by Howard Campbell
SOUTH FLORIDA – There has been strong response to the Bob Marley: One Love trailer which was released July 6 by Paramount Pictures. Expectant fans got a glimpse of the highly-anticipated film which stars British actor Kingsley Ben-Adir as the Jamaican reggae legend.
Within hours of its release, it drew over 10 million views. The trailer shows scenes of Marley’s rise from the slums of Kingston’s ghettos to international star, as well as political turmoil in Jamaica that led to an assassination attempt on his life in December, 1976.
Wayne Jobson is a lifelong friend of Chris Blackwell, the music industry maverick whose Island Records distributed Marley’s classic albums. He is impressed with the trailer.
“I love the trailer and I just hope that the entire film is as powerful as this and shows the world that Bob was the original foundation soldier and not a pop star. He was an evangelist who has helped all of us to see the world a little more clearly,” said Jobson. “He was not doing it for the fame or the money or the women. He was on a mission from God.”
Marley, whose timeless songs include the global anthem One Love, Natty Dread, Rastaman Vibration and No Woman No Cry, died from cancer at age 36 in May, 1981.
‘One Love’ is directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green, who had a similar role for King Richard, the Academy Award-winning biopic on Richard Williams, father of tennis greats Venus and Serena Williams.
Extensive scenes for the movie were filmed in Kingston during March this year. Some of them took place in Trench Town, the ghetto where Marley lived in the 1950s and 1960s after leaving rural St. Ann parish.
Veteran broadcaster Winston Barnes was one of the Disc Jockeys in Jamaica who played the revolutionary music of Marley and his band The Wailers, as they emerged during the early 1970s. He was also pleased with the trailer.
“Authentic it has to be as Marley is truly iconic which means creatives can not easily tinker with the facts of his life. As a moving picture it appears to be very good to look at from a cinematic perspective,” Barnes noted. “l remember complaints being mooted about The Harder They Come showing the reality like ‘dungle’ (ghettos). It was authentic!”
‘One Love’, which is scheduled for release in 2024, also stars British actress Lashawna Lynch as Rita Marley, Bob’s wife. Lynch, who starred in the 2021 James Bond film No Time to Die, has Jamaican heritage.
Cedella Marley and Ziggy Marley, the singer/songwriter’s children, are executive producers for the movie.
