‘Bob Marley: One Love’ Biopic’s Success Hinges On Kingsley Ben-Adir’s Performance, Says Cedella Marley

Cedella Marley has admitted that the success of the upcoming Bob Marley: One Love biopic, which covers the life of her father spanning 1976 and 1978, rests heavily on lead actor Kingsley Ben Adir’s portrayal of the late Reggae icon.

During an interview with veteran entertainment journalist Anthony Miller about the film, Cedella was asked “how much in terms of make or break, hinges on the performance” of the British national.

“All of it,” she replied, laughing. 

The Tomorrow People singer also pointed to Ben-Adir’s many ‘wow’ moments during filming and added that: “But you know what, he is gonna surprise you.  He did that to me.”

In implicitly addressing the outrage expressed by many Jamaicans last year, after Ben-Adir was announced as the pick to be the lead actor, Cedella pointed out that the majority of the biopic’s cast is Jamaican.

“But overall the cast is very diverse.  We have a lot of Jamaicans in there.  We have a lot of children of some of the icons in there, like Family Man Junior, who plays Family Man.  Junior Marvin Jr plays Junior Marvin; Naomi Cowan plays Marcia Griffiths.  And so we were very happy that we were able to have at least 98 percent of the cast being Jamaican,” she said.

The film will be released via Paramount Pictures on January 12, 2024. 

In the meantime, Ben-Adir, who previously made a name for himself in Netflix’s Peaky Blinders and in the film Malcolm X, is currently playing the role of an alien villain in the Marvel Studios’ TV series Secret Invasion, which premiered on June 21, 2023.

In April this year, executive producer Ziggy Marley shared a first-look trailer for the Bob Marley biopic at CinemaCon, the official convention of the National Association of Theatre Owners, inside the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.  However, Cedella said she had not yet viewed any of the footage.

“I haven’t seen anything yet. I have just been dealing with the poster artwork right now.  Because I think the directors are the nervous ones,” she said, chuckling.  “We’re cool.”

“Bob Marley has several moments so its not gonna be the only one…part one two, three, four, five.  There is a lot more to come,” she added.

According to Variety Magazine, the trailer of the film includes scenes of Marley “performing in cavernous stadiums in front of adoring crowds, as well as scenes of him with his family and relaxing while playing soccer,” as well as “a recreation of the 1976 assassination attempt that Marley survived”.

In providing details of the biopic on April 2, in an interview on The Running African program on Irie FM, Ziggy had hinted that two of Jamaica’s foremost political enforcers of the 1970s era, Aston “Bucky” Marshall and Claudius Massop were also included, as well as the two leaders of the two major political parties at the time: the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) Edward Seaga and Michael Manley of the Peoples National Party (PNP).

He had also said that Ben-Adir and his compatriot Lashana Lynch had done “a good job” as Bob Marley and Rita Marley, respectively.

Bob Marley: One Love surrounds the life story of Rita and Bob, with the foundation being the years 1976 to 1978, spanning the assassination attempt on the couple on December 3, 1976, when Bob was shot at his home at 56 Hope Road, and Rita seriously injured to the Reggae legend’s subsequent self-imposed exile in London and his later return to Jamaica.

The shooting occurred two days before a Smile Jamaica Concert, which Marley was billed to perform for free, at the National Heroes Park in Kingston.    That concert had been arranged to ease political tensions and gang warfare that had gripped Jamaica in the months leading up to the December 1976 General Election.

According to a Gleaner report, a flyer that advertised the event had said, “Bob Marley, in association with the Cultural Section, Prime Minister’s (Michael Manley) office, presents Smile Jamaica, a public concert featuring Bob Marley and the Wailers and I Three”.

“Marley’s popularity was looming large in Europe and parts of the USA. He was revered by many and seen as a symbol of freedom. The attack, some say, was to send a strong message that he should not meddle in politics… The question that still lingers is whether Marley was attacked by assailants aligned to the political parties or was it the work of the CIA?” the Gleaner article stated.

After the assassination attempt, Bob had flown to Nassau, Bahamas, and later to England, where he recorded his Exodus and Kaya albums in 1977 and 1978, respectively. 

Two years later, he returned to Jamaica for the legendary One Love Peace concert, where he had Manley and Seaga join hands in a symbolic show of solidarity.