Sugar Rush is one of the most exciting Nollywood movies showing in cinemas currently, the film is both a crime-thriller and comedy. The director Kayode Kasum sat with Guardian Process to discuss how the film’s major characters—the Sugar Sisters—came to life.
“I have learned a lot about Nigerian film,” he says. “Sometimes you intend to make a serious film and it turns out funny, I will take that experience from my previous film, Oga Bolaji. The actions of the characters while reading the script was kinda what I use to draw out an outline for each character.”
“For Suzy, which is played by Adesua Etomi,” he continues. “She was serious. She had a goal. She was driven. She knew what she wanted to do. She’s straight-edged. So I had a long outline of what this character is. But that’s Suzy. Then for Shola Sugar, which is played by Bisola Aiyeola, she’s fun, she’s about life; she wants to party, she wants to have a good time.”
Kasum continues on Aiyeola’s character: “So, there’s one line in the script which was written by Bunmi Ajakaiye and Jade Osiberu, that line for me was what I used to chisel who Shola Sugar was as Bisola Aiyeola’s character. The line is, ‘Suzy o ja re, before we came to this world, there’s trouble, after we leave this world, there’s going to be trouble.’”
Kasum says that line helped him identify the personality of Aiyeola’s character. “That line alone… [describes] who this person is. She understands clearly that she has limitations, that her mum is sick, but she has chosen clearly not to admit to it. She will ignore it and cover it with happiness, that’s who Bisola Aiyeola’s character is.”
The director also talks about the synergy between the trio of Adesua Etomi, Bisola Aiyeola, and Bimbo Ademoye. Watch more of his thoughts on how he translated the script to a fantastic movie.