Director Tope Adebayo has shared the personal challenges he faced while directing the Netflix original movie Jagun Jagun.
He said the pressure of managing the large-scale production affected his health and family life.
“During the initial process, I struggled with my husbandly duties in bed. When I visited the hospital, I was told my stress levels were very high,” Adebayo said, linking the strain to directing the film.
He also revealed a family tragedy after filming. “After our shoot, one of our children, my own, passed away. We were told it was a spiritual arrow that hit the child, coming from where we were,” he said.
Adebayo recounted a lighter moment from production, noting that despite watching the film many times in post-production, a prop mistake went unnoticed until the premiere. “There was a megaphone in one scene. It was only at the premiere that someone pointed it out. It turned out it was my own ward who brought it there,” he explained.
Jagun Jagun premiered on Netflix on 10 August 2023. The film tells the story of ancient warriors and the conflict between a seasoned warlord and a young challenger. It stars Femi Adebayo, Odunlade Adekola, Lateef Adedimeji, Bukunmi Oluwasina, Faithia Balogun, Mr Macaroni, and Ibrahim Yekini.
The movie performed strongly on Netflix, ranking among the top non-English films in several countries and drawing millions of hours of global viewership.
It also received multiple awards, including Best Indigenous Language Movie at the 2024 Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards and six wins at the 2024 Best of Nollywood Awards, including Best Indigenous Film, Best Actor, and Best Production Design.
