Physics, fearless acting, and stepping out of comfort zones—Precious Adjoa Madu opens up about taking on her boldest role yet in ‘Sextortion’. Adjoa Madu visited Discovery House recently to record an episode of Centre Stage podcast, and Afro Nova Radio’s David Asante caught up with her. From navigating emotional chaos on set to redefining her versatility as an actress, she tells the world what it really takes to challenge yourself and the audience’s expectations.
Precious Adjoa Madu: Okay, so good evening. Good evening. You are speaking to Precious Adjoa Madu.
David Asante: Hello Adjoa. When you first read the script for ‘Sextortion’, what line did you read that made you feel that, I want to really play this role?
PAM: I wouldn’t say it was a line. I would say it was the whole script. It was challenging to me. You know, the sexual part of the whole thing hasn’t been a place where I have played a character in. So, it was like I’m challenging myself, and I love challenges, yeah.
DA: Okay. Your background in physics: ‘Sextortion’ throws you into a different, messy character, emotional chaos.
PAM: Oh, it does. It does. You see, there’s physics in everyone’s day-to-day activities. There’s physics in cinema, because the cameraman needs to know the angle he’s shooting from. He needs to know the frame. The lighting person needs to know where their light is facing and how it’s falling on your face and all that. And those are physics. Those are big-time aspects of physics. So, it’s intertwined. But acting has always been something I knew I could do. I didn’t go to school for it. I had to just make up my mind: ‘Precious, you can do this!’. And I decided to try it. And I was good. And I decided, ‘okay, I’ll take this up alongside my school then’.
DA: Okay. Was there a scene that pushed you out of your comfort zone that you had to create a whole new version of yourself to get through?
PAM: Oh, Yes. Yes. As I said, I haven’t really been “in there”, you know, that kind of sexual scenes I haven’t been in those types of scenes before, so it was a lot of talking with the director and executive producer. It was a lot of, you know, back-and-forth. Yeah – it wasn’t easy shooting those scenes. However, it was a bit of a challenge to me, and as I said, I love a challenge, so I had to adjust a little. Because it’s not my everyday lifestyle, I had to adjust a little to be able to play the role and play it well.
DA: How difficult was the adjustment?
PAM: It wasn’t too difficult, but at the same time it was. My first time playing such a role – and I’m not only just playing it, I was playing it in the face of somebody I have, you know, looked up to working with before Louis Lamis of Kejetia vrs Makola and he’s looking at me play this role, and I’m playing it as well in front of my father, so I’m just yeah….
DA: Your father?
DAM: Yeah. My dad. So, it took me a little adjusting, a little research, a little putting myself in the mood, being able to fake it and fake it well for you not to see that I’m faking it. So, yeah, it took a little of adjustment for me.
DA: Who is your father, by the way?
DAM: I knew you were going to ask me that. He is an actor, actually. And of course, he probably wasn’t comfortable. However, he knows it is acting, and he knows it’s not my real self. My real self is straight. And I like to tell anybody who cares to know I am straight. I don’t judge those who are not, though. I’m an actor. He’s also played, you know, some roles that I’m not proud of.
DA: Okay, to my next question: what kind of conversation do you hope your performance sparks after watching ‘Sextortion’?
DAM: I want the audience to see me as a versatile actress, and that has been the narrative I’ve been pushing for a while now. I want to be seen as an actress that can play any role and can play any role well. I don’t want to be typecast in a particular role for a long time. I realized for a while I was playing a particular role on stage and in films, so I wanted to switch a little. So, when this character came up, I was very ready to get at it. So yeah, I want them to see me as a versatile actress. Don’t judge me based on what you see in the movie because this is not my real self. If you want to know me well, you should talk to me; you should understand the type of person I am before you even judge me.
DA: Okay, now, for my final question: if you could go inside ‘Sextortion’ and warn your character Adobea to change, maybe to change something about how she ended up, what would you tell her?
DAM: I would say, Adobea. Adobea. Adobea. Stay away from Jannifa. If you see Jannifa passing left, make sure you never pass left ever in your life. Yeah, I’ll just try to separate Jannifa and Adobea. They should never meet, because it’s their meetup that caused a whole lot of scandal and all that. Just don’t meet each other.
1 comment
Good story👍