Renowned actor Van Vicker has opened up on why he declined a lead role in LilWin’s movie, “A Country Called Ghana,” despite being initially approached for the part.
Van Vicker was supposed to play the lead role as a British colonial master, the same role Nigerian actor Ramsey Noah eventually took up.
Van Vicker explained that when LilWin approached him for the role, he was told that his presence on set would be required for an entire month.
As a student at the time, committing to such a lengthy period was not feasible for him.
He stated that he proposed to have all his scenes condensed into ten days, explaining that the more days he was needed, the higher his fees would be, and he doubted the production could afford it.
“I said one month is too much What are we filming? You should know that with actors, the more days you require, the more fees I will charge so the earlier you finish the better. So you need me for one month; are you sure you can pay me for one full month? So I told him for one month I can’t do the work because I’m in school”.
LilWin, however, rejected the ten-day proposal, stating it would not work for the production’s schedule.
Van Vicker said he was left perplexed when he later discovered that Ramsey Noah was brought in from Nigeria and completed the job in just ten days, the same timeframe he had initially suggested.
“I was left wondering because if he declined my ten-day proposal, how did he agree to Ramsey’s ten days and even covered all those extra fees?” Van Vicker remarked.
Meanwhile, LilWin, in a previous interview, had suggested that he found Van Vicker difficult to work with due to the many restrictions he imposed, which led him to seek another actor for the role.
“The movie was to be shot in 21 days, but the lead actor’s scene was just for 10 days. Even after negotiation, the Ghanaian actor said he cannot work on weekends so he will be on set for just 8 days. Initially, I thought he wanted to make more monetary demands so I was ready, but he started becoming difficult to work with due to his many restrictions.”