Nigeria’s Award-winning director cum actor Kunle Afolayan has cast Ghana’s bubbly actress Lydia Forson for his upcoming movie titled ‘Phone Swap’.
This will be Lydia’s second job in Nigeria after her first in February this year. The actress just returned from Kenya a couple of weeks ago after a two-week intensive training to equip selected filmmakers across the African continent by Deutsche Welle (WE) Academy, a subsidiary of DW TV. This was geared towards producing an international standard film which was would be circulated in all film festivals across the world.
She is set to travel to Nigeria for Kunle’s Phone Swap’ which is being described as a big project.
Kunle Afolayan is best known for his work ‘The Figurine’, which grabbed 5 awards at the African Movie Academy Awards in Bayelsa State 2 years ago, after getting 10 nominations.
The five major prizes at AMAA included Best Film from Nigeria; the Best Picture, AMAA Achievement in Visual Effects; and Best Film in Cinematography. The movie also produced of the best actor of the year, Ramsey Nouah.
Kunle worked in the bank for a couple of years and resigned in 2005, after which he went to New York Film Academy in London to study Digital Filmmaking. After he featured in ‘Saworo-Ide’ and ‘Agogo Ewo’, as an actor and going to study Digital Filmmaking at the New York Film Academy, Kunle decided to do his own thing. His first work was ‘Irapada’, and that caused a lot of stir in Nollywood.
He is a professional and his decision to pick Lydia Forson for his next job is being recommended as a good move.
News-one is yet to confirm if there are other Ghanaians on the new project. Rumours from Nollywood say ‘Phone Swap’ is a romantic comedy penned by Kemi Adesoye who also wrote ‘Figurine’. Kunle’s casting team presented the names of Desmond Elliot, Saheed Balogun, Joseph Benjamin, and Jim Iyke. However, it is the director’s job to make the final decision.
Afolayan is said to be searching for a serious minded actor willing to create a memorable character. He has apparently approached several big names to play other juicy roles in the film. Lydia, News-One gathered, is playing a supporting role.