Van Vicker Denies Disrespecting Nollywood Stars
Jan 20th 2010

Ghanaian
actor, Van Vicker is not enjoying the best of
relations with Nollywood community as he has
been accused of arrogance and disrespect to some
of the biggest stars in Nollywood including RMD,
Ramsey Nouah and Desmond Elliot.
Van was said to have claimed on set that he is
the best thing to have happened to Nollywood of
late and should not be compared to Ramsey Nouah
but RMD. He said that in response to his
comparison to Ramsey Nouah on set. He was also
said to have insisted on not playing a
supporting role to Desmond Elliot who had been
told earlier that he was playing lead role.
The producer had to beg Desmond to take Van’s
role and allow Van to play the lead. And to make
matter worse, Van was said to have gone to the
set unprepared because he was not ready to take
the supporting role. “You need to see him, he
did not read his script. He came determined not
to play the supporting role and he eventually
had his way.
I pitied Desmond that day; but you know he is a
gentleman so he took it in his stride” a
location source told us. As a result of that, a
lot of Nollywood actors have been said to
despise Van. One of them even told us that he
has vowed never to work with Van Vicker on any
location. “I think it is the height of insult
for Van to disrespect these people.
How can Van compare himself to RMD? He is not
even better than Nonso Diobi or Mike Ezunronye.
To disrespect Ramsey and Desmond is a collective
insult on all of us. These are guys that paved
the way for all of us” an aggrieved actor told
us.
But the men at the center of the drama,
Ikechukwu Onyeka and Van Vicker denied all the
allegations. Van said he would never disrespect
Ramsey. “I did not say anything like that. I
think some people are just trying to tarnish my
reputation. Ramsey is a man I respect so much.
I’ve even called him to come and do a twin movie
with me because we look alike. People are just
trying to create enmity where there is none. I
did not say those things about RMD or Ramsey.
These are senior colleagues that I can never
disrespect. Those who know me would know I will
never say that about those people” Van told us
on phone from Ghana. And on the issue of taking
over Desmond’s role, he said he can’t remember
that happening. “I’ve only worked with Desmond
like twice or so. I can’t remember saying I
can’t play under him.
He has been in this game before me, so I have no
issue playing under him. And I did not take his
roles. I am not like that Sam, some people are
just trying to malign my character” he
concluded. Ikechukwu Onyeka unlike Van
remembered what happened on set but insisted
that it was not as we’ve been told. Said he:
“What happened was not Van’s fault.
I think Van and Desmond were told they would be
playing same role, so it was when they got to
set that they realized they would be playing
same role and as matter of principle Van said he
wouldn’t step down because that particular role
was what he prepared to act. He did not say he
can’t play under Desmond”. The incident happened
on location at Sky Movies international. Desmond
Elliot was not available for comments when we
tried to reach him.
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