“Bob Marley: One Love” is a biopic directed and co-written by Reinaldo Marcus Green, with the screenplay written by Terence Winter, Frank E. Flowers and Zach Baylin. The film centers around the life of reggae singer Bob Marley. It is set during the mid-1970s from Marley’s rise to popularity to his death in 1981. It stars actor Kingsley Ben-Adir as Bob Marley, Lashana Lynch as Rita Marley and James Norton as Chris Blackwell, who is the founder of Island Records and the person who originally signed Marley onto a record label.
According to IMBd, it is “the journey behind revolutionary music and the story of how reggae icon Bob Marley overcame adversity.”
“One Love” was announced in June of 2018 with Paramount Pictures distributing the movie. In March of 2021, Reinaldo Marcus Green was hired to direct and Zach Baylin was revealed to be penning the screenplay — both men had recently worked together on the film “King Richard” starring Will Smith — along with Winter and Flowers. Bob Marley’s son, Ziggy, was stated as producing the film. In February and August of 2022, it was reported by Variety that Ben-Adir and Lynch would star as Bob and Rita Marley.
Filming began in December of 2022 and ended in April of 2023. That same month the title of “Bob Marley: One Love” was announced during CinemaCon by Ziggy Marley.
“I think the film does a good job in showcasing how Bob Marley’s music is really about peace and love,” FHS paraeducator AF Cesar Linares said. “And I think the film did a good job of portraying him as someone who wanted to have peace and love in Jamaica. As Jamaica was going through a lot of turmoil during that time.”
Linares attended the film with prior knowledge of Marley, attending with his wife and some of their friends.
“What I did not like was how difficult the audio was to understand while they were speaking, I feel like the quality of the audio was not the best to fully grasp the message of the film,” Linares said. “I feel like I need to re-watch it with subtitles. I would also recommend the film to anyone who loves music [or] who has any or current knowledge of Bob Marley and wants to know more about him.”
