Lashana Lynch To Play Rita Marley In Upcoming Bob Marley Biopic, Report
English actress Lashana Lynch has been reportedly tapped to play Rita Marley in Paramount Pictures’ upcoming Bob Marley biopic.
Lynch, who is of Jamaican descent, recently played “Nomi” in the James Bond film No Time To Die and “Captain Marvel” in Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
According to Deadline’s sources, the actress won over Paramount executives as well as Rita and the Marley family, who “all gave their blessing to the casting” after a lengthy search.
“While audiences remember Bob for his impact on the Reggae scene and political activism, his and Rita’s love story has its own timeless feel to it and is equally essential part to telling his incredible life story,” Deadline noted.
Rita, who lived in Trench Town in Kingston, met Bob whilst in her teens before they got married on February 10, 1966. The union produced three children: daughter Cedella and sons Ziggy and Stephen. Bob also adopted Sharon, who was Rita’s firstborn from a previous relationship.
Rita Marley was a member of the backing vocalist trio “I Threes”, who supported the “Bob Marley and the Wailers” as backup singers.
She has several successful solo albums under her belt including Who feels It Knows It, Harambe and We Must Carry On which was nominated for a Reggae Grammy in 1992, Spectacle For Tribuffalos, Sunshine After Rain, as well as the classic reggae album Beginning, with the I-Threes.
Her biggest hit is the 1982 single One Draw, which sold more than two million copies worldwide and cemented its place in Jamaican music history as the first reggae single to top the Billboard Disco Charts. It was re-released in April 2014 under Shanachie Records. Among Rita’s other top songs are A Jah Jah, Earth Runnings, Good Moning Jah, Serious Time, One More Morning, So Much Things to Say and Who Colt The Game, a single with her younger son Stephen Marley.
According to director Reinaldo Marcus Green, the yet-to-be-named Paramount film will be about the making of Marley’s seminal album Exodus, which was released in June 1977 when the singer was 32 years old. The set featured gems like Jammin and Waiting In Vain, which not only made Marley a megastar in the UK but coincided with his exile there, after an assassination attempt in Jamaica.
Screenwriter Zach Baylin, who worked with Green on the 6X Oscar-nominated film King Richard, will be writing the script for the Marley biopic.
British actor Kingsley Ben-Adir will play Marley in the film, which is set for release on January 12, 2024.
In a Tuff Gong release in May this year, Cedella, who is co-executive producer of the film along with her mother Rita Marley and brothers, Ziggy and Stephen, said that ‘addressing the Jamaican casting sessions was a crucial element in the overall success of the film’, which has been heavily criticized by Rastafarians and Reggae fans who have objected to the not-musically inclined Ben-Adir playing Bob Marley.
“As much as Bob Marley is a global icon with a universal message, his roots are entrenched in Jamaica. His connection to Jamaica, beginning as a young boy in the hills of St Ann, remains an inspiration and a dream. We are devoting our attention to ensuring it is authentic with significant Jamaican participation,” Cedella noted in the release.
Green had told The Guardian earlier that month that Ben-Adir’s ability to act was all that matters for the musical role. Green also pointed to Ben-Adir being of mixed race, a son of a white English father and a mother whose parents were from Trinidad and Tobago, which he said were “fundamental characteristics which are so important in the casting”.
“Then it’s about performance and ideas. He’s never going to be able to play like Bob in the time that he has to prepare for the role. But he can immerse himself in the world of Bob and folks around him, understanding everything from how to hold the guitar to what it’s like being a musician,” the director had said.
“Right now we don’t know how much Kingsley will actually sing. There might be a combination of real voice and the real tracks. You can’t mimic Bob Marley. You have to have an essence of who he was,” he had added.