Nollywood Veteran Actor Jibola Dabo Regrets His Gay Role in 'Dirty Secret' Movie

Veteran actor Jibola Dabo recently had an interview with Ademola Olonilua from Punch Newspaper Nigeria. During his interview, they discussed one of his most popular movies: Dirty Secret. It was released in 2010.

Jibola Dabo

Photo from Dirty Secret

“Which movie would you say has been your most challenging?

I hate to advertise for any movie and I believe every movie I have been a part of has been challenging in several ways. However, the movie that I had to put extra effort is also the movie I hate the most, ‘Dirty Secrets.’ I played a role that is totally different from who I am in reality. I hate the character I played and for me to do it well, I had to become the character. I had to hate myself while doing so. It was bad. After the movie, I had to keep telling myself that the character I portrayed was not who I am.

Have you watched the movie?

I don’t want to see it. I have been asked if I could play such a role again and I told them ‘yes’ but only if I have access to the post-production stage. There are some things that should have been edited in the movie that were not removed. There are some things an actor would do to make his acting real that should be edited but they released the movie like that. It was so raw and it was terrible for them to put everything out there.”

Who watched Dirty Secret???  I know I did! That was one kind movie I can’t even tell you the head or tail about. Walaahi! The way everything played out was a little sickening, weird and just confusing. I understand that there are porn and explicit movies, but I don’t know what to call Dirty Secret. I found it to be a bit comical because the story line didn’t add up and was accompanied by awkwardly distracting sexual scenes. Such movies in Nigeria are frowned upon and not taken seriously. Jibola Dabo, Tonto Dikeh and the late Muna Obiekwe were the first Nigerian actors to play such ‘intense’ roles in Nollywood. Till today, whenever I see Jibola, I associate him with the character he portrayed in the movie because of the impact it had in society.

It’s funny that he said he hated the bisexual character he played, but would do it over again if he was part of the post production. What does that mean? Is he trying to say that he didn’t fully read the script before accepting such a role? Or, did the director and editor ‘deceive’ him to accept the role and change things last minute? Jibola come on! It sounds as if he is trying to put blame on the crew for doing their job. From everything I saw in Dirty Secret, Jibola knew what role he signed up for and the kind of movie it was meant to be. I don’t know how anyone could have forced a man of his age and status to do what he didn’t want to in front of the cameras. He might not have liked the outcome, but as an actor should accept the role he took.

All in all, that doesn’t take away from Jibola’s acting style. It actually makes him a more versatile actor who is willing to take challenging roles and won’t be looked down upon because of it. I don’t believe that there are a lot of Nigerian male actors at his age that would play that character.

WATCH Dirty Secret here: