Actor Kingsley Ben-Adir Talks Playing Bob Marley: “I was calling Jamaicans to come to my apartment to help me.”
Playing a real-life individual always presents a challenge and for British actor Kingsley Ben-Adir who portrays the reggae icon in the film “Bob Marley: One Love,” it was a tough task.
“Cedella [Bob’s daughter] sent me hours and hours of interviews with Bob that were never released. I didn’t understand a lot of what was being said. I was calling Jamaicans to come to my apartment to help me break them down. There were things I didn’t understand and things I was massively misinterpreting. The social, political, spiritual and personal point of view. Until you understand everything he is saying in all of those interviews, you have no business trying to play him,” shares the actor.
It isn’t the first time Ben-Adir, who played Malcolm X in the Amazon Studios film “One Night in Miami,” has portrayed a legendary figure, but he felt the pressure of bringing this iconic character to the big screen.
“There was pressure that was different and more intense and not just because of Bob and who he is to so many people, but the representation of Jamaican culture. Staying true to Bob’s truth was a serious dance we had to figure out. I had an experience where I changed and grew as a person over the year and a half of doing this movie.”
Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green, it has earned 180 million worldwide and gives audiences more of an insight into Bob’s life as it celebrates the life and music of Jamaica’s reggae ambassador.
“There were a lot of idioms and expressions that are English based in the interviews, but he has a completely different way of saying things. I didn’t stop listening to him and by the time we got to set, I had an encyclopedic knowledge of how Bob would express himself and respond in all kinds of different situations.”
The film, which was released in U.S. theaters in February, is produced by Robert Teitel, Brad Pitt, Jeremy Kleiner, Dede Gardner, Ziggy Marley, Rita Marley and Cedella Marley and stars Lashana Lynch as Rita Marley.
