'Bob Marley: One Love’ Director Reinaldo Marcus Green Talks Casting

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Have you seen Bob Marley: One Love yet?

Starring Kingsley Ben-Adir and Lashana Lynch as Bob and Rita Marley, the film follows the life and music of the late Jamaican legend.

Source: Roy Rochlin/ Wiktor Szymanowicz/ Future Publishing / Getty

The film not only follows Bob Marley’s life and stardom, it also showcases how Marley’s revolutionary music was used to advocate for social reform. Centered on his life in the late 1970s with flashbacks from the past, the film spotlights Marley’s musical journey as he recorded his album “EXODUS” with the Wailers.

Source: Chiabella James / Paramount Pictures

The film also dives into his relationship with his wife and teenage sweetheart, Rita Marley, and his exile to London after an assassination attempt.

Source: Courtesy of Paramount Pictures / Bob Marley: One Love

Unlike some biopics of the industry’s past, this project has been endorsed by members of the Marley family. Rita and her children Ziggy and Cedella Marley produced the film along with Brad Pitt as an executive producer.

Reinaldo Marcus Green Talks Directing Bob Marley: One Love

BOSSIP’s Social Media Manager, Charlene Masona spoke with director Reinaldo Marcus Green – who directed Monsters and Men and King Richard– about working closely with the Marley family and how they helped bring Bob Marley’s story to life.

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“There’s a poetry to the film, and I think that comes from language, not only patchwork, but Bob-specific and you can’t get that without access to the family,” Green told BOSSIP. “His children are an extension of him and his disposition, his attitude, the way he walks, the way he talks, his swag. So, having Ziggy on set, you felt like you saw little glimpses of Bob and meeting Cedella. You’re like, “oh okay,” you see all the different sides of the personalities and it was amazing.”

Green also spoke about how the family was an asset to the film’s cast and crew.

“The access we had was incredible not only to the music but to the men, to his inner circle, and they were there with him. They remember their dad,” Green said. “ It was special to have that. I felt like I had a VIP ticket to his life. And through his children, that was special.”

Source: Courtesy of Paramount Pictures / Bob Marley: One Love

Bob Marley used his music and his platform as an avenue for social change, something that may be considered a topic of discussion today. There have been conversations around whether public figures should or should not use their art and their platforms to speak about social justice or world issues. Green hopes that this film will carry on Bob Marley’s legacy.

“It’ll reach a new generation of kids in the same way Bob’s music came to me. I was born the year he passed away. I learned about his music through my father and him passing it on to us and our film is no different,” Green told BOSSIP. “It’s a vessel. It’s an opportunity for people, for us to carry Bob’s legacy. What he was after, what he was singing for and his music is timeless. It’s stronger today than it was when he first made it,” Green said.

“Bob’s music will be introduced to a brand new generation of Bob Marley fans, people that don’t know his music, my children, that will grow up learning about his music through Kingsley and Lashana’s performance.”

Source: Roy Rochlin / Getty

The strength of Ben-Adir and Lynch’s performance can be attributed to their electrifying chemistry on screen.

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Green spoke to us about this decision to cast the actors in leading roles and exactly what he was looking for in the casting process.

“As a director, you’re looking for the it factor, and that’s what I saw in Kingsley’s tape. He stood out. He was special. He was intelligent. He was charismatic. He had presence. But more importantly, he captured the essence of Bob in his tape, and I knew that the foundation was there,” Green said. “Now he didn’t have dreads. There were no prosthetics on him. I had to imagine what it was going to be like, but he had the foundation of somebody that I knew.”

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Green similarly spoke of Lynch as he recalled his first meeting with her.

“[I] remember our first meeting in a cafe and she was just telling me of being of Jamaican descent [and] how important Rita was,” Green said. “And I’ve never heard an actress speak so clearly about why it was so important and who Rita meant to her as a Jamaican woman. She had conviction on top of being an amazing actress. It went beyond what was on the page,” Green continued. “The script is one part of the filmmaking process, but like you said, it’s about chemistry and you need that level of commitment to do a film about Bob Marley and I knew that I had found two bright young stars and boy, do they deliver.”

Source: Roy Rochlin / Getty

Want to see it for yourself? You can watch Kingsley Ben-Adir and Lashana Lynch transform into Bob and Rita Marley in Bob Marley: One Love which is in theaters now!