Bob Marley is one of the artists whose death led to a cult-like following of fans who refuse to see his musical contributions and legacy disappear. After years of unofficial biographies, loosely-based narratives, and award-winning documentaries, Marley’s family has produced a biopic on the late singer, and the trailer has finally hit the internet.
Bob Marley: One Love, which stars Kinglsey Ben-Adir, who also took on the role of Malcolm X in Regina King’s directorial debut, One Night In Miami, stars as the legendary cultural icon alongside The Woman King’s Lashana Lynch, who will play Marley’s beloved wife, Rita. Working alongside Paramount Pictures, Rita, as well as their son Ziggy and a host of other loved ones, helped bring Marley’s story to life for the first time on the big screen. Filmed in England and Jamaica, the film is one of the first of this magnitude to include mostly Jamaican actors and crew members. The decision was made to make the telling of the country’s hero as authentic as possible.
Director Reinaldo Marcus Green told Shadow and Act that his approach to taking on such a precious life story was that of a skilled competitor. “But I grew up an athlete, so I was always, the I want to take the shot. I was always that guy that wanted the ball at the last second, at the buzzer. I wanted to at least be able to take the shot,” he said. “And from the very first meeting that Ziggy was on as a producer, and to get that blessing from the family was huge. It was a huge weight off the shoulders to say, ‘Well, that they’re going to entrust me with the ability to kind of lead the ship.’ And that was a huge, huge weight off of me.”
For Ziggy, it was important that no part of his father’s story was off limits. “No. We wanted to be real with it. We didn’t sugarcoat anything. So you’re going to see some stuff in there that I didn’t know about, and others didn’t know either. We’re not just putting in the good, not just putting in the bad – it was everything,” he said. “We want to bring it to the people real and raw. We want them to say, ‘I didn’t know that about Bob.’ For so long, this has been our bubble. You’re going to be surprised by what you see.”
