The Director for the Movie, HER, Blast At Actors.

ByFayia Foray

Jun 13, 2022

So many actors have been destroying dreams and film projects have been in Sierra Leone because they accept the script only to turn down the project, never show up on the set or call the director or producer to inform them that they would not be going ahead with the project. It is a menace that is killing the industry.

One of Sierra Leone’s most popular movie directors, Malvin Sylvester Kanteh aka Success, on the 10th of June 2022 posted on his Facebook page mentioning a similar situation; alleging that some actors disappointed him by turning down his project. We reached out and interviewed him via WhatsApp.

*Mucktarr Tijan Cole aka T.J. Cole or Mega Don*

imageSALONE’s Interview with Dir Success

ImageSALONE: You posted on Facebook about some disappointment you have gotten from actors who turned your offer down to shoot for them on your current project, HER. Why did these actors refuse to act for you after they had already accepted to act? Who are some of these actors, please?

Malvin Sylvester Kanteh aka Dir. Success

Malvin Sylvester Kanteh aka Director Success:

‘’I really do not know their reasons or reason. But most of what I can tell you is that of TJ Cole. Because the other few are not named actors. Mrs Rawdon, Mrs Bangura, Mr Alie. They are just famed names in the industry from the other side. And they do not take money from us. TJ Cole is someone I respect so very much. I have been involving him in whatever moves I want to do.

I gave him the honour of script supervisor as part of the crew. And cast him. He attended all our meetings on contract signing and the like. I was surprised when my producer told me that he can’t make it as the script supervisor on set. He never reached out to me but it was cool.

We came to the city and messaged all actors rolling in the city to keep them alert for our shoot. I was surprised again that he did not show up for his day of being on set. He sent me a message that he is disappointed that we must call him today for tomorrow. I was shocked because he was part of the discussion as a crew when we said we are shooting rapid from 1st to 14th June.

On the day of his shoot, he said his son was very, very, sick and he is at the hospital. But he faithfully promised to be available on Friday the next day. After talking with him, I went to the Atlantic hotel for a location, and I bumped into many actors on the SCUFFLE set preparing to shoot. I saw him there and he was like hiding from me. I left immediately not to embarrass myself.

He straight up sent a message to my producer begging him that he is sorry. The next day on Friday all characters were on set waiting for him. We all called him and he did not pick up. He sent us a message by 3 pm that his son is still very sick and he is at the hospital.

I went on the set of Frank Rajah of SCUFFLE and I met him there again. That gave me a reason to change him immediately. I hired another actor. On Saturday he made himself available but I never needed him again. So I asked for my money.

The next day after my post on Fb he sent me a message to go and collect my money. And I did. I am ok. The only thing is I have made myself and my team out of all guilds relating to movies in SL. We are independent filmmakers. On this set, I have known that I should make my own circle now. A lot happened and we suffered from it because foreigners were involved in the scuffle set. From locations and many.’’

Behind the Scene still Photos of ”HER.”

Our Comment:

According to Success, T. J. Cole has returned the money he took for the project. Success said that, T. J. Cole made a statement that, THE SCUFFLE project has more chances of making him popular than HER. But to us it’s still an allegation and we’ll definitely reach out to him to hear his own part of the story. Meanwhile, this kind of attitude will derail a lot of projects and course a lot of fracas within the industry.