Kingsley Ben-Adir takes extreme approach to playing Bob Marley

Tasked with portraying one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Kingsley Ben-Adir left nothing to chance.

The British actor suffered for his art as he prepared to play Bob Marley in a major feature film about the Jamaican king of reggae. Now the director of Bob Marley: One Love has revealed Ben-Adir’s “extreme” approach, which included a drastic diet that saw him shed two-and-a-half stone.

Reinaldo Marcus Green said: “He lost a significant amount of weight – among many other deep character dives. Kingsley’s not a small guy, he’s bigger than me and that’s pretty big. He certainly got thin.”

To play Marley, during eight months he also learned the guitar, to sing and dance, and watched hundreds of hours of videos of Marley singing and talking.

Green said: “He worked on patois, but not just generic patois, but Bob’s specific patois, which is a language in and of itself. So he had an extreme preparation for the film. He really went very deep in trying to understand Bob, to create a portrait of him. Kingsley’s dedication to the craft is second to none.”

He described the resulting performance as “nothing short of brilliant”: “He’s a star with or without this movie, but this movie certainly puts him on the map.”

As soon as Green saw Ben-Adir’s audition tape, he realised the potential. “Kingsley has incredible stage and film presence. He certainly showed in his tape that making a Bob Marley film was possible,” he said.

In making the Marley film, Green has collaborated closely with the star’s children, including his sons Ziggy and Stephen, daughter Cedella and wife Rita, as well as those closest to the star.

Neville Garrick, Marley’s friend, who passed away in November, was a consultant on the film and on set every day, Green said: “He was Bob’s artistic director. He did all the lighting for all the shows, he created all the album art. So there were several key members in Bob’s life that we could tap into and ask questions and consult with.”

In the pursuit of accuracy, they walked the streets that Marley walked, including 42 Oakley Street in Chelsea, which is marked by an English Heritage blue plaque, as the star lived there in 1977, when he and The Wailers finished recording the Exodus album.

Green said: “I wanted the crew to feel that this is where Bob was. We went to the park, where he played football. We tried to create those moments, not only for the purposes of the film, but accuracy and feeling. We did the same thing in Jamaica.”

Marley, who was born to a black mother and a white father, rose from poverty, beginning his singing career in the 1960s with the vocal group The Wailers and going on to become one of the best-selling artists of all time.

Poverty and oppression, along with dignity and hope, were among the themes in classic hits such as Get Up, Stand Up; No Woman, No Cry; and Could You Be Loved. His spiritual beliefs in the Jamaican religious movement Rastafari inspired him to be the voice of the poor and dispossessed. He died of cancer in 1981, aged just 36.

The film focuses on the 1970s, when he survived an assassination attempt in Jamaica and fled to London, recording his iconic album Exodus, with hits that included Jamming, Three Little Birds and One Love.

Ben-Adir is a rising star of British film and theatre. His previous roles include Malcolm X in One Night in Miami and Colonel Ben Younger in the BBC’s Peaky Blinders.

Mr Green’s previous films include King Richard, in which Will Smith played Richard Williams, who coached his daughters Venus and Serena into becoming tennis superstars. It received six Oscar nominations, including best picture, and a best actor win for Smith. 

Green spoke of the pressures of portraying a legendary figure with millions of loyal fans: “Bob is an icon. He’s not somebody that you take lightly. I read somewhere that, next to Jesus Christ, he has the most recognisable face on the planet. There’s a loyalty to Bob. Everybody I would meet said ‘don’t mess this up’. It’s quite a pressure. Everybody felt that we were on sacred ground, that Bob was somebody that you didn’t mess with, and that we wanted to protect. We felt that responsibility throughout.”

Ultimately, he added, this is a movie and there always has to be some suspension of disbelief: “This is an interpretation of Bob’s life… It’s about sharing Bob’s music, message and legacy with the world.”

Bob Marley: One Love is released in cinemas on Feb 14.

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