The veteran actor is pushing back on talk of a fallout with LilWin over the Ghana-Nigeria production A Journey to Africa (Nzulezu).
Veteran Ghanaian actor Kofi Adjorlolo has said poor health, and nothing else, is the reason he is not part of LilWin's new cross-border film, A Journey to Africa (Nzulezu).
Speaking in an interview with Max TV, Adjorlolo said he was indeed approached to join the cast but had to decline. He explained that he was recovering from an illness at the time, having just returned from Nigeria where he had been working on another production. Adom Online reported his comments.
No quarrel with LilWin
The actor was clear that he told LilWin and the production team about his condition before stepping aside. He dismissed suggestions circulating that his absence pointed to a disagreement between the two men.
Adjorlolo said his relationship with the actor-turned-filmmaker, whose real name is Kwadwo Nkansah, has remained cordial. He noted that he has appeared in several of LilWin's earlier productions and has never previously turned down an invitation to work with him.
In his telling, there is no bad blood to discuss. The decision was medical.
A Ghana-Nigeria cast
A Journey to Africa (Nzulezu) is being built around actors from both Ghana and Nigeria. The Nollywood names attached to the project include Kanayo O. Kanayo, Patience Ozokwor, Mike Ezuruonye, Charles Awurum, Zubby Michael and Destiny Etiko.
LilWin has framed the film as part of a wider push to pull talent from across the African film industry into one production. Nzulezu, for readers unfamiliar with it, is the well-known stilt village built over Lake Tadane in Ghana's Western Region, a site often used as a symbol of Ghanaian heritage.
For Ghanaians in the United States and elsewhere in the diaspora, collaborations of this kind matter because they tend to travel further. Nollywood productions already have wide distribution on streaming platforms abroad, and joint casts give Ghanaian films a better shot at the same audiences.
A call for money, not just talent
Adjorlolo used the same interview to raise a broader concern about the state of filmmaking in Ghana. He argued that the industry is held back less by a shortage of talent than by a shortage of money.
He called for stronger investment in local productions, saying filmmakers need serious financial backing if they are to produce films that can compete and if the industry is to grow in scale and quality.
It is a complaint that has followed Ghana's film sector for years, and one that partly explains why Ghanaian producers increasingly look across the border to Nigeria for co-productions.
No release date for A Journey to Africa (Nzulezu) has been announced.
