Unquestionably, Chidi Mokeme’s performance as Scar in Shanty Town marked a significant career comeback for him. We all got to see Chidi in a way that we had never seen him before, and he ate up that role whole. He was by far the best part of the show. However, Chidi Mokeme later shocked us all once more when he admitted that he smoked about three packets per day to get the voice of Scar for the part. That is very extreme for someone who does not smoke.
In a recent interview with The Punch newspaper, Chidi Mokeme discussed the effects of smoking three packets per day on one’s health.
what his motivation was to play a villain role, and on if he plans on taking any more villain roles in the future. Here is what Chidi Mokeme said.
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“What motivated you to take up the villain role in Shanty Town?”
CHIDI MOKEME: I think for every actor, the basic motivation first and foremost is always the script. So you see a good script and you like it, you feel drawn to it and then you want to do it. So, it was the same thing with Shanty Town. I saw it and I was immediately drawn to it.
“Will there be more of you playing the role of an antagonist in other movies?”
CHIDI MOKEME: Everybody knows that I love to play the villain. I am comfortable being an antagonist. The bad guy has a kind of swag and personality; we have different shades of the bad guy across both sides. Scar was just one. There would be a lot of bad guys, each of them coming with their own personality. I love the bad guy roles, you just need good morals to be a good guy, but I always liked a dirty, bad guy because it takes a lot more from you.
“You had to take packets of cigarettes per day just for the role, why? Did you consider the health implications?”
CHIDI MOKEME: [Laughs!] Sometimes as creative people, we put ourselves in a sort of harms way. We do stunts and so many dangerous things to make the story as believable as possible. For most of the guys on the street, smokers are addicted to forms of stuff and the effects of years and years of consistent smoking have these telltale signs on the eyes, lips and voice. So, what I sort of tried to do for Scar was to give him a crash course, and put him in a comfortable place around all that smoking, all that cigarettes, and just make it look like it was second nature.
Hmm, that one is a very serious harms way to put one’s self in oh. Ha! 3 packets a day, especially for someone that does not smoke, that cannot be good. What do you think about Chidi Mokeme’s decision, and what do you think about what he has to say about it?