'Bob Marley: One Love' Exclusive Interview: Ziggy Marley - MASHAHER

Ziggy Marley attend the Los Angeles Premiere of “Bob Marley: One Love” at the Regency Village Theatre in Los Angeles, CA on Tuesday, February 6th, 2024. Photo: Alex J. Berliner/ABImages.

Available on digital, Blu-ray and 4K beginning March 28th is the musical biopic ‘Bob Marley: One Love’, which was directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green (‘King Richard’) and chronicles the legendary late singer’s life and career. Kingsley Ben-Adir (‘Barbie’) stars as Bob Marley and Lashana Lynch (‘Captain Marvel’) portrays his wife, Rita.

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Bob’s son, producer Ziggy Marley about his work on ‘Bob Marley: One Love.’ Marley discussed his father’s legacy, getting the movie made, Kingsley Ben-Adir and Lashana Lynch’s performances, being on set, the music and working with director Reinaldo Marcus Green, as well as Ziggy’s voice work in ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’.

Related Article: Kingsley Ben-Adir Talks ‘Bob Marley: One Love’ and Playing an Icon

Producer Ziggy Marley in ‘Bob Marley: One Love’ from Paramount Pictures.

Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about the long road to getting this movie made? Was there a point when you thought it might not happen, and how do you feel about the final film?

Ziggy Marley: I was okay if it happened and okay if it didn’t happen. So, it’s like I’m going to leave it in the hands of the universe. If it’s supposed to happen, it’s going to happen. So, I’m not thinking at any point in time, we knew it. We spoke within ourselves, the creative team and Kingsley and Lashana, that if at any point we feel like we’re not doing this thing right, we must stop it. We can’t put out something that we don’t feel is the right representation of Bob. So that was the only thing that was always right there. But otherwise, we’re positive people, you know?

Kingsley Ben-Adir as “Bob Marley” in ‘Bob Marley: One Love’ from Paramount Pictures.

MF: Can you talk about finding Kingsley Ben-Adir to play your father and what did you think of his performance?

ZM: We looked everywhere. We looked all over. We wanted somebody from Jamaica, obviously that would’ve been the greatest choice, who knows the culture, can talk the dialect properly. So, we’re looking at Jamaica too. But we also needed somebody who can act up to a level of the art of acting. The art of acting is an art. It’s not something where you cannot do it good for the first time. I must practice my art to be good at it. So, the acting ability of Kingsley, I think is what kind of pushed him past anybody else. In his acting ability, what he was able to do is bring an emotional connection to the character of how he was representing it to us. That emotional connection. Some other guy might have looked like Bob more and might have talked like Bob more. Who knows? But the emotional part of it for connecting with people, connecting with me, connecting with you, that’s art. Bob had that art as a human being. So, whoever played him had to also have that art as an actor. I think that’s what we went for, you know?

(L to R) Kingsley Ben-Adir as “Bob Marley” and Lashana Lynch as “Rita Marley” in ‘Bob Marley: One Love’ from Paramount Pictures.

MF: What did you think about Lashana Lynch’s performance as your mother, Rita?

ZM: Lashana is good. She has Jamaican heritage. Her mom is Jamaican. So, she has that connection, and she reminds me of my mother in terms of that she is a queenly woman, and an African queen. It’s not your everyday run-of-the-mill girl. This is a different character of person. So that is powerful. Even before they start acting, who you are as a human being is already a force that we can feel and love. When we spoke to her, we on the same page. Because she knows the culture, she knows it. She met with my mother, and she advocated for a stronger Rita. It was funny, I tell you a secret, right? So, the script was being written by guys. I put in a word here or there, but basically, its men writing the script. Now there is this female character that the men are writing about. So, Lashana and my sister Cedella were like, “Come on. She needs more fire.” I was like, “You’re right.” Because it’s a bunch of men who wrote it. This woman needs a woman’s perspective, a strong woman. We don’t know anything about that. So that was a beautiful moment. That was what was good about the process, is that we all could put input into it. Nobody was like, “It’s my way.” Everybody can put in something into it, you know?

Kingsley Ben-Adir as “Bob Marley” in ‘Bob Marley: One Love’ from Paramount Pictures.

MF: What was it like for you to be on set and then see your childhood recreated on screen?

ZM: Listen, the whole thing for me, I have it in perspective. I stay in perspective. But for me it was entertainment. I’m watching a movie being made that’s entertaining to me. I’m seeing how this stuff works. So, for me, I’m a fan of movies and I’m a fan of movie making. So, I had so many different perspectives on it, and I never really get too emotional during the process or to surreal or anything like that. It was enjoyable though. I like the kids that played us too. The children did very well.

Stefan Wade as “Seeco Patterson”, Lashana Lynch as “Rita Marley”, Aston Barrett Jr. as “Family Man Barrett”, Tosin Cole as “Tyrone Downie”, Kingsley Ben-Adir as “Bob Marley”, Hector ‘Roots’ Lewis as “Carly Barrett”, “Antonio 'Gillie' Gilbert”, Anna-Sharé Blake as “Judy Mowatt”, Sheldon Shepherd as “Neville Garrick” and Andrae Simpson as "Don Kinsey" in 'Bob Marley: One Love' from Paramount Pictures.

(L to R) Stefan Wade as “Seeco Patterson”, Lashana Lynch as “Rita Marley”, Aston Barrett Jr. as “Family Man Barrett”, Tosin Cole as “Tyrone Downie”, Kingsley Ben-Adir as “Bob Marley”, Hector ‘Roots’ Lewis as “Carly Barrett”, “Antonio ‘Gillie’ Gilbert”, Anna-Sharé Blake as “Judy Mowatt”, Sheldon Shepherd as “Neville Garrick” and Andrae Simpson as “Don Kinsey” in ‘Bob Marley: One Love’ from Paramount Pictures.

MF: Can you talk about choosing the music for the movie and was there one song of your father’s that you wish could have included but that you just didn’t have time for?

ZM: I mean there’s some sound that we got in on the credits at the end. Like, “Rasta Man Chant.” Yeah, there’s a lot of stuff that we wish we would have, but during the process, again, we got to follow the truth. If something doesn’t fit, what I learned from it, and this is my first time doing it, or what I got from it while even doing the editing is that after a while the movie or the piece of art is going to tell you what it wants to be. You can try to fight that all you want. You’re going to lose that fight if you don’t follow what the art is telling you. If your intention is to placate to something else other than the art, then you’re doing something else. So, there was so much stuff that we love, and we tried a million times but at the end of the day, the piece of art was saying, “No. Sorry.” So, we must be humble, you know?

(L to R) Director Reinaldo Marcus Green and Lashana Lynch as “Rita Marley” in ‘Bob Marley: One Love’ from Paramount Pictures.

MF: What was it like working with director Reinaldo Marcus Green to tell your family’s story?

ZM: He made it easy for me because he was open, and he still wants to learn too, as we all should. I’m still learning stuff. Nobody is perfect. We’re still learning. So, Reinaldo also is in his growth process, and that energy is a great energy to create with. Not a process of where something is already locked into a certain set of what it is or who you are, but somebody who is still searching and evolving. That’s how you make good art, really. With that creative energy that is not yet jaded. So that is what’s beautiful about Reinaldo. I watched some of his stuff. I never watched ‘King Richard’ but I watched some of the stuff he did before, some of his short films. I just liked him, and I liked the energy. As a human being, we have a good connection with everybody. The whole cast, the whole crew, with Reinaldo, it was like a family. But yeah, man, Reinaldo is a great man and a great director. I can’t wait to see something else that he does. Looking forward to it.

Spider-Man/Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) in Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animations’ ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.’

MF: Finally, you made a voice cameo in ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.” How did that happen?

ZM: I love Spider-Man, me a Spider-Man fan. So, when them ask me, me going to say, “Yes.” But I’ve been doing voiceover stuff for a while. I did ‘Shark Tale’ and I did some TV stuff too. But when Spider-Man calls, I got to go.