EXCLUSIVE
BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE The legendary musician gets the King Richard treatment.
Director Reinaldo Marcus Green steered biographical sports drama King Richard to six Academy Award nominations, with Will Smith taking home the Best Actor gong. Green is now tackling another biopic – about Bob Marley. Smith might have executed a captivating portrayal of an exceptional reallife figure but he didn’t have to shoulder the pressure of playing a bona fide legend.
It’s a challenge that falls to British actor Kingsley Ben-Adir (Barbie) – tasked not only with capturing Bob Marley’s presence and persona convincingly, but also his singing voice and musical talent.
‘Man, he put himself through the wringer,’ Green tells Teasers. ‘Losing weight, learning how to play guitar, how to sing, how to dance, dialect… [he put] relentless effort into transforming.’ Green wasn’t surprised at Ben-Adir’s talent and tenacity – the actor had already impressed with an audition tape that, says Green, stood in its own class. His patois was even ‘quite good for somebody that doesn’t speak patois: it wasn’t Cool Runnings.’
Critically, the Jamaican artist’s family is involved in the production – his widow, Rita (played by Lashana Lynch in the film) and musician children Ziggy and Cedella are producers.
‘We had a VIP pass,’ explains Green. ‘You have archives and tapes that have never been released, and photographs that have never been released, that tell a different side; a story that you can’t get from just going on YouTube. Kingsley had access to all of that. He did work that was remarkable and went to places that nobody could go to, myself included.’
