Bob Marley Biopic Will Fill Your Heart With ‘One Love,’ Even Though The Actor Isn’t Jamaican

The 2023 MTV Video Music Awards introduced a fresh audience to the upcoming Bob Marley biopic, set to hit theaters on January 12, 2024. Around the halfway mark of the ceremony, a teaser for the movie played, leaving many wondering: “Is this new?” The clip, while short, masterfully emphasizes the importance of Marley’s story being told in this day and age, and is bound to tug on the heartstrings. Though, with the last few years offering a mixed bag for biopics, the momentum is slow to build with this one. We can’t all be an Oppenheimer, right? 

The biopic, titled Bob Marley: One Love, was announced to be in development at Paramount Pictures in 2021 with Reinaldo Marcus Green set to direct a script by Zach Baylin, Frank E. Flowers, and Terence Winter. The following year, Kingsley Ben-Adir was cast in the title role. 

The movie tells the life story of the reggae singer from his rise to fame to his death in 1981. The teaser — first released in July — focuses on the events that occurred in 1976, which saw a group of armed men breaking into Marley’s house and shooting both him and his wife, Rita, played by Lashana Lynch in the movie. 

Marley is asked in the clip, “Bob, they tried to kill you and your wife. And now you’re choosing to return to Jamaica to play a peace concert. Don’t you fear for your life?” 

In real life, two days after the shooting, Marley played at the Smile Jamaica Concert.

The actual contents of the biopic seem powerful and timely, given the current political conflicts unfolding around the world today. But the teaser still has a few red flags. First, the wig on Ben-Adir’s Bob Marley is offensively awful. One social media user wrote after the clip played at the award show, “They wrong as hell for that wig.” Secondly, the actor playing the famed musician isn’t Jamaican, which played a huge part in Marley’s personal identity and work.

Others seemed to pick up on the nationality qualm, as Ben-Adir is a British actor, born to British parents. “Who tf is that actor doing the Bob Marley movie…cause I swear if they cast a fake Jamaican for THAT role? We raising hell,” wrote one viewer on social media and “so, the dude playing Bob Marley in the new #BobMarley movie ain’t Jamaican?!” penned another.

The comment section shows another viewer pointing out that Ben-Adir’s grandparents are from Trinidad and Tobago; however as the original user pointed out, he’s still not Jamaican. 

These sorts of conversations are nothing new as recently seen with the release of the Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody, which saw lead actor Naomi Ackie roasted for not looking similar to the 6-time Grammy winner and for delivering a soulless imitation of the singer during her recreation of her 1991 Super Bowl XXV performance. 

That said, Ben-Adir remains rather unscathed, aside from the aforementioned discourse and this one comment claiming he’s “not fine enough” to play Marley. To that, I say, “you gotta get your eyes checked.” Perhaps the humdrum response is due to the biopic, as a whole, having not yet sparked a passionate response. There’s also the worthwhile distraction that Lynch, who is of Jamaican descent brings, as the actor appears to play a large role in the movie, and has previously starred in a plethora of reputable movies, such as The Woman King, Matilda the Musical, and Captain Marvel.

At first look, hopes are high, which is more than what can be said for other releases within the genre. Every little thing is gonna be alright with this one!