The Netflix original film Dark October by former Nigerian blogger turned director Dark October was released. The film depicts the true tragedy of the ALUU 4 boys, who were brutally stripped naked and killed after being wrongly accused of robbing a store. As you can guess, the weighty subject matter of the film and the fact that one of the stars of it, Chuks Joseph, walks down the street completely naked made for a difficult scene to film.
Chuks Joseph discusses how he got the job in a recent interview with TVC’s Wake Up Nigeria.
how he feels about the mixed reactions the movie has gotten, and the intense moment of getting stripped and battered in the movie. Here’s what Chuks Joseph said.
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Speaking about how he got the role, Chuks said:
CHUKS JOSEPH: As actors, you’re always looking out for opportunities. You’re trying to get on to the next project. So I just saw an audition notice online: actors were needed for a certain age range. So I applied, got through like three audition processes, and then I got cast for the role. It was actually a crazy one because we were so many. We were plenty people that came for the audition, but at the end of the day, I got cast and it’s like one of the highlights of my entire career because I was not expecting to get cast on the project. When we were auditioning, nobody knew what we were going to film. We were told “yeah, it’s going to be a serious and important story” but nobody knew the level of intensity of the project. So we got on set, we did it, and I’m glad it’s out now.
Speaking about the mixed reactions the movie has gotten, Chuks said:
CHUKS JOSEPH: It’s art. It’s subjective. It’s a true life story, and it’s a very emotional one. So people are allowed to feel anyhow they feel about the story, but one thing that stands out for me is the fact that a lot of people now know about this particular thing that happened. People outside Nigeria. People that are non-Nigerians. My friend actually randomly walked into a salon in the U.S. and people were talking about ‘Dark October’. They had to make the video and record and send to me. So it created more awareness to the story. Yeah, we understand that there are some emotional sentiments around the story, because yeah, these are emotions. You don’t tell people how to feel when certain parts of their emotions are touched. So I understand the reviews and we welcome each and every one of them
Speaking about being stripped and filming those intense parts of the movie, Chuks said:
CHUKS JOSEPH: I think the point where the boys were about to be stripped and when the mob was intensifying with the chant “Kill them, kill them”, at that point, it was no longer acting. I thought I was about to be killed. So every emotion there was real. That was very real emotion. I was scared for my life at that point. I thought I was going to die. So that translated on screen and showed that the emotions were real. It was no longer acting, I was just being the character. It was a lot!
What did you think about what Chuks Joseph said, and what do you think about the movie ‘Dark October’?