‘Heaven on my mind is for those who see marriage as business transaction’

After months of working on the production, Nollywood stars Uche Jonmbo and Ini Edo are set to premiere their latest movie project, Heaven On My Mind.

The movie, which is set for cinema release on Friday, December 7, 2018, parades other notable stars including Mercy Aigbe, Ray Emordi, Andrea Chika Chukwu, Femi Adebayo, Adunni Ade, Eric Ogbonna and Yvonne Nwosu.

“Because of the title, a lot of people think it’s a Christian movie, but it’s not; it’s simply a human story. The idea for the movie came from a real life story I heard, which was corroborated from another source and we had to invite someone, who had similar experience. That was how we developed the story and the script. For me, it is more about human stories. I love to make stories I can feel and others can connect with,” Uche Jombo, who also directed the movie, said.

The highly anticipated movie, which began pre-production in late 2017 and finished filming in March 2018, is the first collaboration between the two talented actors as co-producers and will be released under their film companies, Uche Jombo Studios and Minini Empire Productions.

“Actually, we haven’t done any project together, though we’ve been friends for a very long time. But this particular script, I sent it to her to act in it. But when she saw it, she was like, ‘Uche, I’m interested in this script, are you looking for a partner?’ So, the idea to partner actually came from her, which I consider one of the best decision I made; this script has really stressed me more than any job I’ve ever done,” she noted.

The movie tells the story of Ben Peters, who sees marriage as a business transaction and he is hard working at it. His wife, a sexy, goal getter, hardworking and intelligent woman never denies him sex. To him, he has a different idea of what marriage is.

On the choice of Ray Emordi as lead character, the director explained, “this movie is for people that think marriage is a business transaction; a lot of people think that way. We had a little difficulty trying to cast the lead character because he has to be seemly very attractive to different kinds of women. Since he’s the lead and also for it to be believable, we needed someone who is relatively new and good-looking. So, the day Ray came for screen test, we knew that was it.”

According to Jumbo, all major cinemas in the country will be showing the movie to teeming and expectant fans, while the official thriller is already released online.

Uche Jombo ventured into the Nigerian movie industry in 1999 in the movie Visa to hell. She has since gone to make a name for herself as a screenwriter, actor, producer and now a director. She has had her fair share of cinema runs with several collaborations with top filmmakers such as Desmond Elliot, Emem Isong.

On the chances of female filmmakers in Nollywood, the actress said, “It’s not a gender thing; its’ about how serious you are with what you are doing. For me, if you call yourself a filmmaker and opportunity is given to you to make a film, just make the film; that’s all. If you don’t get everything you wanted from that project, which is a process, it means in the next one you will correct it; someone should be able to see your growth as a filmmaker. Luckily, we are in profession that you can learn as you go; you can never stop learning. Take a six or three month’s course; try to do something new. There’s so much you can do to better yourself; there are opportunities online.”

She continued: “Forget about being given a chance, what about you just go take it? Anything you want done, nobody is going to give it to you, go and take it. You are not getting jobs, why not providing jobs for yourself? It’s as simple as that. I feel it’s imperative that Nollywood has given us a lot; we should invest back and nurture the industry. Instead of siting on the sideline and criticising the industry, why not make film? ‘Oh, this is the kind of film I like to watch,’ go and make it,” she said.