For Kingsley Ben-Adir, taking on the task of embodying legendary reggae superstar Bob Marley proved to be daunting, but thanks to a dedicated crew intent on making it authentic, the 37-year-0ld British actor was able to pull it off.
Currently enjoying bigger-than-expected success at the box office, Ben-Adir recently spoke with People magazine about all that went into making the film and all the help that was available to make the film as true to life as possible.
“… you normally have a coach or two,” the “Bridgerton” star exclaimed. “We had coaches everywhere.”
“I was very lucky,” he continued. “We had coaches for everything. Our language team was seven, eight, nine people. It was a community effort.”
Not only was the film produced in part by Marley’s widow, Rita Marley, as well as his children, Ziggy and Cedella, but the “community” Ben-Adir speaks of also included a host of Marley’s friends and others who knew him.
“I learned everything I needed to through them and with them,” he noted.
Though already having portrayed legendary figures like Barack Obama in The Comey Rule and Malcolm X in One Night In Miami, Ben-Adir says the role of Marley was a unique challenge because he’s “never played an artist… It felt a bit dangerous because I was like, I’m going to be starting from scratch.”
Among the more strenuous challenges that Ben-Adir faced was getting Marley’s Jamaican accent and Patois language down as well as learning to sing and play the music, of which he says both were “challenging for sure”, but beyond that, he wanted to get to the essence of who Marley was as a person.
“Understanding who Bob was as a human being,” he related, meant speaking to “a lot about his vulnerability. Who was it that saw him cry, and when did he cry, when did he feel?”
“I wouldn’t have been able to do that without them,” he added. “There’s no books where that’s written.”
“Authenticity fills the screen with numerous Jamaican actors doing us proud in representing the culture,” shared Marley’s firstborn son, Ziggy on Instagram. “Filmed at the actual places where Bob walked, played football, and sang like Trench Town and Bull Bay in Kingston, it is an artistic creation that we are proud of … for us it represents the continuation of Bob’s message and growth.”
Bob Marley: One Love is currently in theaters.
