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Rita Dominic reveals how Brenda Fassie inspired her character in 'La Femme Anjola'

Dominic revealed she chose Brenda Fassie because of the similarities the songstress shares with her character.
Rita Dominic [Instagram/@ritadominic]
Rita Dominic [Instagram/@ritadominic]

Nollywood star actress, Rita Dominic has been applauded in recent times for delivering a riveting performance in her newly released feature, 'La Femme Anjola'.

In the movie still showing in Nigerian cinemas, Dominic plays Anjola, a songstress femme fatale, a character she recently revealed forced her to go into a dark place.

The star thespian recently spoke to Chude Jideonwu where she opened up about being able to bring life to the sinister character.

"Anjola is a very dark character, infact I remember when we were in the Basement shooting, it was so dark in there that it literally affected me, I wasn’t sleeping well. I’ll try to sleep and I’d wake up abruptly," Dominic shared.

ALSO READ: I initially did not have money to acquire the 'La Femme Anjola' script - Mildred Okwo

“I remember one night my assistant came in, no it was in the early hours of the morning, she was trying to get tea, wake me up and things like that and she was trying to be quite becuse she knew I slept pretty late, so I just woke up abruptly and I remember her running to the bed and asked me ‘aunty what’s wrong’.

“I just said I’m really connecting with her, I don’t like this... err the energy is bad and I see it’s Anjola just taking over.”

Speaking on how she prepared for the role, Dominic revealed that she researched a lot about female singers from the 60s to the 90s before choosing deceased South African music star, Brenda Fassie as a case study. "I felt that there was similarities between her and Anjola because she was disturbed up until she died and this performer woman is also disturbed. So, I felt I could draw some similarities between these women so I studied her for a while and zoned out of everything including social media."

Dominic stars alongside Nonso Bassey in the acclaimed thriller directed by Mildred Okwo.

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