More Dangerous Scenes From Nairobi Half Life

The two main members of the Nairobi Half Life cast already told us about how dangerous it was shooting the film. I asked them about uncomfortable scenes with the gay scene and sex scene in mind but turns those weren’t even on the list of uncomfortable scenes. Check out their responses and transcript below.

Ghafla!: “Were there other scenes that might have been uncomfortable, maybe for you two or other members of the cast?”

Olwenya Maina: “One was when we upgraded our game as the gang and we were now targeting the middle-class and the well-to-do families. So, there was this particular scene we were doing in Kilimani and so it was a street scene [SPOILER ALERT] whereby we go and carjack a vehicle and then we go to another gate and the owner has a gun so there is an exhange and take cover [SPOILER ENDS]. Now, the place where we’re taking cover, there were no cops because the camera would have seen the APs, the security. But it was so risky because at the other side of the lane there were real cops who don’t know what is happening.”

Joseph K. Wairimu: “Real guns.”

G!: “You guys used real guns?”

JWK: “Yeah.”

OM: “So, it was quite risky. For a moment there we were like, we have to get this right in two takes or otherwise we can’t do it.”

JWK: “It was at night and it was like a hill. If the cops would have come from the other side, then it could have been another case. And also the other part that was really challenging for me was falling off from that shack. In filming, you have to do in a number of takes and nobody is comfortable with falling each time. The fall was a real fall, there were small cushions inside. And the distance–even if there were people waiting for me inside–psychologically, you’re not comfortable.”

G!: “How many times did you do that?”

JWK: “I can’t really recall but they were more than five or six times.”