Becoming Bob: Lead actor in Marley biopic discusses iconic role

By Luqman Gbenro •

A new movie musical is jamming its way into theaters this month. “Bob Marley: One Love” is a dramatic retelling of the reggae singer’s triumph over tragedy and mission to unite a divided Jamaica. Mako Radio attended the South Beach premiere on Feb. 8 and got to sit down for a one-on-one with the film’s star, Kingsley Ben-Adir.

COURTESY OF ALLIED GLOBAL MARKETING Luqman Gbenro, junior communication major (right), interviews Kingsley Ben-Adir (left).

With you playing Nesta the Messenger, I have to ask: What does the film’s message mean to you?

I really had to reflect on the message as it related to Bob personally. So peace, inner peace. Love, self-love. Unity, unity of your people around you, you know? And getting to understand where Bob was personally with all of those things and learning about that through the memories of the people who loved him most. I also had to check myself with those things and ask, Where am I with inner peace and safety, you know? Especially when, you know, they all nearly died, and out of that trauma came this incredible album and this outpouring of emotion from Bob. They put that album together within months of the assassination attempt. So [it was] just a reflection on all of that, which was the major draw to this artistically, I guess.

In a previous interview, Ziggy Marley said that you brought a certain human element to the role that nobody else could. Can you tell me what you put into your portrayal that really captured Bob’s spirit?

Not to get too much into acting boring stuff, but I don’t work externally and showy. I think all of that comes once you understand what his psychology was as a human being, what he was going through, and what his traumas were. Bob grew up in the ghetto, and he saw a lot and went through a lot. It was a journey he went on to get to that universal message. He didn’t just wake up one day and start singing about peace, love, and unity. He had to really figure that out, and it cost him a lot. He dedicated his life to music. [Seeing] his conviction, his work ethic, and how much he put into his music was eye-opening.

It’s been about 50 years since the events of the film. And now, in our digital age, how do you think the message of human connection still applies to people who are separated by screens and miles of internet?

Yeah, I don’t know. I don’t know what the impact of all of this is going to be, because we’re really in it. And when I was 12 or 13, phones were around; we were texting and stuff. [But] the internet and iPhones are new. I didn’t have one until I was in my mid-20s. But I feel like, on some level, we’re all trying to feel love. We all want to be connected. We all want to feel safe. We all want to feel like we mean something to someone. I think how that idea related to Bob was the investigation really. I think that’s what made understanding him as a human being relatable to me and why I thought it could work. He was on his own journey to find inner peace, you know? For me, the movie was Bob’s lifelong journey to find peace on an internal level. You just try and hope that, in some way, you kind of connect with him. I was never trying to do an impersonation of him or a mimic of him. It was always just trying to interpret his spirit a little bit.