Ojinika Obiekwe: Behind the Stories -12 Years & Counting | Denzel Suggested I Co-star In a Movie

Ojinika Obiekwe‘s vivacious spirit is evident when she gets in front of the camera. This hardworking and professional journalist, has worked for the past 12 years wearing multiple hats just to get the job needs to be done.  At BellaNaija, while we seek to entertain and educate, we also hope to inspire our readers and show them that there are people who keep striving  to make a difference in their chosen careers. In this vein, we spoke with Oji and shared her story with you.{Click here if you missed it}.

As she looks back on her journey so far, she has chosen to share 12 memorable stories from her career. As she recalls her growth path and the lessons she has learned, she hopes to reach as many people as she forges ahead to an even brighter future.

Read part IV of her chronicles below:

***

It really happened.
Yup, Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg suggested that I co-star in their sequel.
They even had the scene all thought out. It was pretty funny.
And that’s why I picked this interview as one of the pieces for my look-back series

I interviewed the two actors and the other cast members (Paula Patton and Bill Paxton) for the movie “2 Guns”.
It was their first movie together and Denzel’s first comedy. I’ve had a lot of surreal moments and this was surely one of them. In my head, I was thinking “I’m about to talk to frigging Denzel Washington”
Like, really? What are the chances?

I wasn’t nervous or anything. I think excited is a better word…but I totally didn’t show it. I was cool on the outside. On the inside? I was high-fiving myself, doing azonto, skelewu, sekem, and every other dance I pretend to know how to do…even mkpokiti sef.

This isn’t to say that I don’t care about other celebrities I interview. They all evoke different emotions…
One thing I always feel before, during and after these interviews is gratitude.

Gratitude for the way all of this fell into place for me. Not just for good times, but also for the bad times; which we all go through no matter who you are or where you’re from. But like I said, different celebrities bring out different emotions, all of them good (so far)

In the 2 week span I did this interview, I also interviewed Oprah and Jennifer Aniston. All super-exciting and super successful in their own rights. My emotions about this one was extra special. *wink wink*
It’s Denzel Washington for crying out loud.

I remember seeing him for the first time in the movie “Mississippi Masala” and planning our wedding in my head.
For the record, there’s nothing special about my Denzel wedding plans – growing up, I wanted to marry everyone.
And when I say everyone, I mean everyone. Michael Jackson; the dad from “Sound of Music” (if Maria leaves him); Tevin Campbell; pretty much all the James Bond actors (Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan); Richard Gere; it’s a loooong list. I even added Bobby Brown to that list…the “my perogative” Bobby; not the “new edition” one. Ralph Tresvant was my “new edition” boo… It was Ralph, then Ronnie…I told you its a long list…long is an understatement.

I clearly was a troubled child, probably still am, but this is not a therapy session 🙂
So, back to my Denzel interview story.

I interviewed Paula Patton and Bill Paxton first before Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg.
So, I walked into their room and they’re both sitting there, and I’m acting all cool, like I see them everyday.
I say hello sir to them, shake their hands and sit down.

Mark Wahlberg’s assistant or manager was showing him a message on his Blackberry so we didn’t start right away.
That was when Denzel said: “How do you say your full name?”

I gave him my usual shameless line; I said ” It’s Ojinika – people call me Oji for short…pronounced OG as in original gangster”.

I say that to any and everyone…and I get an eye roll from my co-workers everytime I do it…#Haters 🙂
By the way, that made him laugh out loud. And he said, “okay Oji where are you from?” I said Nigeria, born and raised.
He said “really?” and I said yup…and he said:” I hear the entertainment industry there is booming.” I said it really is.

And this part surprised me…he said “especially with the music, what’s it called? Afrobeats?” I was like yeah.
I was soooo impressed that he knew. So all you musicians out there, Mr. Washington is watching and listening…
After our little chit-chat, I did the interview.

And it was because of that conversation that he came up with the idea to shoot the sequel for their movie in Nigeria with me in it.

Ofcourse they were joking.

Even if they weren’t, I don’t think I could do it. I’m not an actress, don’t want to be one and can’t be one, even if I tried.
Acting takes a special set of skills. A special set of skills I know for a fact that I don’t have…at all.
I’m not putting myself down or anything like that.
I’m just honest; especially to myself. I have other things I’m great at and that’s enough for me, so I stay in my lane.
I’ll leave the acting to actors. I’ll stick to being a storyteller…that’s my title 🙂 And I’m totally fine with just that.
Anyways peeps, here’s the interview, hope you like it.
It’s okay if you don’t, but you’re only allowed to dislike one and that’s it.
I’m kidding biko…

You’re free to feel how ever you want, whenever you want about whatever you want.
It’s a free world..

But first, feel free to watch this :