Funke Akindele didn’t just drop a teaser, rather she dropped a statement. The Behind The Scenestrailer she shared on her social media platforms isn’t the regular glossy montage of cast cuts and aerial city shots. It’s five minutes of beautiful chaos. Every department that makes a movie come alive, steps into the spotlight, loud and unfiltered.
From the first seconds, you can tell this isn’t business as usual. The camera sweeps through a live set that looks part runway, part war zone. The people we never see on screen, from the cleaners, to makeup artists, costumiers, cameramen, prop assistants, wardrobe hands, even the carpenter, all take centre stage. They wear round neck polos boldly printed with BTS Runway on the front and their job titles on the back.
Uzor Arukwe, who plays the carpenter, is already at work while Iyabo Ojo arranges chairs on stage. Another cast mops the floor nearby, trading comments with other workers as they prepare for what feels like a show within a show. There’s Hauwa, Madam Saje, Dele Odule, Uche Montana, Jide Kosoko, Akinyoola Ayoola, Scarlet Gomez, Handi and Wanni Danbaki, Hafeez Oyetoro, Destiny Etiko, Ibrahim Chatta, Ejiro Onajaife, Emma Oh My God and Inidima Okojie all backstage, but this time stripped of glamour, doing the messy work that normally happens out of frame.
The noise behind the magic
The teaser quickly turns rowdy. The crew members are focused, voices rising as they argue over petty things like champagne, body odor and setups. The actors, dressed in casual wear unlike the crew, cut in with the entitlement of stars who’ve forgotten what it takes to make them shine. Arguments start, the noise builds until frustration spills over. The crew snap back and all of a sudden the set is chaos with actors storming off, crew members fuming, and for a moment everything falls apart.
That’s when the director walks in. Asking, pleading, trying to fix what ego and exhaustion have ruined.
The mirror moment
The mood shifts. The same people who were yelling moments earlier now strut down the runway, fully transformed. Makeup fixed. Faces set. They glide across the stage like models, side by side, smiling as if nothing ever happened. The crew members who were ignored become the stars. The stars who walked out are no longer on stage.
Then Funke appears. Dressed in a stunning blue gown with puffed shoulders, she owns the frame without saying a word. She joins the line of cast and crew, everyone shoulder to shoulder, and they bow together in unison.
What Funke is really saying
It’s easy to think Behind The Scenes is another Funke Akindele December film with the typical big cast, comedy and chaos. But this trailer hints at something deeper. It’s a social commentary disguised as entertainment. The film seems ready to unpack the power play within creative spaces, the unspoken divide between those who shine on camera and those who build the shine.
By putting technicians and assistants in branded shirts and on the same stage as movie stars, Funke levels the field. It’s possibly her quiet way of saying every hand matters, every role deserves applause.
The stunning thing is, no one has thought of this concept in Nollywood. It’s fresh, new and has kept her fans in anticipation of what’s to come in December. Even fellow actors didn’t not hide how impressed they were as they stormed Funke’s comments section, hailing her for her expertise and unconventional style.
Conclusion
Funke has built a reputation for turning relatable chaos into art, and this looks like another leap. Behind The Scenes might just be her most self-aware work yet as it is a film about filmmaking. It seems to be a mirror held up to an industry that worships fame but often forgets its foundation.
The teaser doesn’t oversell the story. It just peels back the surface to reveal what’s underneath. It’s simply everything that happens before “Action!” and after “Cut.”
When it finally hits cinemas this December 12, it won’t just be another Funke Akindele project. It’ll be a thank-you letter to the people whose names flash by too quickly in the credits and a quiet reminder that behind every masterpiece, there’s a crowd of unseen stars… Maybe.
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