I could’ve left Nollywood for Hollywood if I wanted to – Genevieve

Nollywood star and legend, Genevieve Nnaji has revealed that she could have joined Hollywood a long time ago if she wanted to.

According to the movie diva, she didn’t want to abandon the Nollywood industry for Hollywood ad it had always been her dream to build the Nigerian industry that would rival that of the latter.

The 45 years old Genevieve stated this while speaking as a panellist at the 2024 Afro-Caribbean Trade and Investment Forum/Afreximbank Annual Meetings.

The talented actress said she respects Bollywood and believed that the Nigerian film industry can replicate what they are doing and compete.

She said; “I am Nollywood. I could have gone to Hollywood a long time if I wanted to. But I had a dream to build an industry in Nigeria that could rival it. That’s because I’ve always believed in that.

I have always believed that we were capable of actually owning an industry like that, that told our story for our people. I wanted that. I respect what Hollywood is doing. I respect what Bollywood is doing and I felt like Nollywood had an equal chance at it”.

She also opened up on facing a harsh reality about Hollywood which went contrary to what she expected.

According to her, the American-domiciled movie industry made her realise that she was just a commodity following the success of her 2018 movie, Lionheart which was purchased by Netflix for a reported $3.8 million.

In her words; “For the first time, I realised I was a commodity. I thought, you know, given what I had done with Lionheart, and all of that, I was going to have an opportunity to do more. Getting there and having the kind of support, that obviously CANEX is bringing on board, but I thought I could find it in Hollywood. That was not quite the case.

“They wanted what I had but for their benefit. It was all about their story. It was all about how, even if it was our story, I could make it more authentic to their own understanding of whatever Africa is because they did have a lot of literature in their archives”.