Renowned American-based Ghanaian movie producer Leila Jewel Djansi has shared a disturbing account of how actor-turned-politician John Dumelo narrowly escaped being stabbed on a movie set due to severe negligence.
The filmmaker criticised the Ghanaian film industry, calling it a “mirthless joke” and shedding light on the unprofessionalism she encountered.
Djansi eunted a particularly alarming incident involving a production designer who provided a real knife for a stabbing scene.
Should I talk about the production designer who passed a real knife to an actor for a stabbing scene? My God. If it wasn’t for divine intervention, Vanessa Williams would have stabbed John Dumelo with a real knife that day. How can this not be a prank?
Try an AD telling you he’s going to sleep for a few minutes in the middle of a shoot. Try a crew demanding you stop filming, bring a TV so they can watch football, and then return to set after the match. Look for what Cary Fukunaga said about working in Ghana. Try telling wardrobe an actor they don’t have an outfit for them because their role is not big enough
Dominican Republic, where the props guy showed me eight different watches, properly arranged, for me to choose JUST ONE for the scene. Eight options. I cried tears of joy