By DAUD OLATUNJI

Twenty four years after late Hubert Adedeji Ogunde , a Nigerian actor, playwright, theatre manager, and musician died, his heir has begun moves to resuscitate the legacy he left behind.

The moves, according to one of the children, David Adekunle Ogunde, a film maker, would gulp one million pounds. Adekunle who disclosed how his dad died in 1990 said the late founder of Nollywood clung the Bible on his chest, died with that and was buried with that Bible on his chest.

Ogunde who addressed newsmen at the Ososa estate of the late playwright shortly after two scenes of the movie, snare, were shot within the complex commended his late dad for the equipment he acquired 30 years ago which he said were still up to date.

Ogunde who attended National Film and Television School, Beaconsfield in England and mastered in Avid Editing System and all other editing systems and editing effects, said a global inclined movie titled the “Snare”, was being shot with world class actors and actresses both in Nigeria and overseas.

According to him,”we have a number of people that are involved. We have about four Hollywood actors – Steven Baldwin, Phil Tan who has been involved in over 250 films (he has worked with Mel Gibson on Lethal Weapon, Passion of the Christ, he was a personal trainer for Angelina Jolie), my unit production manager, Randy Thoroughw, is the visual effect supervisor for the movie, Titanic and also Star Ship Troopers.”

“We have Carl Cameron and Branston Cosby (from the illustrious acting family of Bill Cosby). Somebody like Kristina Linda who was trained in Hollywood as actor. We believe that the time has come that we should all merge together, not just by doing African-based films, but also to introduce African culture into the Western world and to blend it together, so that in a way it is easier for them.”

While speaking about the plan of the family to resuscitate the legacy of their late father, Ogunde who spoke in the presence of his brothers and sisters among other dignitaries including Evangelist Ebenezer Obey Fabiyi, said that the project is something that is kind of different from the common.

“I wrote the script for this project and the reason is because in the last moment of my dad, I was a child that was beside his bed in his last moment. And what happened at that last moment was a unique experience that I will never forget in my life because my dad said we should buy him a Bible.

We bought him a Bible and he clung that Bible on his chest and he died with that and he was buried with that Bible on his chest. And we were praying with him and he too was praying until quarter to 5, April 4th when he breathed his last.

“ It was a great way for a man to leave this planet, to call upon his Creator and to prepare the way for where he is going in the world beyond. I will never forget that experience and that inspired me to write a story that has to do with the Bible and that is what this production is about.

“There has been so much talk about what is Ogunde’s children doing, have they been able to do anything, what have they done? You know there is a reality in the life of an eagle.

A time comes when you don’t find the eagle soaring around, the eagle mounts to the highest peak and hides itself, and then he plucks out all the old wings, all the old feathers, there is blood everywhere. At that time, the eagle is in hiding for a long time, he would stay there until new wings grow and when he soars out, then he is very strong. That’s what we have done.

“People think maybe nothing is going to happen there. But what they don’t know is that the eagle is growing new wings and the new wings that we are growing is that, we are not just talking – we thank God for what our father, Chief Hubert Ogunde, has done, somebody told me that he took film production to a height that is hard to reach. Well, I want to say yes and no because from where he left off, we are going to take it over and we are going to take it even to a higher realm. God helping us, we’ve been working very hard.

About the movie, Ogunde said “it’s based on the book of Daniel and part of the Book of Revelation and talks about what in the world is going on. When we look at the world today, people are wondering, even economists are telling us that things would change very soon and we wait and things are still the same.

And sociologists tell us no, it’s just a social circle, things will run back again but things keep getting worse. And we begin to say, are all these things coincidence? No, we believe they are not coincidence because the Bible tells us they are not coincidence and because of that, we decided to write something around that and that is what the movie is about.

“The title is “Snare.” It’s actually based on a couple, particularly one gentleman, an African who is brilliant, who is lured because of the flaw in his character, even though he wants to change the society. He looks at the society as poor and also full of diseases and sicknesses, so he decided that he wanted to change that. But he has a flaw in his character and that flaw is greed, love of money. The company which hired him actually took advantage of that and they drew him into the snare. It’s a very powerful movie, it’s a thriller.

“We believe that the time has come for all to merge together, not just by doing African-based films, but also to introduce African culture into the Western world and to blend it together, so that in a way it is easier for them. So, they will not be seeing it as them and us, they will be seeing it as us together working and that is the purpose of this movie.

I’m so honoured to have people like Evangelist Ebenezer Obey on board; his music band will be playing tonight in a scene that we are going to be filming. You are going to see a bit of movie tricks here. I have Rev. Idowu Animashaun also taking a role in the movie. Also, I have a popularly known minister by the name W.F. Kumuyi, who has also taken a role in the movie as a pastor.

“We have filmed his own role in London already. We believe that the movie is to go to the outside world, from here they begin to know that it’s not only we can make good movies, we can also present a good subject for the world to start thinking about what is going on in the world.

“The project actually started a while ago but I will say that it actually kicked off seriously in 2010. That was when we started gathering all the bits and pieces together. People are already saying this is highly ambitious”, he said.