Mercy Eke Shanty Town: How Chidi Mokeme’s Grabbing My Butt in “Shanty Town” Made Me Feel
Mercy Eke, the Big Brother winner, featured in the popular Netflix series Shanty Town, which marked her significant acting debut. Mercy portrayed Jackie, a prostitute who was attempting to gain her freedom.
Scenes with such a character are often very raunchy and suggestive. Mercy Eke discussed her motivation for taking on the character of Jackie and her experience filming those obscene scenes in a recent interview. Here are Mercy Eke’s exact words.
Mercy Eke explained her decision to play Jackie in “Shanty Town” by stating:
MERCY EKE: As an aspiring actor, who has continued to aspire to be a talented practitioner, it was an exciting experience. When I got the script, I read and though I have seen a lot of movies, not many had the quality of the story.
Many of the characters are people I have seen in movies when I was young and they influenced my growing up, so when I read the script and what my character was meant to do, I felt this was what I have always wanted to do, this is the time to showcase what I can deliver as an actor.
Jackie is the character and the opportunity and I told myself I was not just going to play the role but will embody the character of Jackie. I enjoyed my experience on the set, I was surrounded by great talents, great actors and everybody was just amazing, like a family reunion. Even when I didn’t get my lines or I had difficulties, they would always encourage and help me get it right with constant advice. It was beautiful and I enjoyed it.
I just said to myself you just have to be Jackie and play Jackie. It was a sweet character, it’s something everybody can relate to in our society today. Everybody can totally relate to Jackie. So when I read the script, I was like it is what I can do. Yeah, let me just go and show my acting skills with Jackie.
Regarding the filming of those explicit sequences, such as the one in which Chidi Mokeme’s character Scar grabs her butt and breasts, Mercy Eke said:
MERCY EKE: At that moment, it wasn’t Mercy, it was Jackie and I was in the moment where I didn’t think of what anyone would say or what viewers would say, I was basically in the character and all I was focused on was bringing the character to life, I want people to see that and these are things that happen in real life, so it’s not because there’s a character I am playing for everyone to see, so that was it.
In fact, it was after the whole shoot that I returned to Mercy and was wondering oh wow, did I play that? Did it show? And at that time, it was just done and I hope people understand it is acting and make-believe and be sure they would see more of me, not just that.
What do you think of what Mercy Eke said?