The Big Picture

Lynch emphasizes the importance of authenticity and not watering down Bob Marley’s accent and culture in the film.
Lynch discusses the challenges of filming the European tour scenes, which required multiple costume changes and showcased Kingsley Ben-Adir’s embodiment of Bob Marley.
Lynch expresses gratitude for Ben-Adir’s commitment to portraying Bob Marley accurately, which helped create a strong on-screen connection between their characters.

Bob Marley: One Love marks the first-ever biopic of the reggae pioneer and legend (played by Kinglsey Ben-Adir), whose legacy is the message of hope and unity he spread and the music he gave notoriety to. Standing firmly beside him through assassination attempts and controversy was singer-songwriter, Rita Marley, played by Lashana Lynch, who sat down with Collider’s Steve Weintraub to discuss the joys and challenges of filming.

From director Reinaldo Marcus Green (King Richard), One Love begins where Marley’s time in Jamaica ends. Following the attempt on his life, and his wife Rita’s, Marley is exiled to London, where the film focuses on a new album which would later become Time magazine’s most important album of the 20th Century, Exodus. For a time, Rita escapes with their children to Delaware, but her responsibility to the music and her husband’s message for the world lures her to Europe, where she serves as a staunch supporter and foundation for Marley.

During their interview, while discussing the importance of delivering authenticity to Bob Marley’s story, Lynch reveals a key element that would have been a make or break for the actress when signing on. She talks about the gravity of audiences leaning into other cultures, which sequences were the most challenging while filming, and how Ben-Adir not only captured Marley’s spirit, but he embodied the singer onscreen.

You can watch the full interview in the video above, or you can read the transcript below.

Bob Marley: One Love A look at the life of legendary reggae musician Bob Marley.Release Date February 14, 2024 Main Genre Drama

COLLIDER: You’ve done a lot of cool stuff in your career already. I love asking this of everyone, if someone has never seen anything you’ve done, what is the first thing you’d like them watching and why?

LASHANA LYNCH: Oh, that’s a tough question. I think I would go for The Woman King because I got to do strong and vulnerable at the same time in that movie, which I think is hard to do, and I found it very hard to do. I did my own stunts entirely for the first time — probably the last time [laughs] — and it was wonderful. I just love the character and I love Gina [Prince-Bythewood], and just the whole experience was life-changing for me.

Related ‘The Woman King’s John Boyega, Lashana Lynch, and Sheila Atim on Why It Was Important to do Their Own Stunts They also talk about what it really took to prepare for their roles.

Jumping into Bob Marley, one of the things that I really loved about the movie, one of the many things, is that it didn’t try to water down Bob’s accent for an American audience. As you’re watching, I had to lean in to really make sure I was understanding everything Bob was saying, and I love that aspect of it, that it’s Bob on screen. Can you talk about how everyone is speaking in their native tongue and with their accents and it’s not being neutered?

LYNCH: There’s no other way to tell this story outside of being as authentic as possible to every inch of who Bob is right now, what he was, what he represents. Jamaica, especially Jamaica in the ‘70s, it’s just a special time, and a really important time in my culture’s history. So to have accents that were watered down, I mean, that’s one thing that I wouldn’t have signed up for at all. I’m of Jamaican heritage and it would have been against everything that I believed in if we just had a quote-unquote understandable Jamaican accent. I just think that’s wrong in every way. And I think it’s important for audiences to lean in with understanding narratives, understanding cultures and accents. It’s important, and it really doesn’t underestimate what audiences do. We shouldn’t be spoon-feeding them in any way, and the accents being as true as they can be was one way of doing it.

I completely agree. So, you see the shooting schedule, and you know what’s in front of you; what’s the day that you have circled in terms of, “I cannot wait to film this,” and, “Oh my god, how am I going to film this?”

LYNCH: All in one. I remember we were shooting the European tour, and literally outfit, outfit, different headscarf, different song, “Nope, same song back,” “Back to a different song.” It was like a day of actually being on a live show. It felt like doing backstage costume changes. That was a tough day because it’s just so many countries in one go, but really exciting because I got to actually got to watch Kingsley properly. I got to watch him perform. I was there at the side watching every inch of him, and it was really exciting to me because I come from music and it was just nice to be on stage, to be honest.

Kingsley Ben-Adir Doesn’t Just Perform in ‘Bob Marley: One Love,’ He Embodies

Kingsley does such a great job and becomes Bob. What was it like for you the first time you actually saw him as Bob, because it’s a performance?

LYNCH: I would even go as far as to say it’s more than a performance. It’s an embodying of a version of Bob that many people in the world won’t know, even people who are of that time, like my parents’ generation. I feel like they’ll be learning something completely new of Bob and of the family and of even Jamaica at the time through this movie. So being with him, just seeing how he was all-encompassing, all-prepared, fully in the spirit of Bob was really touching for me being Jamaican, and also really helped me to dive into different levels of Mrs. Marley. In order to get their connection, their relationship at the time, I needed him to be exactly where he was, and he sat in the pocket every single minute of the day, did not take his finger off the pulse at all. So, I thank him for making us strong as a pair together on screen.

Bob Marley: One Love is in theaters this weekend.

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