Genevieve Nnaji revealed that despite the success of her 2018 film “Lionheart,” which Netflix purchased for a reported $3.8 million, she did not receive the necessary support in Hollywood to pursue further opportunities.
Speaking on a panel at the 2024 Afro-Caribbean Trade and Investment Forum/Afreximbank Annual Meetings, Nnaji, who has benefited from the Creative Africa Nexus (CANEX) program by Afreximbank, discussed how she came to understand that Hollywood viewed her more as a commodity.
“For the first time, I realized I was a commodity. I thought, you know, given what I had done with Lionheart, and all of that, I was going to have an opportunity to do more. Getting there and having the kind of support, that obviously CANEX is bringing on board, but I thought I could find it in Hollywood. That was not quite the case,” she said.
“They wanted what I had but for their benefit. It was all about their story. It was all about how, even if it was our story, I could make it more authentic to their own understanding of whatever Africa is because they did have a lot of literature in their archives.”
“But I am Nollywood. I could have gone to Hollywood a long time if I wanted to. But I had a dream to build an industry in Nigeria that could rival it. That’s because I’ve always believed in that. I have always believed that we were capable of actually owning an industry like that, that told our story for our people. I wanted that. I respect what Hollywood is doing. I respect what Bollywood is doing and I felt like Nollywood had an equal chance at it,” she said.
