My directing approach for Exceptional
Beings was first, get as much rehearsals as possible, have everyone comfortable
enough to see how far they can stretch their characters without messing
the storyline. Also with the crew, essentially having an environment in
which everyone can shine and know that they are a part of the final
production. Because the beautiful thing about movie making is you can't do
it alone, every cast and crew is responsible for the final product. What
can you tell us about your co-director Christian Kazadi, and what was your
collaboration like? It’s
awesome working with Christian. This is the second movie, we have worked
on together in. Our first movie together was Creatures of Necessity
in which he directed. It’s a dynamic that works, we feed on each
other’s strengths and make the best we can with that. Do talk about Exceptional
Beings' cast, and why exactly these people? The
cast was super, super, super awesome and incredibly perfect to bring the
characters to life. We had Ciarra Carter, who went way above and beyond with her
character, literally in rain and the heat, she kept the Athena mystique
constant. Dane Oliver and I had worked prior in Creatures of Necessity, the
consummate professional, he did all his stunts, he respected and protected
Hermes in every scene he was in. Rachel Thundat was amazing as Mina, she took
whatever you asked of her and she did it 10 times better, she was flying
and running all over the place, maintaining character and wanting to take
the character even deeper into the role. Then the immortal Eric Roberts,
Victoria Antonelli and the entire supporting cast, we were so blessed with
these giants, and as Justin said, they did this all through the pandemic.
I can’t stop thanking the cast and crew.
A
few words about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere? For
Justin and I it was important to have a positive on-set atmosphere. Once
you lose that then you lose the reason why we do this. I just don’t see
anyone doing movies without loving it, loving the creativity. So I try my
best to have everyone come to work happy, looking forward to creating
something that would exist in time. So I am lucky in the sense that I have
surrounded myself with people that add to the project and not the other
way around. Anything
you can tell us about audience and critical reception of Exceptional
Beings? The
audience review has been so heartwarming, it’s an euphoric feeling to
find people who love what you do and make you feel great about it. The
critical reception has been uplifting and great, I am so fulfilled
by them, on the flipside, not all the critical reception was a great
hoorah. I like to think of my movies,like the type of movies you
can’t walk away from or else you miss a lot, you need to be in it. The
story is the foundation of my movies. Any future projects you'd like to share? Yes.
I’m working on Mind Crawlers. It’s a romantic paranormal fantasy
feature, about to soon go into pre-production. What
got you into filmmaking in the first place, and did you receive any formal
education on the subject? I
have been writing books for over 20 years and I found myself independently
studying filmmaking. So one day, I turned on a show I liked and literally
saw the characters quoting the lines of my written work, word for word. I
started thinking in my head, was it possible I overheard it somewhere and
wrote it down? It essentially messed with my head, and to add to it, I was
selling my books at the Los Angeles bookfair, and a couple looked me in
the eye and told me they buy books so they can take ideas from it for
their TV show. After that, I stopped writing books and started making
movies.
What can you tell us about
your filmwork prior to Exceptional
Beings?
Prior
to Exceptional
Beings, I wrote and produced the dark comedy thriller
Creatures of Necessity. The premise, after 13 days without receiving a
ransom and their identities unveiled, everyone involved with the
kidnapping of Isabella Contini hit their breaking point. It was fun doing
this movie, we had the victim breaking the fourth wall and making fun of
her kidnappers. How would you describe yourself as a
director? I
would have to answer that paraphrasing the great Bruce Lee. I would like
to think of myself like water. As director, I put the movie first and find
myself doing whatever I can, flowing and becoming whoever I have to be to
get the best picture. Filmmakers who inspire you? Christopher
Nolan, Sidney Poitier, Steven Spielberg, Alejandro G. Iñárritu and John
Singleton. Your
favourite movies? There
are so many, this is just a few: Sound of Music, Prestige, City of
God, A
Raisin in the Sun, Seven Samurai, A Separation, The Tragedy of Macbeth and
a lot more. ... and of course, films you really
deplore? Before
I made movies or created art, I would have given names. But with the
amount of work and sacrifice involved in creating art, I don’t deplore
anyone’s creation, instead I have so much respect for anyone who gets
their creation out there.
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Your/your movie's website, social media,
whatever else?
Facebook
page for the feature is https://www.facebook.com/TheExceptionalBeings/
My
Instagram page is https://www.instagram.com/njedeh/
My
website is http://www.njedeh.com/
Anything else you're dying to mention and
I have merely forgotten to ask? You
covered it all, the interview was awesome and thanks so much for
having me. Thanks for the
interview!
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