Mara Derwent-Ashton: “People Being Open to Being Wrong is Good Practice.”

She grilled me like a suspicious mind, but I was not deterred. “She must have her reason,” I consoled myself. So, I provided her with what she needed to verify me, according to her request.

 

During our sit down conversation, I said to her that she would have been a good detective. With head slightly slanted, an eye squinted, she evoked an image of a crime scene detective keenly perusing a situation. Humor has not left her.

 

For some reasons, her name popped up in my head a few days ago: “Derwent.” I ruminated as I nostalgically reacquainted myself with her in my subconsciousness, but her first name escaped me. Recalling from memory her personality as captured in “Osuofia in London,” her frail youthfulness and charming beauty clothed in feistiness besieged me. Again, I won’t give up.

 

“This British lass!,” I whispered aloud. I struggled to recall her first name, but the haziness of my mind obfuscated any clarity. So, I went searching. I asked Siri for the names of the cast for “Osuofia in London.” Hurray! It is Mara!!

 

“Mara Derwent.” I populated my browser with it. However, I was redirected to “Mara Ashton.” I thought that I had made a mistake. I started all over. Same result. Perhaps the search engine is confused, I thought. After the third attempt, I opted to check the images for both names. They are the same in appearance.

 

Another search: rampaging through the cyberspace. Alas, there she was, but I was not certain. Nonetheless, I shot her a text: “Quick question, are you the Mara who acted in ‘Osuofia in London’?”

 

A few hours later, she responded: “Hi! Yes, that’s me. I am surprised there’s still interest 20 years later….”

 

Of course, there’s still interest in “Osuofia in London”! Four years ago, after watching the movie on YouTube, @zebronmontford2472 wrote, “This is my best Nigerian movie I ever watched.” Forty-two months after, @user-cw3fq1wi9y enthused, “I can’t believe I am actually watching this movie in 2024.” And, 36 months ago, @pitopintogorgorito4309 said, “I am Spanish, and I am dead crying with this movie! Love it…”

 

Twenty years after, what has Osuofia’s British import, Samantha, been up to? In this conversation with The Nollywood Reporter, the former Mara Derwent tells her story.

 

 

TNR: It has been a hot minute since “Osuofia in London.” How are you and what have you been up to since 2003, which was the year that you were first introduced to Nollywood, the Nigerian film industry?

Mara Derwent-Ashton: A hot minute, like twenty years! I’m really good, thank you for asking.

 

What have I been up to? Obviously, a lot of things in all that time! The most notable of which was getting married to my lovely husband a few years after the film and since then I’ve had two gorgeous children, who are twelve and fourteen now.

 

I still sing with my band of 28 years at weddings, birthday parties, functions etc. It’s really good fun! I’ve done some acting, but nothing major and little bit of modeling as well. I don’t work a great deal because, you know, I’m a mum mostly and I believe everything else has to fit around that now.

 

 

So you have been modelling, you have been singing…

Singing, yes. I was more of a singer before … I’ve been singing professionally for about thirty years. That was what I did before acting.

 

When I played back “Osuofia in London” recently, there was a time I thought I heard you sing in the sound track. Was that your voice? In other words, did you sing in the movie?

No, sadly I wasn’t involved in the sound track. I don’t think they knew I could sing!

 

I noticed that your last name has changed from “Derwent” to “Ashton.” What explains this change?

Marriage, as I mentioned before. I was Mara Derwent when I did the film, and I’ve been Mara Ashton since my wedding in 2007.

 

 

You mentioned that you now have two kids: Fourteen and twelve. Are these the two kids that were in a picture with you? I saw some of your pictures recently online.

Oh no! That was a modelling job so the boys were models too. I think you’ve only seen my work photos. In real life I have an amazing 6ft daughter and a fun-loving younger son.

 

What can you share about the joy and burden of motherhood?

It’s funny because when I was younger I wasn’t that interested in children; not that I didn’t want any but they just weren’t really something I thought about. However, since I’ve had children I love kids and I think they’re all pretty amazing. I’m lucky enough to be able to spend a lot of time with my two and so we have really lovely relationships.

 

I think a lot of families have two parents working and so they lose time with the kids to childcare. They want that time with their children of course, but they also need the money to give them the kind of life they want for them so it must be hard.

 

I’m very lucky. We have a minimal kind of life. We don’t live in a rich area or do things like going on expensive holidays, so I don’t have to work that much. I’ve always been around for the kids a lot. I work when I can but for me, it’s more important that I can be there while they’re young, as I know this time will go by far too quickly.

 

I love being a stay-at-home mum. I see it as a blessing.

 

While they were growing up, did motherhood challenge you professionally?

Yes it did!

 

In the beginning, as a mother, you can’t do anything else because it’s a 24-hour job so other things simply have to wait. You just stop for a while.

 

I was singing with my band until I was very pregnant; like nine and a half months pregnant, but even that had to take a back seat for a while.

 

Regarding acting, I could only do short jobs rather than any big projects and it’s only more recently that I could do something for a longer stint.

 

The gigs are good because they’re always just one evening, but acting is more time consuming and so it had to stop for much longer. I have more time now the kids are older but at first it was a shame to keep saying no to exciting acting work.

 

Beyond the gigs, does your band have a plan of releasing an album?

It’s not that kind of band really. We perform covers so we don’t have our own music to release. We have loads of fun doing gigs though and they’re like a second family to me.

 

 

I was looking at your profile on IMDb and I saw that you’ve done a number of movies since “Osuofia in London.” However, there was one that caught my attention because you did a stand in role for Cameron Diaz …

That was off camera though. As a stand in you do the basic set up while the famous people are in their trailer learning their lines and getting into character, so you stand in their place and do the same movements so the lighting and camera crew can set up the scene before they arrive. You don’t have to look especially like them. You just need to have similar measurements so you fill the frame in the same way and similar colouring for the lighting. I was happy to discover I have almost exactly the same measurements as Cameron Diaz though!

 

It’s more of a crew job really and they make all the adjustments with you before the famous people like Cameron Diaz step in. They like to practice with someone so they don’t waste the valuable time they have with the lead actors.

 

I noticed you also stood in for Uma Thurman?

Yes! She’s a lot taller than me, but somehow I got away with that one!

 

Did you have the opportunity of meeting her?

Yes, because I had to keep swapping places with her. Uma would show us how she was going to do a scene, then me and the crew would keep practising until they were happy with all of the shots. I didn’t have any long chats with her, but you know, pleasantries.

 

From your interaction with her, what did you take away from that experience?

Wow! She’s such a thing.

 

Uma just kind of floats into a room and I had to mimic a lot of her movements. She’s so elegant, even if she just sits down. I mean, no one sits like that so I found it challenging to do her everyday movements as beautifully as she did! I was quite in awe of how intelligent she was too. Like, fiery intelligent.

 

She’s far from a dumb blonde. Uma is obviously gorgeous and talented but she’s also very clever and has great ideas. She would suggest and change scenes, with the director agreeing for her to try stuff and it really worked. It was fascinating to see the way Uma worked, as Kill Bill is one of my favourite films and her performance was outstanding.

 

As a stand-in it’s also interesting to see the crew side of filming, because you basically run on when they say ‘cut’ and witness all the work you usually miss when you leave the set at that point as an actor. It’s a whole other world behind the camera.

 

 

Let’s go back to “Osuofia in London.” Would it be right to say you were in your twenties when you acted in the movie?

Yes. I was in my early twenties.

 

You have acted in both Nigerian and British movies, right? Do you plan to make a dash for Hollywood at some point in your career?

I doubt it. Hollywood is very shallow. I don’t think it’s likely for someone my age to break into Hollywood. I feel like it’s fine if you’ve been there for so long that you’re already very established and then of course you can carry on, but not as a new face.

 

Obviously, I wouldn’t turn down any amazing offers though. If the opportunity arose then I’d definitely give it a go!

 

 

Do you mean your agents never tried to reach out to Hollywood?

I’ve never had that good an agent and I’m my own agent now. I’d rather have been here with the kids though. It’s a big life choice and I think a lot of stars have made different decisions regarding their careers. I’m happy living with my lovely decisions though and I don’t have any regrets about that.

 

Based on your personal experiences on sets of British productions and other professional considerations, in what ways are these productions similar or different from “Osuofia in London”?

I think they’re all similar, but it depends on the budget doesn’t it? I don’t know the budget for “Osuofia in London,” but I didn’t feel it was very high as I was only paid enough to cover any losses/expenses and there was minimal crew, with a very laid back feel. That would be similar in the UK on a very low budget.

 

The bigger movies have a lot more people on set and there are multiple crewmembers doing each job. They are also more organized because they have to be with all of the work they need to get through to complete a large-scale production. This isn’t specific to British productions though because many of the big budget films shot over here are American.

 

Low budget films can afford to be more last minute as well. “Osuofia in London” gave me last minute scripts and had a low budget feel on set as it wasn’t stressful like a lot of big movies. Those are so much about money and time, because every take would be costing them a fortune and “Osuofia in London” didn’t have that stress.

 

So you are saying that the Nigerian production is more relaxed?

Yes, “Osuofia in London” was more relaxed, laid back and sort of flexible. I guess Nigerian films might generally allow a bit more improvisation.

 

The director didn’t insist that the actors stuck to the script, and actors didn’t have the scripts very far in advance. Again I don’t have any other Nollywood experience, so I don’t know how typical this was but it felt like there was quite a lot of improvisation.

 

As a result of this observation that you have just stated, which one would you consider more professional: big budget or small budget sets?

It feels more professional when I’m on the big blockbuster films, because everybody there is going to get in a lot of trouble if they muck up so they have to be super efficient. Any mistakes cost so much money that they need crew and actors to be amazing at their jobs.

 

 

If contrasted with what is happening now, between 2003 and now, I think the budget is bigger in Nollywood because these days you have big organizations like Netflix, Prime Video, pumping in money into Productions. Have you been watching Nollywood movies since the making of “Osuofia in London”?

No, not really. Like I said this was such a long time ago but I’m curious to see what’s going on now so thanks for the nudge!

 

A moment ago you said you’ve not acted in Nollywood since “Osuofia in London.” However, I read somewhere that you acted in another Nollywood film, “Career Woman” with Osita Iheme.

No, nobody’s asked me. I haven’t been contacted with any offers from Nigeria since “Osuofia in London.”

 

We have talked about your earlier years. I’ve asked questions about Nollywood, Hollywood. Now let us do some more talking about the film industries in the UK and in Nigeria if you were to describe both. I’m talking about the industry generally not in specific films.

I don’t have much insight into the Nigerian film industry now, even then really, so I can’t compare them. I can only compare my experience, again, which is a long time ago.

 

Talk about the last few films you’ve done in the UK, because I want to believe all those movies you’ve done are in the UK, right?

Do you want me to compare them to “Osuofia in London” even though it was twenty years ago?

 

Yes.

I think I already have. As I said before, the set in Nollywood was more relaxed. The producers and the crew were definitely more chilled, a little bit chattier and were laughing at the funny bits and things like that. It just wouldn’t happen here. They’d be fired if they kept making sounds during takes.

 

In Nigeria I had to learn to be more relaxed. It’s quite a good lesson really, to learn to be more flexible and not have everything handed to you on a plate. You have to work a bit harder and adapt the way you work.

 

So you’re saying that in Nigeria, flexibility in filmmaking is a big thing. You have the liberty to improvise. Is that what you’re saying?

Yes, most of the scripts were quite last minute really. With “Osuofia in London,” there was a massive section of dialogue that came the day before the really big scene in the hospital, and I don’t think they were that fussy about it being done exactly as written. It was more about the how they wanted you to be behaving but again, I only have that film to go on and it did seem Nkem was improvising a lot all the time. I got the impression he was making up his own jokes.

 

So comparing to here, improvisation seems more of a thing in Nigeria. Here it’s very rare. Most of the movies are heavily scripted and you have to learn your lines verbatim, so there’s not much freedom for the artists to improvise. It all depends on the higher-ups. The artists have little say unless they have a lot of power, like Uma clearly does!

 

Therefore, while you were shooting “Osuofia in London,” did you have to improvise some of your lines, or did you stick to the script?

I think I tried to stick to the script but, as I said, some of it was last minute so it may have been just along the same lines. I don’t think it was all meant to be improvised but we didn’t need to be stuck on the exact words. It was much more about the emotions and plot.

 

 

Between the Nollywood and the British experiences, which one do you prefer in terms of what you have just described?

Difficult, isn’t it? It’s so different.

 

I don’t know. I guess in general I’d like to play it safer with the industry here so that I know how a scene will go. I feel more comfortable and confident in my ability when I know what’s going to happen, but it would also be fun to try something like a Mike Leigh film as they rely heavily on improvisation. As a viewer I always really enjoy films and plays where clever artists get to improvise so maybe I should try it!

 

What was your experience like on the sets of “Osuofia in London;” that is, if you can still remember? I say “sets” because the film was shot in both the United Kingdom and Nigeria. Above all, what was your impression of Nollywood as a result?

There weren’t any sets built for the film. It was an amazing real house that they hired to be my home in England then they free styled filming around London without any locations seeming to have been booked. That was another example of the relaxed feel and ‘last minute’ things being ok on Nollywood productions.

 

In Nigeria we filmed in Enugu, a village outside Lagos, and again there wasn’t really a set. There were goats everywhere, it rained a lot and everything was getting wet so it felt a bit chaotic. It was a completely different, more authentic way of working and quite an adventure really! It was an amazing experience. Unforgettable.

 

Again, with “Osuofia in London” it was more relaxed because everyone was calm and they weren’t stressing all the time about each shot being perfect, or upsetting someone’s plan of how a scene should look, so it was generally a nicer atmosphere to be in.

 

Nigeria was a real eye opener. There were children everywhere watching us. It’s so different filming there. During the scenes, there were goats everywhere and I had to live like a Nigerian woman: I was wearing a shower hat in bed, pounding yam, and what I wore … all those things; it was amazing, amazing!

 

 

How was it like pounding the yam?

It was fine but it was really spicy and making my eyes water a bit. There was a lot of chili pepper in there, and the steam, spicy steam was going into my eyes. It was fine though. All fascinating to me. It was really cool.

 

I wanted to eat the local food but my chaperone was too fussy! I wanted to experience what the local people eat because I grew up with curries and I enjoy spicy food. My mum grew up in Africa so we always had curry, even when we were little.

 

Wow! Your mum grew up in Africa?

Yes, Africa was home for my mum. She’s not with us anymore. She died a few years back. She moved there when she was young, so she grew up there. She worked there, learned to drive there, met my dad in Africa and they got married there, then had their first child in Africa too. I’ve got pictures of me there because I went when I was a toddler. I should go back … Kenya. I think I should go back to East Africa because I don’t really know it and it meant so much to Mum.

 

Sorry about your loss because you’ve just mentioned that your mum passed a few years ago. Back to “Osuofia in London,” how did you meet the producers?

It was Kola. Kola Munis, is it? He was the person I got in contact with. They advertised the role somewhere and I was offered an audition. I think they said to pretend I was waiting at a bus stop or something and these guys were coming over hassling me or trying to chat me up … I can’t remember properly.

 

They wanted me to be a stereotypical white, British, middle class woman and I had to not like these guys talking to me. They were very funny with their improvisation and that was my audition.

 

After the performance that was your audition, what was their view of it? Can you still recall?

They cut down to two. I wasn’t blonde then, but they wanted a blonde. There was another lady, really blonde; they wanted her, but her agent told her not to do it so I was second choice. They wanted me to dye my hair blonde, but my blonde was finally growing out, so I didn’t do that. The irony is that I’ve been blonde for about 20 years now!

 

What was it like working with Kingsley Ogoro, as a film director?

He was very calm and quiet, so that added to the relaxed feel. He was a very chilled and peaceful guy.

 

What did you find fascinating about the script and its characters, which made you to want to do the movie, and did you have the chance to read the script before deciding?

I knew the concept and what kind of character they wanted me to play but I hadn’t seen the script yet. I was happy to play the typical English white woman and see how another culture may view that. Being somewhere so alien to me was also an interesting idea. It seemed like an adventure and a bit of a crazy thing to do really; a twenty-year-old young woman jetting off to Africa. It was exciting idea.

 

“Crazy thing to do!” I thought many things in “Osuofia in London” were crazy. As a typical English person, the storyline or subject matter was probably strange to you. Would you like to share with us, if you don’t mind, some of the contradictions …

I wasn’t aware that in that tribe they would inherit everything from their brother even if he were married and, in this situation, his wife ran the business. It was all Samantha’s money as well. It was her life and his family was going to take that all from her.

 

I’m quite surprised if that’s still the case; that in this day and age that kind of thing is still happening because obviously it’s unfair if someone has put all the work, time and money into something, that they shouldn’t benefit at all from it. This is odd to me. But then, I get it, that’s how it is. But Samantha didn’t, so she decided to change things.

 

Quick question here, why did it take you so late in the movie to reveal to Osuofia that you gave £500,000 to his brother?

I didn’t write the script, but it is an odd thing. I think earlier on she did say it was her business as well. I think Samantha makes it clear that it was a joint business that they owned together.

 

Let’s talk about Mara. How difficult was it working with Nkem Owoh, was there any tension between both of you when you contend with his mannerisms which, perhaps, you were not so familiar with and how did you cope with Nkem’s strange mannerism as Osuofia?

Not at all!

 

I was very aware that I was playing a role of an English white lady that they had written, but I don’t know anyone like that in real life so it was just a character and that didn’t bring any tension. Nkem was sweet and hilarious; a very funny man all the time.

 

Yes, the experience was kind of new and strange but not in a negative way. It was all fascinating because it was so different.

 

Shooting the movie in Nigeria was probably your first time in the country. What was your impression of Nigeria and its people?

My impression of Nigeria was very different between Lagos and Enugu because in Lagos, it was all very noisy: cars everywhere, people at the windows of cars trying to sell you things and all very loud, bright, and busy. I grew up in a village. I don’t live in Central London so being in a city, particularly a Nigerian one, was very different. Even in London, no one would come up to your car or just walk in the roads though so Lagos was definitely more chaotic.

 

In the village in Enugu, it was quite different because there was no traffic. There were people everywhere but no vehicles. Along the road there were small huts that people had built themselves and it was really sad to see the poor conditions people were living in.

 

I feel like in Nigeria compared to England, there’s a much bigger difference between the rich and the poor. I think here it is more of a gradual change. You don’t see shacks built on the roadside then big houses further along the road. It didn’t seem fair but I guess we all just accept our circumstances as being normal wherever we live.

 

It was amazing admiring the women carrying everything on their heads though and how far everyone had to carry everything to get everywhere and all on foot. The sadness about the conditions there were in contrast with the lovely people. Again, everyone was so welcoming, happy to see you, and the kids thought we were really getting married; they were very excited when they saw us. … following behind us like we were celebrities. It was so beautiful to see their happy faces.

 

The people I was with were very warm and relaxed so we chatted about everything. Everyone was very calm and welcoming. When Nigerians welcome people, they are very enthusiastic about it so my impression of the people there was very positive.

 

You had to experience that village life as well because, in the movie, you had to fetch wood and carry it on your head.

Yeah, that was cool.

 

In internalizing that experience in the village – one thing is you seeing it, another thing is you doing it – something you had to do as a professional. But as an individual, how did that affect you; that is, if at all it did?

It made me really admire and appreciate how hard it is and how tough everyone is there, especially the women. Everything is very physical, people’s lives are hard and how they went about their lives without being angry about their circumstances really impressed me.

 

Everything is more difficult there and that is what they deal with every day so to them, it’s normal, but to me it was all very humbling because living in that kind of squalor and still smiling, being warm and lovely is admirable. They are so peaceful despite everything and that’s amazing really, isn’t it?

 

Since that movie was shot in Nigeria, have you been to the country again since that time?

No I haven’t. Like I said, I haven’t been approached by anybody to do anything workwise there. Perhaps I should visit again, but I should go to Kenya first because that’s where my mum grew up.

 

In what ways was “Osuofia in London” a source of conflict for you, Mara the British, culturally?

Inheriting a dead man’s property including his wife is quite shocking. That it’s a real thing rather than fictional; that the plot was based on facts is quite amazing to someone from the British culture because there’s a lot more equality for women here.

 

I am sure back in time, it would have been exactly the same here … maybe not exactly but very uneven and maybe that change will happen over time in Nigeria as well. I’m not sure how it is overall there though and maybe that kind of thing is only in village tribes and not what Nigeria as a whole is like now.

 

Would you consider yourself a feminist?

No. I think I’m just a realist.

 

“Osuofia in London” is a comedy with a serious theme. The dramatization of identity politics in this movie made comedy a weighty genre. How did you, who was probably not too an experienced actress at the time, navigate or balance the responsibility of ensuring that the laughter evoked by the film did not drown the weighty matters of identity politics?

I felt a bit like that was my job because Nkem’s job was to get the laughs and a lot of my dialogue would have been about not understanding his culture. The clash of culture comedy was Osuofia’s, but the seriousness of the movie was Samantha’s … her struggle with dealing with the culture there and what to do about it … how to handle the situation correctly. Also, she had to learn about herself. She embarked on a serious journey, both literally and emotionally.

 

I think there was a good balance between the comedy and more serious parts so perhaps that is why it did so well. I don’t really know about other Nigerian comedies but maybe that element was unique to this film.

 

Was it difficult for you to present this more serious part of this conversation, this narrative, or did it come naturally to you?

I think it was quite difficult. That scene in the hospital was a bit grating, where I was basically saying all white people are ignorant of other cultures. That didn’t sit comfortably with me because I know it not to be true, but I was portraying a racist view of white people in that situation …  like white people are always shocked by other people’s culture and don’t understand it, so have no flexibility of adapting to it and working together. It was quite difficult to do that speech because it was her saying it was all her fault for being ignorant and not also theirs equally for not understanding her culture.

 

Listening to that speech reminded me of the speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. when he said, don’t judge a man by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character. Will you say that was the same message that you were trying to pass across in that speech?

Yes, it is that. Also, generally, it is about people working together and listening to each other. We don’t have to be on different sides.

 

Would you say that’s a big problem in the world today is that fact that people are not trying to be tolerant of one another’s differences, culturally?

Absolutely, yeah. I think a lot of war is about this. It is about people’s lack of empathy; where you can’t put yourself in someone else’s shoes. I think empathy is the answer to a lot of things in life. In any argument, if you can always put yourself in the other person’s shoes instead of being blinded by your own position, a lot of day-to-day conflict and even wars could be handled better. People being open to being wrong is good practice.

 

I am sure lots of people are unaware of how much racism still exists in the world, especially here, because if you are living in London it’s such a mix of cultures. It is shocking how much racism is still around. When will we learn?

 

Is there a solution to that problem?

I don’t know how we change people. It’s like you’re asking me the solution to world peace and I’m probably not the right person! It’s about love though, isn’t it? It is about loving each other because we are all people and we’re in this thing called life together. We can’t all be friends but everyone has good in them and there’s no need for hate.

 

It is not all about the superficial, but everyone is quick to judge others not just on the color of skin but on everything about them. We make constant assumptions about other people. We are doing it now by noticing how each other is sitting, how we are speaking, and the things that we are saying. We are constantly making little decisions about people we don’t know all the time and I think the judgment and making assumptions is a lot of the problem between cultures.

 

Education should also play a big part in bringing peace because that would bring more understanding of one another and therefore sympathy.

 

Yes. I think understanding, sympathy, empathy and love are the solution.