(Left to right:) Kingsley Ben-Adir on Feb. 18, Bob Marley in 1980.Photo:Karwai Tang/WireImage; Pete Still/Redferns via Getty
Karwai Tang/WireImage; Pete Still/Redferns via Getty
BringingBob Marleyto the big screen is a daunting endeavor, butKingsley Ben-Adirwas up for the challenge.
TheBob Marley: One Lovestar, 37, tells PEOPLE that on most major screen projects, “you normally have a coach or two.” For the biopic on the Jamaican music icon (in theaters now), however, “We had coaches everywhere.”
“I was very lucky,” reflects the British actor. “We had coaches for everything. Our language team was seven, eight, nine people. It was a community effort.”
That community included members of the late Marley’s family, “friends and people who knew him,” adds Ben-Adir. “I learned everything I needed to through them and with them.”
(Left to right:) Kingsley Ben-Adir and Ziggy Marley on Feb. 6.Leon Bennett/Getty
Leon Bennett/Getty
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Although he’s played real-life figures on the big screen before, includingBarack ObamainThe Comey Ruleand Malcolm X inOne Night in Miami, Ben-Adir notes he has “never played an artist… It felt a bit dangerous because I was like, I’m going to be starting from scratch.”
That included learning how to play the guitar, studying the musician’s Jamaican accent and Patois language and more. “It wasn’t one thing in particular. It was the many different things altogether at the same time,” he tells PEOPLE of preparing to portray Marley.
“The singing and the learning of the guitar was challenging for sure, but they were all good challenges. They were all fun challenges.”
“Understanding who Bob was as a human being,” says theBarbieactor, meant that “we spoke a lot about his vulnerability. Who was it that saw him cry, and when did he cry, when did he feel?”
Those discussions with “the Jamaican people who knew Bob and loved him,” as Ben-Adir says, formed the backbone of his portrayal. “I wouldn’t have been able to do that without them. There’s no books where that’s written. It’s all from different people… It involved a lot of fine-tuning and being careful.”
(Left to right:) Kingsley Ben-Adir in “Bob Marley: One Love,” Bob Marley.Paramount Pictures; Michael Ochs Archives/Getty
Paramount Pictures; Michael Ochs Archives/Getty
It helped thatOne Lovefilmed in both London and Jamaica, often at many of the sites Marley himself frequented. “He knew the streets,” says Ben-Adir of the late musician.
Of the film, Marley’s son Ziggy, 55, wrote onInstagram: “Authenticity fills the screen with numerous Jamaican actors doing us proud in representing the culture. 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.”
source: people.com
