How I Felt About People Hating ‘Nneka the Pretty Serpent’ - Idia Aisien

'Nneka The Pretty Serpent' is a classic Nollywood movie that in 2020 got a modern Nollywood remake starring first time actress Idia Aisien in the role of Nneka. The movie was met with a lot of criticism when even just the trailer was released. People bashed the choice of actress picked for Nneka, people bashed the way her Igbo sounded, and upon the movie's release in cinemas, and on Netflix, the reviews about the movie were very unfavorable.

As an actress who put her whole blood, sweat, and tears into playing the character, this kind of feedback could not have been easy, and now during a new interview with Chude, actress Idia Aisien is telling us how she actually felt about the very strong reactions that 'Nneka The Pretty Serpent' received. Here is what Idia Aisien had to say about the whole thing.

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Speaking about the very strong and negative reactions to her performance in 'Nneka the Pretty Serpent', Idia Aisien said:

IDIA AISIEN: Initially, I mean of course when it first came out in cinemas, I will be really honest with you because me I don't lie. When it first came out in cinemas, I was a little bit heartbroken by some of the comments that people were leaving about me not being light skinned, about me not being Igbo, about me destroying something that really meant something to a lot of Nigerians. Nigerians love their veteran actors, they love their Nollywood classics. So it was something that I just wished people could see how much not just work, but passion went into it at the time.

But with the international market, the kind of feedback we are getting. I am getting messages from the Phillippines. I'm getting messages from French Gayana, from Dominican Republic, from Trinidad and Tobago, from Costa Rica, and I'm thinking wait what? We are having calls from people in LA, and I'm now at a point where I'm like okay so Nigerians are giving me positive feedback but I hope this is not coming just because it's undisputed now.

I was hurt at first cuz I was like Nneka is a fictional character, and anybody would have brought something interesting and different to the character. But I don't think that skin color and tribe and any of that should matter. Black Panther was Americans pretending like they were somewhere in Africa. The truth about the Igbo is that I understood what I was saying and I was very passionate about learning the language but whew, it's not the language, it's the intonation. You say something and people are like "Ah! Why did you say it like that?" And you're just like oh crap. So you just want to get it right also for the people who are Igbo so it's not a total letdown. But, I enjoyed myself.

What did you think about what Idia Aisien had to say about her performance in 'Nneka The Pretty Serpent'. Also what did you think about her performance? Let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment either below or on my Jide Okonjo Facebook post.

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