Nollywood filmmaker Biodun Stephen has said film producers should not be blamed for marital issues involving actors simply because a movie features kissing or intimate scenes.
Speaking during a recent podcast, Stephen explained that actors knowingly choose the profession and understand what certain roles may require. She added that their spouses are also expected to be aware of the nature of the industry.
The filmmaker noted that although she does not deliberately include kissing scenes in her movies, she is open to using them when they are necessary to make a story and the relationship between characters more believable.
She also revealed that some actors decline intimate scenes for personal reasons, a decision she respects by adjusting the script or filming the scene differently. However, she said actors who are comfortable with such scenes also deserve the freedom to make that choice.
Stephen maintained that a producer’s duty is to ensure actors are protected and treated professionally on set, not to manage or preserve their marriages.
She said:
“I think one of the things we are selling as actors on screen is believability. You’re selling an emotion, you’re selling chemistry, you want people to believe in this love. That can be achieved without intense kissing, and it can be done also with intense kissing.
When you now begin to say things like, ‘the marriage, the home,’ I think that responsibility is on the actor who has chosen this profession, and also on the spouse of that actor.
That responsibility is not my responsibility. My job as a producer/director is to protect the actor.My job is not to salvage the marriage of the actor.”
