Okonedo Stars in Lagos-Set Mrs. Dalloway at Cannes
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- Sophie Okonedo stars in "Clarissa," an adaptation of Virginia Woolf's 1925 novel "Mrs. Dalloway" directed by Nigerian siblings Arie and Chuko Esiri, premiering at Cannes Directors' Fortnight — Okonedo broke down in tears upon hearing the news, telling Deadline: "If nothing else happens, this is more than we could ever wanted to happen to this film."
- The Esiri brothers relocated Woolf's very British period tale to contemporary Lagos — with key sections set 20-25 years ago — and told Okonedo to "just sound like a posh version of you" rather than adopt a Nigerian accent, because the younger generation of Victoria Island "sounds like public school boys."
- The film was shot on 35mm with nearly all Nigerian crew — a feat Okonedo called "extraordinary" given the difficulty of getting a non-Nollywood Nigerian film financed, with extra scenes still being completed just recently
- The project began during pandemic lockdown; Okonedo first connected with the Esiris after watching their 2020 film "Eyimofe (This Is My Desire)," and producer Theresa Park (Bones and All, Roar) later came on board to help raise money
- The cast includes David Oyelowo as Peter (the love of Clarissa's life), Toheeb Jimoh (Ted Lasso) as the younger Peter, and Fortune Nwafor speaking in a local dialect as the shell-shocked Septimus Warren Smith
- Okonedo — who hadn't been to Nigeria in over 20 years and stayed with the Esiris' mother during filming — said the experience was "so meaningful on a personal level," adding that she'd like to try the "Nollywood format" to reach a wider African audience
Why it matters: The Esiris' decision to transpose a canonical British novel to contemporary Lagos — and to keep posh-accented Nigerian characters rather than code-switch for Western audiences — lands as a deliberate counter to the "European or American-centric view" Okonedo says she came to question on set, and the Cannes slot positions the film alongside other Nigerian-heritage works like My Father's Shadow that are reshaping the festival's African cinema footprint.
