Actress and Filmmaker Funke Akindele has revealed that her latest film, Behind The Scenes, came from a divine instruction that completely altered her initial production plans.
Speaking at the FilmOne end-of-year exhibitor showcase, the renowned filmmaker explained that she had originally intended to produce the sequel to A Tribe Called Judah and had already begun rehearsals and negotiations when she felt spiritually directed to pursue a different project.
The 38-year-old award-winning producer noted that although she explored four other scripts and potential collaborations, she was repeatedly instructed to put them aside.
According to her, the concept for Behind The Scenes emerged from a single moment of inspiration, which she described as “highly relatable and reflective of real-life experiences.”
“We weren’t supposed to release ‘Behind The Scenes’. I actually wanted to release ‘A Tribe Called Judah 2’. We’d even started rehearsals, negotiations, you know, training. But the Spirit of God kept telling me, ‘No, you will not shoot that film,’” she said.
“We tried, we tried almost four other scripts, lovely scripts, and the Spirit of God said, ‘You are joking’. We even wanted to partner with someone, a fantastic actor and filmmaker, but the Spirit of God said, ‘You’re wasting your time. You will shoot this film.’
“And the idea just came from one scene, and I said, ‘This is relatable’. A lot of people are going through what is happening in this film, what is going to happen, what you’re going to see in this movie.”
‘Behind The Scenes’, which stars Tobi Bakare, Veeiye, Uzor Arukwe, Ini Dima-Okojie, and Ibrahim Chatta, is set to hit cinemas nationwide on December 12.
