Use new talents for movies —Root tells GH producers

BUDDING actress Root Oti is entreating movie producers to spread their tentacles to cover new talents for roles instead of subjecting Ghanaian movie audience to particular faces and names all the time.

While lack of confidence in new talents to deliver and interpret roles may be the reason new actors are hardly used, Root, who shot to fame in 2017 as the lead role in TV3’s drama series, Sadia, believes that has certainly not spelt well for the Ghanaian movie sector in a competitive era.

This is because in other places such as Nigeria, new faces pop up on their silver screens most times, adding some freshness to productions which among others contribute in making the sector a vibrant one.

“Ghana abounds with many talented actors who can play any role but unfortunately, it appears the system has allowed just a few to be at the centre of affairs. There is a pool of talents out there and movie producers and production companies should fully explore them.

“I perfectly understand that producers want popular faces and names for easy marketing and promotion of their works, but how does one get popular or win public admiration when he/she doesn’t get the chance to show his/her worth?” she asked.

While at it, Root, who is also a project manager practitioner, implored movie producers to hire professional actors and not hype “social media actresses”.

“I understand that social media is a place for recognition but there are so many people there, especially some of the ladies who have zero talent but have high numbers and they seem to appeal to movie producers.

“Their large following appears to help in marketing and promotions on social media. This, however, results in breeding poor actors in the system, which goes a long way to affect the quality of our movies,” she said.

Root, who has featured in a number of TV series, including Salon and Psychopathic Entity, praised the contributions of Akwaaba Magic in giving a new facelift to the Ghanaian movie scene. It is bringing back hope to the sector which has been on a sharp decline in recent years.

She mentioned that through local productions such as To Have & To Hold, Tanko Villa, High Currency, Dirty Laundry among others shown on Akwaaba Magic, new talents have been unearthed, boosting their confidence.

“Akwaaba Magic should really be commended for the good work. I starred in Dirty Laundry and the opportunity is a big one for me. I know that many other productions of theirs have similarly empowered young talents to boldly take up challenging roles and I’m happy about the change,” she said.

Real name Ruth Oti Yeboah, Root came into the limelight when she featured in award-winning television series Sadia alongside popular names such as Fred Amugi, Kalsoume Sinare and Akumaa Mama Zimbi.

The graduate of Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) earned a nomination in Best Lead Actress at the 2018 Ghana Movie Awards.

Even though Root is yet to land a role in a movie, she has done well for herself with features in drama series such as Salon, Psychopathic Entity, Sadia, House of Imoja, Solution and Dirty Laundry.

She told Graphic Showbiz she was excited to be a model for change through her roles.

“I’m happy to be an illustrator, model or tool to promote positivity in the society. I can be everything and anything in a movie but I don’t want people to expect too much from me and also to typecast me because that’s what happened with Sadia,” she said.