The Story ⚡
Somersaulting cars, car chases, and intense fight scenes. Tòkunbò Directed by Ramsey Nouah released on Netflix on August 23rd, 2024. It is the number 1 ranked title in Nigeria right now and has hit the top 10 on Netflix’s global weekly charts.
The film stars Gideon Okeke, Norbert Young, Chidi Mokeme, Funlola Aofiyebi-Raimi, Stanley Chibunna(Funny Bone), and Darasimi Nadi.
The Cast and Crew of the Title Tòkunbò got on a space to talk about the making of the title. These are seven quick gems we grabbed from that conversation.
Budget for Tòkunbò went from 30 Million Naira To over $320,000
After the release of Choke, around Christmas of 2021, Chris Odeh while talking with protégé’s talked about doing big films with cop chases, somersaulting cars, and all that shebang. A protégé took that wild dream, created a deck and sent it to Chris a week Later.
Chris thought it was a good story, and with a budget estimation of 30 Million Naira went looking for investors like Ramsey Nouah, who loved it and asked if he could direct it.
Before they knew it, they were building cars, crossing waters, and lagoons on boats and shutting down borders
The budget took on a life of its own and at the time of the release on Netflix, a little over $320,000 had been invested in the title.
Director Ramsey Nouah Was Hard Core And Creatively Expressive
Many late nights and six days of midnight action sequence shoots lasted until daybreak.
Cast & crew under the rain with raincoats and cameras with rain covers. Meets and reads in preparation for roles. Hour-long boat rides from CMS to Badagry. 3:00 am calls to go shoot a police fight scene.
Director Ramsey has been described as creatively insatiable, knowing what he wants, readily relating with others, dishing out advice and being there in general for cast and crew. Much of the uniqueness of the film has been attributed to the director.
During one of Tòkunbò’s media runs, Gideon Okeke was heard saying “Ramsey was busy trying to outdo himself, and we(cast and crew) were busy trying to outdo him”.
Funny Bone has also added that “Ramsey was trying to be a perfectionist, we were all trying to give him more perfection than he could handle”
This seems to be paying dividends with avid viewers & fans already drawing comparisons with Jason Statham’s Transporter.
The Film Tòkunbò Was Initially Titled Lazarus
The title of the initial deck of the movie was Lazarus, but a Nollywood Title came out in the industry called Bad Lazarus. Using the Lazarus title became tricky. So a name change was discussed. Producer Chris wanted to make a film where the name of the lead role is the name of the film. The filmmakers wanted something catchy, organic, local, and original.
Tòkunbò came as a basis of the business that Gaza and Tòkunbò were doing; bearing in mind that Ramsey’ Noauh’s middle name is also Tòkunbò; so Tòkunbò directed the title Tòkunbò;
Tòkunbò who sells Tòkunbò cars is the lead Role; So Gideon Okeke is Tòkunbò.
Tòkunbò Was Shot For Close To 50 Days Over A Period Of Four Months
Tòkunbò is the third collaboration between Director Ramsey Nouah and Producer Chris Odeh. They had previously worked together on Rattlesnake and Living in Bondage.
The drama parts of the title, Tòkunbò, and the final fight scenes were shot in November, and December 2022, the filmmakers took a break, went to source for more funds, came back and shot the fast and furious part of the movie.
Overall Principal Photography was done from November 2022 – February 2023, then some pick-up scenes were shot in September 2023
Chidi Mokeme And Gideon Okeke Doing Stunts
There are scenes that the stunt guys could have executed but Chidi and Gideon decided to run it. After one of the punches, Gideon was bleeding under his makeup and there had to be a 2-day break. They were in big heavy boots which filled with rain and became three times heavier. Chidi threw Gideon against a windscreen and Gideon hurt his ribs.
It was some Tom Cruise level of dedication which led to the producer Chris saying.
“It is hard and good to find actors that can trust the process and give it their all. How much they want to entertain their audience, how much they believe in the vision of the project is their sacrifice that created this picture”
Chris Odeh Had This To Say About Distribution In Cinemas
“I don’t think anybody who has spent their hard-earned money should risk their titles going to the box office because we don’t have business development people in the theatrical business as we speak. Filmmakers have to depend on their films to drag people to the cinema. That is not how films are sold in the UK, France, & USA. That much money and time effort should not be left at the mercy of people walking into cinemas. I am not undermining the work of cinemas.
We have hard-working producers, actors, and directors. We are yet to have passionate and hard-working theatrical distributors in Nigeria who are ready to push for greater achievements. It is when we have this, that is when we can have great films showing in our cinemas again”.
90% of scenes shot made it to the final lock
Producer Chris explained that this was the first film he had done in which more than 90% of what was shot was in the final lock. Parts of scenes got chopped up but there was hardly any scene that was shot that didn’t make it into the film.
He also added that it wasn’t everything that was written that was shot and that followed the principle that a film is told three times when it is written, when it is shot and when it is edited.
In Summary
With Tòkunbò being an instant hit on Netflix, Executive Producer Chris Odeh has said sequels are always a response to the market, so the audience would determine, that he doesn’t believe in Producers forcing sequels. Never say never, though.
Chris Odeh also hinted his next project might be released around Christmas 2024 and could involve Tòkunbò’s very own Gaza – Chidi Mokeme.
If you haven’t seen Tòkunbò, you are wrong, you can catch the title on Netflix.
