In recent times, we have seen a number of veteran actors coming out to question the source of newer actors and actresses’ exuberant lifestyles citing the fact that acting doesn’t pay as much as they flaunt.
First, Bimbo Akintola talked about it, then Ngozi Nwosu did, and now veteran actor Bimbo Manuel is also talking about the same thing on his recent appearance on Your View. Here is what the beloved actor had to say
During the interview, Bimbo Manuel was asked “I have a personal question to ask.
I notice that a lot of these new Nollywood actors have money and I don’t know you to know your finances but you don’t strike me as one of those money, Range Rover types. Is there a reason?” to which Bimbo responded:
BIMBO MANUEL: Number one, I like a humble life. Arealistic life. If I can go to the fish market, and I go by the way, if I can go to the fish market to buy fresh fish for myself, if that is what I want to eat, I feel rich. That’s enough for me.
Then he was asked “With Hollywood actors, they can tell you the sort of fees that they get but with our actors I don’t know. So there, they would say if a Brad Pitt is going to be in your movie, it would be millions of so so dollars. If you know someone else that may be not as popular, this is the range of fees that they get.
Do we have that with you, or it just dependent on every job? And is that better, or is it the one that Hollywood has which is how popular you are, how long you’ve been in the industry that affects how much you get paid?” to which he responded:
BIMBO MANUEL: Um, it’s a mixture of all of those things. The experience you have counts. It suggests to whoever wants to employ you what kind of fee you might command. And it’s also not as if there is a fixed rate. It fluctuates. Your friend can call you, “come and help me with this job,” you don’t have to charge so much. And so you cannot be announcing the fee.
The interviewer picked up from where Bimbo Manuel left off saying “So, I produced at a time and I called one veteran actor, and then he warned me:
I’m just going to help you, don’t go outside announcing you paid me so so and so because that may drop how people pay me” to which Bimbo said:
BIMBO MANUEL: I don’t think we’ve gotten to that level where we can start announcing how much. And how much is it anyway? The question about people riding Range Rover and living in mansions and so on, I think it’s absolutely fake. There is no actor in Nigeria that would say that he can buy or she can buy a Range Rover from acting fees alone.