How It Was Shooting ‘Gangs of Lagos’ And Crying – Adesua Etomi

Adesua Etomi-Wellington, a renowned Nigerian actress, is the lead in the highly-anticipated Nollywood Prime Video release, Gangs of Lagos, which has been generating buzz for the past two years. The movie is now finally available, and in support of the film, Adesua made an appearance on TVC to discuss her experience working on the project. During the interview, Adesua shared that she took on the role when she was 5 months postpartum and provided insights into why she chose to accept the part, what excites her about it, and how she was able to balance breastfeeding while filming. Adesua’s comments highlight the dedication and hard work that actors put into their craft and their ability to overcome challenges while bringing their characters to life on screen.

Speaking about why she chose to do ‘Gangs of Lagos’, how it was working with director Jade Osiberu, and how it was shooting, Adesua said:

ADESUA ETOMI-WELLINGTON: I’ve always had a physical side of me but I haven’t really explored it in film which is one of the reasons I was really excited about Gangs of Lagos. And that I was playing a female character that’s so strong. I’ve said it in multiple interviews that representation matters and you know films have the potential to shape minds. And I love that little girls are watching it and thinking “oh I can be a strong leader some day”, maybe not a gang member o, but just seeing strong women on screen. I’m really really happy for everyone to see the film on Prime Video so go and watch it.

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I worked with Jade Osiberu prior on Sugar Rush and on Gidi Up. I worked with her on Gidi Up about ten years ago and it was when we were shooting that season of Gidi Up that she got the idea. Because she was shooting on a rooftop in Isale Eko and she was looking out a window and saw a family and wondered what life for those people would be. So Gangs of Lagos is actually 10 years in the making. She had that idea about 10 years ago.

One of my favorite things about Jade is that she approaches everything she does, filmmaking, with excellence. And that makes you feel confident about being part of any project that she does. So when we got the script and they sent me the script, I was actually 5 months postpartum at the time. I’d just had the baby and there was a lot of physical work. I had to stop in between to go and express milk in between shots. I’m so thankful for the production team because they were so giving, and when I needed the time, they would be like “okay cut, give us 5 minutes”, I’d run, go express the milk, send it home. Like it was a whole thing but we were a family and I’m just so excited for people to see the movie because it really was a labor of love for everybody that was a part of the project. From the cast to the crew.

There is one major fighting sequence that is so incredible and took so much out of us. It was shot over a period of I think 3-4 days because we had to keep going back because we shot it in Isale-Eko for real and sometimes when we wanted to go back, there were actual fights happening in those places and we’d have to come back. So it was really straining and you have to keep yourself in that same emotion. During one of those sequences, we were filming and I had to express milk but we were right in the thick of it. Then somebody mistakenly punched me in the chest. As a woman, if you’ve had a child and you know that you need to express, and you get punched. Yo, see! You had to keep going. Everybody on that set was on it. We just wanted to bring this film and this vision to life!