Reinaldo Marcus Green gained a lot of attention for directing the award-winning film King Richard. The 42-year-old director now tackles another biopic, Bob Marley: One Love, which was released in theatres today (Feb. 14). PopCulture.com spoke to Green about how the film pays tribute to music legend Bob Marley.
“I think somebody said that it’s a love letter,” Green told PopCulture. “A love letter to his family. A love letter to Bob’s legacy. Yeah, I hope it’s a continuation of what Bob had started. His message, the message of his music. We were fortunate beneficiaries of his music, of his lyrics, and it felt like the film is unwrapping that gift and trying to peek behind the curtain. I like to describe it as a VIP ticket into the creation of his music and the performance of those songs and the meaning behind the message of those songs. And if we were able to achieve that, then I think we’ve done something. We’ve done something right.”
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Bob Marley: One Love celebrates the life and music of Marley, who inspired the entire world with his message. Green worked on the movie with the entire Marley family, including Marley’s son Ziggy who is a producer.
“We get along, which is great,” Green said when talking about Ziggy Marley. “It’s not always the case. And we just hit it off. We hit it off as he’s a lover of films. He likes action movies, actually, which is great. So he was loving when we were doing the action and all that stuff. That was fun for him. But what a supporter, just a supporter of me as the director of the film, wanting me to succeed, wanting us all to succeed. Just that the spiritual sort of spine of the movie.”
Kingsley Ben-Adir plays Bob Marley in the Paramount film, and it was not an easy task for him since it’s the first time someone has tackled the role in a full-length motion picture. Green was impressed with how hard Ben-Adir worked during the filming process.
“He never let off the gas,” Green said. “Once he entered Bob Land, he never came back. And it was wonderful to see somebody go to the depths to the edge, right to the edge and take us there and be a leader in that way. But we had a brilliant cast. A brilliant cast. Lashana Lynch, Micheal Ward, James Norton, Michael Gandolfini, Hector Lewis, David Kerr. So much talent that helped support our cast. We had real musicians. So when we were doing musical scenes, those are real musicians playing, also aspiring actors. So it was a great balance for our leads to be in that environment.”
