Nollywood star, Genevieve Nnaji has revealed that she could have moved to Hollywood a long time ago if she so desired.
The 45-year-old actress said she chose not to leave Nollywood because her dream was to build a movie industry in Nigeria that could rival Hollywood.
Genevieve stated this while speaking as a panellist at the 2024 Afro-Caribbean Trade and Investment Forum/Afreximbank Annual Meetings.
According to the screen diva, she respects Bollywood and believed that the Nigerian film industry can replicate what they are doing and compete.
She said; “I am Nollywood. I could have gone to Hollywood a long time if I wanted to. But I had a dream to build an industry in Nigeria that could rival it. That’s because I’ve always believed in that.
I have always believed that we were capable of actually owning an industry like that, that told our story for our people. I wanted that. I respect what Hollywood is doing. I respect what Bollywood is doing and I felt like Nollywood had an equal chance at it”.
The seasoned actress also opened up on facing a harsh reality about Hollywood which went contrary to what she expected.
Genevieve said the American-domiciled movie industry made her realise that she was just a commodity following the success of her 2018 movie, Lionheart which was purchased by Netflix for a reported $3.8 million.
In her words; “For the first time, I realised I was a commodity. I thought, you know, given what I had done with Lionheart, and all of that, I was going to have an opportunity to do more. Getting there and having the kind of support, that obviously CANEX is bringing on board, but I thought I could find it in Hollywood. That was not quite the case.
“They wanted what I had but for their benefit. It was all about their story. It was all about how, even if it was our story, I could make it more authentic to their own understanding of whatever Africa is because they did have a lot of literature in their archives”.
