March 4, 2024 • 58 mins
When the previews of "Bob Marley: One Love" were released, it set our hearts cautiously excited in the promise of a cinematic journey through Bob Marley's life. The biopic is an opportunity to highlight Marley's musical genius and symbolizes the next stage of legacy building for one of Jamaica's most popular figures.
In this episode, the impassioned voices of Kerry-Ann, Chris Williams, Alexandria, Jendayi Indira, and Mikey T, who dissect the film's Valentine's Day unveiling. We discuss Kingsley Ben-Adir's and Lashana Lynch's portrayals of Bob and Rita Marley, and how our Jamaican and Caribbean brethren see themselves reflected on the silver screen.
What does it mean to authentically represent a cultural icon? This question courses through our lively discussion, as we navigate the rough waters of casting choices, the nuances of cultural identity, and the media's representation of our stories. The significance of this film hits home, feeding into the broader dialogue about Jamaican talent's visibility in film. The conversation doesn't shy away from the hard-hitting topics, including the challenges of accent authenticity and the complexities embedded in the film industry's casting decisions.
Bringing our introspective voyage to a close, we explore skepticism in the industry and question the depth of the biopic in capturing the essence of Bob Marley's life compared to other musical legends' portrayals on film. The collaboration between Plan B Entertainment and the Marley family in creating this movie raises points on narrative control and the resulting portrayal, which some feel lacked the electrifying energy Marley is known for.
We leave off pondering the biopic's impact, the weight of Rita Marley's influence, and Kingsley's commitment to his role, setting the stage for a continued exploration of Marley's indelible imprint on music and culture.
Resources mentioned:
Documentary: Marley , Remastered: Who Shot the Sheriff
Book: No Woman, No Cry by Rita Marley and Hettie Jones
Style & Vibes: Website | Newsletter | Youtube | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Produced by Breadfruit Media
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hi everyone, welcome to this special joint episode of
Carry On Friends Style andBibes and Reels and Ritims.
And we are coming together forthis joint episode to discuss
the Bob Marley One Love Movieand it is causing quite a stir
on the internet.
And we've assembled a group ofpassionate guests family members
(00:32):
of the Breadfruit Media, familyaudience members to come in and
have a very poignant, educatedand we're going to touch on the
mix up tool that is circulatingbut we're going to have a very
festive conversation on thismovie, michaela welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Yes, so we already anticipate this being a very
long conversation.
So, to be clear and transparent, is going to be a two part
episode so that you guys canreally get the in depth
understanding of our position,as well as our amazing guests.
So, as Carrie said, the BobMarley One Love Movie released
(01:11):
on February 14th, on Valentine'sDay.
That is no coincidence.
That was planned from amarketing perspective.
Produced by Rinaldo MarcusGreen, who did King Richard
through Paramount Films, incollaboration with the Marley
family and a host of writers.
It stars King Lee Benadir, whoplayed Malcolm X in One Night in
(01:34):
Miami, and he plays Bob Marley.
Lashawna Lynch plays RitaMarley and she was in Woman King
and Captain Marvel.
We'll get into the backgroundsbecause you know we got to get
into that, but, like Carrie said, the release definitely sparked
a lot of interest.
Conversations, commentary and,you know, as Jamaican Caribbean
(01:56):
people, I forget to get on topof things More time.
I'm sure these are WhatsAppconversations, dinner table
conversations, so on our pre thefamily conversation, panda
podcast episode yeah, so,without further ado, carrie,
bring in the guests.
Bring in the guests, roll themin, roll them in.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
All right.
So joining us today, nostranger to carry on friends or
style, and vibes is our co-hostwith the most is Mr Chris
Williams.
Welcome to the show.
Per per, per, per, per, per perper.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
What's up y'all?
Speaker 1 (02:34):
And also joining us is our wonderful audience.
Member of Carry On Friends andsupporter.
Big up yourself, indira.
Welcome to the podcast.
Hi everybody, and also anotherperson we just featured on the
podcast and a supporter alreadyof Carry On Friends and Reels
and Riddims is Mikey T.
(02:56):
Big up yourself, give them thebest.
I want to go on, everybody Allright and then, and then, and
then, we goodyisha, we sheffisha, jen die Welcome to the podcast
.
She is family to me and MikaelaWelcome Jen.
Speaker 5 (03:13):
Hello everyone.
I'm so happy to be here withyou guys.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Nice, nice.
And then we have at aBreadfruit Media pambili and
also a frequent appear on theshows them Alexandria of the
Strictly Facts podcast.
Big up yourself, goody.
Speaker 6 (03:32):
Hello, hello everyone .
Thank you for having me Carry.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
All right, so I'm going to throw it back to you,
mikaela, for the guide wayproperly.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Yeah, no problem.
So we have been seeing a lot ofthe promotion leading up to the
film itself, and theconversation started way before
the movie release.
Chris, mega mega dash to you tokind of hear what was your
initial reaction to seeing thepre rollout before the movie.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
So I was excited because you know it was about
time we see this story, right,so I was looking forward to it.
But I was a little bit takenaback by the selection right,
because I wanted to see aJamaican playing Bob Marley.
So you know I knew Kingsley BenAdair.
I've been watching him as anactor.
(04:26):
You know I'm a Marvel fan, so Isaw him also in this Disney
flick where he played a villainagainst Samuel Jackson, nick
Fury of Shield, so it was reallycool.
I know the actor right, so Iknow he's talented, but I just
didn't see him as Marley.
Fine, I went into it with anopen mind and now you know we'll
talk about that later but myreaction was one of initially
(04:50):
one of excitement, you know,looking forward to it, just
concerned about the casting.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
And Deira and Mikey.
You guys go ahead, nick.
Speaker 7 (04:59):
I was very excited as well.
I could probably say this now,but I actually was able to do a
pre screening for this moviemonths before it came out.
So I was really excited to beable to get able to do that,
because sometimes it's kind ofhard to get those.
And then, of course, I had togo back again with my mom and my
brother this past Sunday towatch it again, and I was just
(05:21):
very excited to see it twiceyeah.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
I was very excited to hear about it.
Born in New York to Jamaicanparents, I remember being
shocked that Bob Marley was dead, the way that I learned about
Bob Marley.
So, growing up with that ideaof that legacy, I was very
excited about the film and Ihonestly thought it was long
overdue and I understood thebusiness impact that this film
(05:50):
was going to have when we talkabout mainstream production.
So I was able to watch it threetimes as of now, and I'll
probably go another two.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
I use your support.
I mean all of us here is doingour Jamaican duty to go out and
watch the film, not film thefilm at least one time.
You are breaking the record ayear ago about five times.
All right, respect you, respectyou, jen.
What did you think about thefilm before its release?
Speaker 5 (06:24):
I can't say that I was excited.
I mean, I'm a Bob fan, grew upon Bob, you know we love.
Bob, but I can't say I wasexcited.
I was more nervous about themovie, Like please let this be
well done.
Like even though I know thefamily is fully involved please
(06:46):
don't let it be corny and justwondering if it was going to
have enough.
But you know, I don't think Iwas excited, Thank you.
I was kind of like oh boyplease, I feel it.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
I feel it, Alexandra.
Speaker 6 (07:01):
I definitely was excited.
I was really proud of therollout that they did in
Kingston right.
It coulda just go Miami andgone to London and wherever New
York, then big place there.
But to see the rollout and theattention that they gave the
Kingston, especially with thelaunch Bear People Forward,
prince Harry and Meghan Mark, itwas just a lot for what we
(07:24):
always consider a very smallplace but a tremendous impact
and I think that to me I wasvery proud of.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
I think I went through all the motions of all
of you all at the same time andthen I immediately went to
Google.
I'm like let's see who's partof this project, because if the
family is not involved, I don'tknow how this is gonna go.
I'm sure and even Ziggy in hispromo run he talked about a lot
of people's interests anddepicting his father in this way
(07:54):
.
And two things that he saidthat I think were important is
he is of age and has thematurity of a full grown person
to really take the project onand be really into the entire
process.
And I think that that's verypoignant too, because had he
(08:15):
tried to do this maybe 10, 20years ago, I'm sure every time
he sees people they have adifferent story to talk about
his dad and he has his ownmemories.
It drums up all these entireemotions going through the
entire project.
So I do think, after kind ofviewing some of his responses,
(08:35):
that he was very intentionalabout what came to life on
screen and I definitelyappreciate that.
But beyond all the niceties,there was a lot even around the
press run like of where they didscreenings.
They did it in Jamaica, theydid it in London, they did it in
(08:58):
LA.
There was a lot of promotionalactivity, there were screens,
and noticeably missing was NewYork and Miami.
Like you mentioned, alexandria,and for such huge hubs of
Jamaican culture, I think thatwas surprising to me to not see
(09:18):
those two major cities as partof the rollout.
But I did appreciate.
Let's start in Jamaica firstand then kind of make our rounds
.
But there was a lot of othercontroversy that we saw online
before even seeing the movie.
Did that sway your opinion orviews before you saw the film?
(09:40):
So I'm gonna go to Carrie andthen Alexandria.
I want you to kind of happen.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
The level of misinformation and the level of
controversy and I saidmisinformation because there was
legit misinformation like wegot information that there were
no Jamaicans on the album or thesoundtrack, whereas the artwork
(10:06):
that we saw really only did thetop billing of crossover
artists like Casey Musgrave, andit did like Daniel Caesar, but
it wasn't until after likeShenziah has a song on it.
So the statement that there'sno Jamaican on it was lies.
But we're so emotionally vestedin this thing, anything anybody
(10:29):
posts, it was just like, oh mygosh, why me to know you
couldn't find no Jamaican tosing a song.
So I feel like there was alevel of misinformation or not
enough research or whatever itwas.
But that really took me fromanticipating it to like, well,
I'm gonna really care about itat this point.
(10:49):
I'm just going to do mynational duty, my duty as a
Jamaican, to go watch it andthat's it.
But regardless of what washappening, I just knew I was
going to watch it.
The statement about you know,ziggy couldn't find a Jamaican
to play Bob, I mean, I hadcoworkers who are not black, who
are not Caribbean, who asked meabout that right, and so that
(11:15):
played into how I was feelingabout this and the
representation.
So the conversations in socialmedia, misinformation or
preliminary information that youknow people didn't really dig
deep into and for myself didn'tdig deep into, you know, because
I just got this and just sharedit really played into how I was
(11:37):
receptive to what was happeningand I know a few people.
I shared those posts.
So I know social media and howpeople were reacting and I had
to be intentional to say youknow what later for social media
, a lot of people you are hereknow that after a while I was
like I don't want to see nosocial media posts.
I'm just I'm going to watch itand I don't want to really kill
(11:59):
my vibe about it and, yeah,that's it.
So I'm curious to hear anyoneelse's experience with the
social media, the controversy,people, opinion, no Jamaican.
And that's the other thing too,maybe jumping ahead.
While Kingsley Ben Adir isBritish and he's of Caribbean
(12:21):
heritage, he's not Jamaican.
But when people said there's noJamaican, that's a misnomer
that we have to correct.
You know you have Jamaican bornactors and you have actors born
to Jamaican parents, just likehow Mikey T, michaela,
alexandria Jindai you're born toJamaican parents.
(12:42):
You are Jamaican and my issuewith people is that we can't.
We can't choose when we want tobig up Sherri Lee Ralph, who is
not Jamaican she's born toJamaican parents.
So when it convenience we saybig up Sherri Lee Ralph, we
can't collectively come off amute and say piu, piu, piu, piu,
piu piu.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
Yes, I'll call for them.
We can't do this Piu, piu, piupiu.
I get that a lot of timesYou're not really Jamaican.
No, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
You cannot pick and choose.
So if you're looking for aJamaican born, so one thing, but
you can't say they're notJamaican.
You have people who areJamaican born and those who born
to Jamaican parents and all ofus here collectively say, yeah,
you're born to Jamaican parents,you are Jamaican.
So this idea that there's noJamaican part of it, we need to
clarify that, as you haveJamaican born and those who born
(13:33):
to Jamaican parents, and we'regoing to move off on that
because everybody's sayingKingsley did a good job.
I felt that they went withKingsley for the likeness of Bob
.
I don't necessarily think thathe gave the best performance.
I feel somebody else could havegiven a better performance, who
was initial?
But I'm going to give otherpeople time.
(13:54):
I risk my case until the nextargument.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Yeah, as to your point, I was born in New York
but I found out I could get myJamaican citizenship through
descent, which I was able to get, and I have my Jamaican
passport.
So when I land they tell mewelcome home, even though I was
born in New York.
So when it comes to Kingsleyand when it comes to that idea
of why wasn't a Jamaican chosento play Bob Marley, I think in
(14:24):
the realm of art we have to bevery careful with that
conversation, because the wholepoint of acting is taking
somebody and learning andbecoming that character.
Are we going to, in thisconversation, then typecast our
Jamaican actors?
Where it becomes hey, there'sthis big role, the star is from
(14:48):
California and a Jamaican actorwho has a perfect California
accent.
It becomes oh, we can't look atyou because you're not from
California.
Acting is the art of becomingsomebody else.
Has Will Smith ever been apolice officer in New York who's
battling aliens?
Has Samuel L Jackson ever beena house slave in the Deep South?
(15:13):
We have to be very careful andI think what happens is when
you're putting on a productionlike this that costs that much
money, you want somebody thathas range, while we have great
Jamaican actors, when we talkabout the range of emotions that
Bob Marley went into that movie, when I'm spending XYZ amount
(15:36):
of money on a production that issupposed to bring people out of
their seats and into a moment,I need to feel confidence in the
range of that actor to say theycan go from point A to point B,
naturally, and take people outof their seats.
So that's my opinion.
Yes, we would have loved to seea Jamaican in that role, but is
(15:59):
there evidence of a Jamaicanactor that actually goes the
depth and that's what we love tosee, and did it make business
sense?
That's just my point.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
All right, go ahead Jen.
Speaker 5 (16:13):
One thing I just need us to, or this narrative that
now I feel that Ziggy ispromoting it and I feel like you
co-signed it the narrative thatthere's no Jamaican actors that
are capable just because youmight not personally know of
them.
It kind of talks down on usLike we're not able.
(16:34):
If anybody from anywhere elseis able, why aren't we not able?
And it's not to say thatsomeone from elsewhere can't do
the role, but why can't we dothe role, something that should
be so natural?
I've watched, especially throughCOVID, the amount of phenomenal
acting that I've seen onYouTube channels alone.
(16:56):
Not even big production, withJamaican actors, with range
actors and actresses that do noteven have big production
budgets and are pulling off somephenomenal roles.
It's not fair to say maybe theydon't have the resources, but
if people are not giving them achance, I'm sorry to say, but I
(17:19):
have yet to hear someone fromsomewhere else other than
Jamaica master the accent.
I don't know.
It's very complicated, it'shard.
He didn't do an awful job.
He did a good job for Bob, butI just don't understand why
people keep on saying that it'sdegrading to us and belittles us
(17:40):
.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Just saying we don't know.
One question I do have was thatthe headline?
I know the answer, but that wasthe headline that social media
ran with and we didn't get tosee the depth of the entire clip
of what he was referring to.
So I also want to give space tosay that.
(18:03):
Go ahead, Chris.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
Okay, so I'm going to come from a few different
angles.
So I am actor, right, I may notbe doing any work, but I
studied theater, studied acting.
You guys probably don't noticeMikaela Kari.
I have done my little workbehind the scenes, so for me, I
(18:24):
get what you're saying.
Mikaela acting is that's whatit is right.
But the thing about this BobMarley and the Bob Marley movie
is it's the Jamaican pridethat's behind this makes it
something that is so importantfor us as a nation you know, as
(18:46):
a nation, to be able to havesomething where one of us can be
in the lead.
The thing that bothered me isthat you have this family who I
think, has a responsibility tomake this as genuine as possible
.
You know, take someone from ourisland like Bob was uplifted
(19:12):
and put up on a pedestal fromour island to really reflect
that, to be that, to emulatethat, and I think it was their
responsibility to do that.
Now we could say I could alsogo back to it from a business
perspective and say, well, youknow, from a business
perspective, we need to putbutts in the seat.
So we've got to make sure weget somebody that's recognizable
(19:35):
, that people might, but noteverybody and a lot of people
don't know Kingsley Ben Adair.
People know him, but he's notknown worldwide.
You know what I'm saying.
So he's still a you know, sortof lesser known actor, right?
So we could have taken a chanceon one of ours.
I'm going to go back to whatwhat I remember was done when
they remade Superman.
(19:55):
That actor who played Supermanway back when nobody knew, right
, and it became a huge success,right, he was a young white guy
who just got catapulted to fame,right, I can't remember his
name, it's not Henry K Vell.
This is another.
I want to say Brandon Ruth orsomething like that.
I can't remember what thebottom line is.
This guy nobody knew and he hascatapulted to fame playing
(20:19):
Superman.
We could do the same thing, wecould.
We had the responsibility,opportunity to do the same thing
with this film, but forwhatever reason, they chose not
to.
You have the brother who playedNeville Gag, for example.
Sheldon Shepard, talented actor.
I saw him when he did.
Better must come.
Amazing actor.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
He has range, he's also in champion, which he would
have been a better.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
Bob Marley and he's an artist, he's a performer, he
gets it, he could.
He could embody Bob right.
So it's something that I'm notgoing to tear it down, because
this represents us and I'm gladthat this was done.
But I really do hope that whatwill come from this is people
(21:04):
see that we have amazing actors.
We're not even going to talk.
We have to talk about later andI'm going to stop here Kwan
Deja Henriquez.
I mean, I hope I said his nameright, but he played young Bob
like oh my God, like this kid isgoing places.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
But I just want to say I want to interject what
Mikey said was a very importantpoint that I didn't quite
consider it the way youarticulated, because it's a it's
a good point and I had a pointto support what you said.
Right, it's about becoming thecharacter and I felt like
(21:41):
Sheldon Shepard could havebecome the character of Bob
Marley and the example that Ihave was Jamie Foxx.
Don't look like Ray, but Jamiewent through a transformation
that made him feel like, oh mygosh, this is Ray Charles.
The same thing with ChadwickBoseman, for get up with with
(22:03):
James Brown.
So the point that you made,mikey, I don't want to feel I
know you don't feel it.
I felt like you made a reallygood point.
I think what most of us aretaking issue with is the
statement coming from a Marleythat outside, to a larger
culture, a white audience, theywill take it as gold, as stone
(22:25):
that there are no Jamaicanactors that are good enough to
play the role Alexander.
Speaker 6 (22:31):
I just wanted to add a point about that sort of
misinformation.
The issue with social media is,you know, they're trying to get
the hype and draw everybody inwith the quick little 10 second
bite, right.
So you know, not to fed nobodyCause.
In a lot of ways I also wouldhave looked to see a Jamaican
actor play Bob, right.
But the social media clip wasthere are no talented Jamaicans,
(22:53):
right.
If you had watched the longervideo where Ziggy explained that
, you know he was trying to,they were trying to find
somebody with the pull.
You know, as both Chris and, Ithink Mikey also mentioned,
right, that the businessperspective, the not defending
it, right.
But if that was their main goal, right In trying to choose a
(23:14):
person.
But I did take issue, you know,initially hearing that bite
size clip and I was like wait,let me, let me go on, go, do my
due diligence and not just, youknow, run with what is
immediately buzzing on socialmedia.
Speaker 7 (23:26):
And Deira.
Of course, you know I saw allthe commentary about which actor
they chose in and why theydidn't choose one of Bob's many
kids, grandkids, and you knowthey're not actors, but not to
say that they can't be.
But yeah, I feel like it alwayscomes down to like you know,
(23:48):
it's a, it's a business, andlike the studios want to make
money and they they have a hardtime understanding that we can
sell films and like even withbig films that came out was
still risky for them.
They're not sure this is goingto make money.
And then we show up.
It's like billions and millionsof dollars and but they still
(24:12):
feel like you know, oh, blackaudiences won't turn up for this
.
That's always in the back oftheir mind, although we know
better.
But that type of mindset isalways like frustrating for when
it comes to like our film.
So it's like I see, kind of,why they decided to go with this
actor, but I'm sure they're youknow, like the actor that you
mentioned.
(24:33):
I looked them up Cause I didn't.
I'm really bad with names, so Ilooked them up and, yeah, he
would have been perfect as well.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
So I want to piggyback.
Why do you think the studiocause everyone's like it's a
great production?
I don't know if everybody wasexpecting subpar production from
Paramount, you know like Iwasn't expecting it right.
But why?
Why was the industry notexpecting people to go out and
watch this?
Because it shatteredexpectations and, based on the
(25:02):
dailies, it continues to benumber one, even when it's our
stories.
Cause we'd have backfitted ourstories and we are get our
stories.
Why?
Why do they still feel like wewon't show up for our stories
and then, fiend surprise, that'swhen we show up, like I don't
understand that.
Could you possibly share whyyou think that's the case?
Speaker 7 (25:21):
I mean, you know, it all comes down to them just
being, you know, I don't knowracist prejudice, I don't know
which is the better term forthis, but it's like they.
They have no faith in ourtalent, they have no faith in
our stories.
I mean, I see it in theindustry that I work in that a
(25:41):
big superhero film that came outand even with that film they
thought I don't, they weren'tsure if they were going to make
the money that they thought theywould make from this film, if
they were just going to breakeven or anything like that.
But we showed out and we showedout twice.
And you know, it's just howthey think.
(26:02):
I don't know, it's veryannoying.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Jen, I see you.
Speaker 5 (26:05):
Yeah, I don't think it's us that they're worried
about showing up.
It's them that they're worriedabout showing up.
I think they're worried aboutwhite people showing up to the
theater.
Now, if you look at Kingsley, Imean aesthetically, he
resembles Bob Marley's face, forinstance.
It was him versus Sheldon.
He looked more like Bob Marley.
(26:28):
He has that, you know, kind ofa mixed light skin.
Look like Bob Sheldon.
He doesn't look like the prettyboy persona that they like.
Bob was super talented but weknow the way he looked was a big
part of it.
He was some dark skin, strongAfrican teacher, black man with
locks.
But people, once they put theBob Marley on there, I'm sorry.
(26:51):
Honestly, I think whoever theycasted, people were going to go
out of curiosity.
They could have cast anyone anylight skinned man, brown
skinned, raster man, they couldhave cast and people would have
went just out of mere curiosity.
But I think the main peoplethey were worried about coming
to the box office are whitepeople not black people, all
right, so that's a good seguefrom Mikael and I to jump in.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
So we've covered the casting and I wanted to share
some research.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
So hold on.
Why are you back up on thecasting?
Because we're not even talkabout.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
LaShana.
Yeah, we're gonna go to that ina little bit, but we want to
set up the production right.
So let's circle back, right.
So this movie, the Marley movie, was as Horane Henry in a Carry
On Friends podcast he says thatthere are multiple people that
put together a show.
So Paramount was involved andPlan B productions right.
(27:47):
And Plan B is a productioncompany that initially started
with Brad Pitt and JenniferAniston.
Jennifer sold her steak in PlanB and so Plan B entertainment,
as executive producer, they werethe ones responsible for going
out and to try to get thefunding for the film and so, as
(28:11):
executive producer, the firstperson on that list was what's
she name?
Again, didi Gardner and JeremyKleiner was on there, and
they're the ones that have thePGAA that Amy M and Ziggy has
that as well because he was onset and part of the production a
(28:31):
good amount at the times.
So let me just run down someimportant people Panikas and our
Panik crew, includingnon-acting crew, and then we get
into LaShana.
So we already Didi Gardner isproducer, jeremy Kleiner is
producer, ziggy, executiveproducer, orly Marley, executive
(28:52):
producer Sidella and Rita alsogot producer credits.
The Faye Ellington, who we grewup knowing she is credited as a
dialect coach and she also wasthe announcer at the concert
scene we have.
Steven Marley is music producercredits.
Harvey Mason Jr has executivemusic producer credit, and the
(29:17):
reason why Harvey Mason Jr isimportant?
Because Harvey Mason Jr isassociated with the Grammys.
So he is what McCann rememberin position, but you end up on
the stage a couple of weeks agofor the Grammys.
He's the head of the Grammys.
He's the head of the Grammys Ifyou watch champion Sissy, who
is the woman in champion,natalie Thompson she has
(29:41):
production manager credits onthis because she's part of the
Jamaican unit.
There.
The casting director is alsothe casting director that was on
black cake.
Brad Pitt is executive producerand then the actors we have
Nadine Marshall, who play Ariain champion played young Sidella
(30:02):
Marley, as in Bob's mother, nothis daughter, sidella, we
talked about Sheldon.
There is Anna Sharee Blake, akaSavannah, who plays Judy Moat,
and then we also have NaomiCohen who plays Marcia Griffiths
.
We had Kwan, which Chrismentioned, and of course,
(30:23):
lashanna.
Those are like names that weknow.
And also there's a lot ofpeople who've made appearance in
the movie.
So we saw Muta.
Baruka had a few appearances inthe movie and so we can get
into the characters from there.
I just wanted to set that upfor everybody.
And so if you're wondering whywas Brad Pitt at the premiere,
(30:45):
he's an executive producer.
His production company helpedto finance the film, along with
Paramount, and whatever theMarley is going, run it, call us
.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
In finding the money, in finding money, forget it
done.
I think Kingsley did a good jobright, but I also think that
that kind of ties into myoverall feeling of the movie.
I do think it wasn'tnecessarily the acting, but the
(31:15):
delivery and the writing.
I think that there were somethings that were missing for me,
Like I think they got theemotional connection, but I
wanted to walk away from themovie.
Like I walked away from Selenaor Rey or Ali or Get Up.
(31:37):
I wanted to walk away lookingfor the catalog, feeling like I
have jumped into an era that Icompletely missed and would have
transported myself back to tojust experience that.
And I think that everything tome, including the acting,
(31:58):
including the accents, includingthe delivery, was good but it
wasn't great.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
No, I agree with you, mikayla.
I felt like I walked awaywatching a dramatization of
Eyeshot and the Sheriff, adocumentary.
I felt like that's what Iwatched.
Like you said, the writing wasjust weak, the story was weak,
it didn't pull me in and thatwas it.
It wasn't the acting, it wasthe story.
It just wasn't strong enough.
(32:25):
I watch a lot of documentariesBob Marley he has the most
documentaries on his life thananybody else in the world, right
, and I've watched at leasteight of them, and so I come
with knowledge about stories.
But telling and fictionalizingaspects of the story, and I
think that's what's missing.
Right, they were focused ontelling a true story, but
(32:46):
they're aspects of a true storythat you need to fictionalize in
order to bring in, because evenZiggy, as his son, they're not
able to really convey becausethe person who they're telling
the life of they're not aroundto fill in the gaps.
So I agree with Mikayla on that, mikey, and then Jen.
Speaker 4 (33:04):
There were two points that I wanted to get into.
There was a mention of theaccent, the Jamaican accent.
I don't know, I'm not in any ofthese board meetings or
anything, but I think one of thethings that they worry about is
getting lost.
If you have too authentic of anaccent and then they worry
(33:28):
about having to create subtitlesfor a film, you have a lot like
you know, at the end of the day, jamaicans, really, when they
get deep into their character,when they get deep into their
accent, they can lose a lot ofpeople.
And that confusion in a movietheater when you can't rewind
has the potential to losesomebody.
(33:50):
But it's not me because, guesswhat, I'm going to get it.
But at the end of the day, inmaking a film for a wide screen
audience, those are the smallthings that they have to think
about without adding subtitles.
And when it comes to, again, thecast and choice, I wonder if
the fact that the UK has a veryhuge support of Caribbean
(34:14):
content we see a lot of movies,we see a lot of films and series
coming from the UK that areCaribbean based and Caribbean
centered Did that play inParamount's decision, like I
don't know how big Kingsley or,I'm sorry, the young lady who
played Rita.
I don't know how big they arein the UK.
(34:34):
Did that play a role in theirdecision to say, hey, they'll
bring in the seats, definitelyover in the UK?
I don't know.
Speaker 7 (34:44):
So one of the questions that they asked during
the pre-screening that I wentto and they asked it a couple of
times was the accent hard tounderstand, and I remember I
told Kari Ann about that acouple of months ago, and to me
it seems like they want to makethe accent palatable, they want
(35:06):
to water it down a bit.
So, that way, like you weresaying, they want to make sure
they don't have to add in anysubtitles or anything like that.
And I remember that there was acouple guys behind me that I
heard them talk low about howsome parts of it they couldn't
really understand.
And I'm sure on that, becausethey give you a phone to answer
(35:29):
the questions.
I'm sure on the phone theyprobably put that, but it was an
interesting question.
It's like I wonder if they evenask these questions at other
types of films with characterswho have accents.
I mean, for me I can understandif my parents are Caribbean,
but for non-Caribbean viewers Idon't know.
Speaker 5 (35:50):
I think a lot of people would be surprised to
know how much they really dounderstand, especially the fans
of Bob Marley, because BobMarley was not speaky-spoky and
these people watch Bob Marley'sinterviews.
If there's one Jamaican personthat they understand is Bob
Marley.
Now, kingley did a great job,honestly to me.
(36:12):
He did a better job thanLaShawna, and she has Jamaican
parents.
The man took his time.
I said you know what he soundlike, bob?
I don't know if he was playinganother Jamaican person, but
he's specifically studying Bob,so he got it.
He did well.
Lashawna, damn.
I mean, for Jamaican parents,we need a foundation like a
(36:34):
school for the children ofJamaican parents so that we can
properly pick up the dialect orsomething I don't know or
something I don't know.
But it was difficult for me.
But, as what you were saying, Ifelt like a lot of things were
left out of the movie.
It felt lacking.
I felt disappointed.
I was like, oh, this is nice,but I felt disappointed.
(36:57):
I felt like there could be more.
Some characters didn't evenspeak.
There were some people that Iknow were supposed to be in the
movie and their parts got cut,and I'm sad about that, because
how do you talk about Bob'sjourney without him and you
mentioned them.
So it's kind of fascinating tomention them and don't really
show that they were in Pedro inthe journey.
(37:19):
You can't put everything in amovie but if watered down and
even the white people and otherpeople who are not Black, other
people who aren't Jamaican, knowthat it could have had more, it
could have had some more too.
I just wish they would havegave us some more and really
show us Kingsley's range toreally portray, because it
(37:43):
honestly was like a littlesummary and barely anybody spoke
.
Naomi said like two linesDevana did not say a thing.
I don't recall for saying aword One time I just looked at
her and said, oh yeah, she kindalooks like Judy in that scene,
but she ain't saying nothing.
All now.
I mean I like that.
I heard Hexer talking, you know.
But yeah.
(38:04):
I fell asleep at one point.
Doze off, honestly, and Ididn't expect that for myself,
honestly.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
All right.
So Jensen just dropped offasleep.
All right, wait.
So I'm going to get to a couplepoints.
So I agree with LaShawna on theaccent and what Kingsley did
was he was very intentional.
So, alexandria, I wanted to popin because this guest was on
your show, dr Farquhorson, whois the head of the Jamaica
(38:36):
Language Institute, who is doinga lot of work to recognize or
language as a language.
So Jamaican Patois, whatever isa language.
He actually went to theLanguage Institute and they
taught him the dialect and theytaught him how to remember.
I said that Faye Ellington wasa dialect coach.
(38:58):
Specifically, he had his owndialect coach, so he was more
conscious of having the languagein there and I want Alexandria
to talk about that.
And then, indira, you can tellus all the things they cut out
or tell it from where you see inthe pre-screen.
So what we saw live.
Speaker 6 (39:16):
Yeah, I definitely will say after a big up the
accent on Kingsley's part.
I think that was something whenwe all heard the movie, where
that's always the trepidationaround, when we're in a movie
where I said I don't know whatthey're going to sound like
because they're going to soundlike we.
But Kingsley was veryintentional, had studied at the
(39:38):
Jamaica Language Union at Uemonain Kingston and I think that
definitely gives credit not onlyto his dedication towards the
role, but you know again why wethink it definitely excelled in
particular ways in terms of hisaccent and portrayal of Bob.
Speaker 7 (39:55):
Okay.
So they did have a lot ofscenes when Bob was like I guess
was he like a teenager when hehad went to that recording
studio.
So they did cut out a few moreof those scenes from that.
And then the Uemona scene wherethey were he and Rita were I
(40:16):
guess this one.
They were in Paris and shementioned his other bandmates.
There was a scene with them, Iguess when they got into, I
guess when they broke up.
There was that scene that theycut out and I thought that was
interesting that they left thatout and what else.
There was more scenes with himand Rita when they were younger
that they also cut out as well.
(40:38):
I mean, I guess it would havemade the movie much longer than
what it already was, but it wasinteresting that they made those
decisions.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
Before I go to your, chris, I think overall I think
them choosing that specifictimeline was probably
problematic because and what Ididn't like was how they did
flashbacks in it, as opposed tojust set up Bob from little bits
coming up and then go intowhere he is Doing the flashbacks
(41:07):
weren't very helpful at allbecause it felt out of place.
People wanted to understand Bobas a young man, this half white
person in Jamaica to when hegot to you know, and again
cutting out Peter and Bonnie,who Bonnie is technically a
second cousin, so he's familyother than a family.
Speaker 3 (41:31):
Technically a brother , yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:33):
Yeah, I mean, you know technically a brother, but
they were better in coming.
They were better in comingExactly so.
So cutting that out just didn'treally make sense, because you
assume that everybody know whoBob Marley is.
People know the name, but theydon't always know the story.
They're not a watch documentarylike us.
So I thought that was a missedopportunity.
(41:54):
Chris run it.
Speaker 3 (41:56):
Yeah, I mean, I'm going to what you, what you said
, right, what you said, so 100%.
Like the movie was about anhour and 47, 48 minutes.
We saw Ray Ray was like threehours, right.
I mean, like you, they couldhave made this a three hour
movie and, trust me, they wouldnot have lost the audience.
All they need to have was greatwriters.
(42:17):
All they needed to have wasgreat writers, a great story and
three hours.
Nobody would have batted an eye, nobody would have sat in those
seats to watch this movie,because everybody love Bob.
Bob translates to you couldn'tlive in an Iceland, reykjavik or
wherever.
You know Bob, everybody knowsBob.
So my thing is an opportunitywas missed as far as I'm
(42:39):
concerned.
But listen, I'm not making themovie, I don't own it, it's not
mine.
We're just talking about whatif, if this were done
differently, I think I think itwas a missed opportunity.
And also I'm going to touch onParamount.
Like Paramount, I don't thinkthey have anybody on their team
that understood how to marketthis film properly.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
Okay, Because none of these studios know all of it.
Do it.
Speaker 3 (43:05):
Peer period period especially when it comes to us.
Okay, because, no matter whatyou want to say, while Bob is
for the world, this is a storyspecifically about us, for us,
and this is why it's importantfor us to really control our
stories and the way they aretold.
And I don't know if the Malifamily really control it the way
(43:28):
it should have been controlled.
You know, I just don't.
You know, am I wrong for sayingthat?
Okay, if I am, tough luck notto have my talk over, feel you
know.
Speaker 2 (43:39):
The chat festive, we can't even get to the chat.
But, jen, I thought the sameexact thing.
I said they probably spent moretime with Kingsley and the
accent.
And he see, I Saw an interviewwith him when he was on the
Breakfast Club and he talkedabout he's like.
He asked them.
He's like are you sure you wantme go back and find someone
(44:01):
else and then come?
If you feel that I'm the rightperson, then fine.
But he was very intentional andthat I saw that interview after
seeing the movie and I reallythought that he conveyed the
emotions of Bob.
I Looked at him a few times andI connected what I saw of Bob
(44:22):
Marley in documentaries to him.
So he captured the characterbeautifully.
The music for me fell so flat,the music like it's so integral
to who Bob was, is, today, willbe, and I just felt that it was
(44:44):
like when they were in thestudio and he's like give me a
one, drop my like.
I just didn't find thatconnection and it wasn't
hard-hitting, like I rememberthe scene from even in Ray and
like I said, selena, the musicscenes there, and even when
Chadwick was in the hotel and hewas working with his band and
(45:05):
you saw the footstomp and youheard the click-clack and you
heard the vibration of the, thedrums and the horns coming in
and the guitars and it just likeyou felt like getting up and
dancing.
I wanted us to be in theretalking about rust stuff.
I like, do the the inside thecollar responds yeah, we're a
(45:25):
stuff All right, you know what Imean.
Like that's the kind ofexcitement that I really wanted
to feel in terms of theConnection to the movie itself.
So I think Kingsley did abeautiful job and, like Jen said
, it almost did a disservice tohow good of a like job he did,
capturing that role and the, thewriting and just falling flat.
(45:49):
I think LaShawna from the momentshe spoke, it like something
was off.
I read Rita Marley's biographyCalled no women, no cry, so a
lot of the movie.
If you read that book, it wasalmost like they were capturing
Bob's response To the moments inthat book.
(46:09):
So I highly recommend that youread that book, listen to it,
whatever it is, because everysingle moment that was in her
book we were seeing Bob respondto those moments as a person,
because she talks about all ofit how they met, the
circumstances, her being in thestudio, pregnant and him telling
(46:32):
her to go home, and how thethey you know she got shot and
how she kind of transpiredthrough the struggle of
remaining in his legacy and howshe dealt with all the women.
And you know the movie alludesto her having her own man too,
like.
So if you read that book youunderstand the, the character
(46:53):
that LaShawna was Filling butfor for a lot of the public
especially if you haven't readthat book you're really getting
exposed to the power of RitaMarley and the, the influence
that she had and the connectionthat they truly had.
They were both seen as likeoutcasts and that's kind of how
they Grew their love and he hadsuch an admiration and respect
(47:17):
and so did she, so much so thatshe mentions it in the film.
The message became themessenger and she to this day,
her family kind of still alludesto that Legacy in in honing, in
hit in in Bob's name, yo.
Speaker 1 (47:37):
Mikey just drops something at the track Mikey
come to.
Speaker 4 (47:41):
With the track Mikey come to, come to, we were yes no
, I said they spoke more aboutRita stepping out of the
marriage the one man that shehad.
Then they spoke of Bob'swomanizing, which was strange.
And I only say that because Iwatched Ziggy Marley's interview
and he said, listen, this filmis a deep dive into Bob, the
(48:04):
person, not Bob the icon.
And I was like this film is adeep dive into Bob my daddy it
looked like Ziggy was like,because he was 12 years old when
his father died.
And what do you really knowabout your father's your parents
?
Like telling a picnic, please.
Like what do you really knowabout your father's life at 12
(48:25):
years old, to say that you'regonna convey a deep dive.
You don't know the real storybecause you were a child and I
think that's one of the thingsthat let me down, because it's
like Sometimes we talk about ourlegacies and our heroes and
they seem so perfect and theymake people feel like I Can't
tell my story because there's somuch wrong with my life.
(48:48):
If they would have taken thatopportunity To humanize Bob,
that would like come on, likeyou know, you have so many
children, so many outsiderelations, why, why, what was it
?
Was it a deep self-hatred inyourself that you felt nobody
could love you because you werehalf white, half black.
And you went through that inJamaica and you know that's what
(49:09):
I was looking for.
And I'll say one thing aboutKingsley that I think was very
interesting, about his accent.
He said when he was goingthrough the tapes of Bob's
interviews that he received, hesaid he could understand 70% of
what Bob said and he said thereare certain, there are certain
things.
He called all his Jamaicanfriends and was like do you know
(49:29):
what he's saying here?
And they're like nah, and hecalled the Marley family, was
like hey, can you tell me whatyour father's saying here?
And they were like I just sawBob talk and I will say Kingsley
did something very Intentionalwhich I don't know if anybody
can, if anybody can tell me whathe said.
So after, after, after theshooting and the attempt on
(49:51):
Bob's life shot out, michaelWard, jamie from Top Boy, born
in Spanish town, went to Englandwhen he was four.
But, um, when he hugged her, hesaid something to her and I
watched the movie three timesand if I tell you I know what
words Kingsley said to thatwoman, I'd be lying if anybody
can tell me, if anybody's heardit and understood.
(50:13):
But when he hugged her, he saidRita, she said, oh, I signed
myself out of the hospital andhe said something to her and he
hugged her and I was like whatit sound like Kingsley did that
on purpose.
I know what he said.
What he said, please tell me.
Speaker 5 (50:27):
No, please tell me, I want to know.
He said you have somethingmouth.
He said a woman, you havesomething mouth, it's I don't
know.
So you really stopped mouth.
Speaker 4 (50:35):
Yeah, no off to me inside the thing, and I wonder
if he did that on purpose whenhe talked about studying Bob's
linguistics, which I found veryinteresting because I never
thought about it.
He's like listen, bob was bornin the country and say, then in
the country, grew up in trenchtown and then traversed through
Europe.
(50:55):
So while Bob had a Jamaicanaccent, there are certain words
and there are certain thingsthat were kind of unique to Bob,
which I do see through a lot ofJamaicans that I know that come
up here and when they go backhome they're like listen, I know
you've been to foreign andthey're like wait, how did you
know?
One of the things that one ofmy friends said to me is
Jamaicans back in the day,jamaicans back home really don't
(51:17):
use the F word, they don't useit in conversation, but he says
the guys experiences, when a lotof them come back, they use
that a lot more than normallywhen they grow up in Jamaica,
which is something that I don'tknow, that I find very
interesting when it comes todialect and the morphing of of
two different dialects andcultures.
Speaker 1 (51:39):
The other thing is that what people and I just
talked about it in the interviewwith Andrew of Rata production.
She said we use Bob as the samething.
Bob had the country speak.
I know this because I come fromMobile and everywhere else I
can send his country to Kingstonpeople.
So we talk a specific way.
I come from Brooklyn, I have aBrooklyn style of speaking, but
(52:02):
also when you think of Bob, bobis in the early stages of you
know, bob is a Rastafarian and aRastafarian has some
Rastafarian speak, them of the Iand I and the in and the.
You know I for I and all ofthese things that they change
around for the language or forthe religion.
So if you are outside ofRastafarianism, jamaican culture
(52:26):
, it will all feel foreign andlike you're not used to it.
For most of us who go up around.
You know.
You know even Chris, when Christalks to me and Chris will say,
kerry, I don't appreciatebecause I don't eat.
I appreciate love.
You know, with a makeup words,you know with a makeup words and
(52:47):
so you have to reallyunderstand the concept and flow
with Bob.
Because the thing about Bob too,he's not a fast part to a
speaker, he's a slow speaker butbecause he's deliberate and
he's just a giant Rastafarianand he's quoting Bible.
If you don't know the Bible itwill also feel very foreign.
A lot of Bob songs but can tellyou which Bible verse and
(53:09):
chapter them come from.
So if you're not familiar withthe Bible and him using turn you
know, changing eyes and use tothe Rastafarian speak plus the
Jamaican plus the other things,what he's saying is going to
sound very foreign.
So I like that you bring thatup, because language morphs and
changes, but the very, very tooimportant what's the word
(53:31):
influences is Rastafarianism andthe Bible and the application
of all of that mix up alsocontributes to this new language
that he has that people may notbe able to understand.
We want to switch a little bitbecause we know certain things
to say.
But I'm Alexandra, I haven'theard you so much.
So we know you had some thingsto say.
Did we touch on what you didwant to say?
Speaker 6 (53:52):
yet talk to them Me in a like Chris Mcwhale
character, I don't business orone shot or fight about it.
If you're not, if you'rewatching all of the Marley them
documentary, like all Kerry, say, 10 million documentary out
there, bob, bob, it was givingvery, I think, kevin Costner in
(54:13):
Hidden Figures when him gotsmashed down the city and so I
was like where is this whitesavior complex business?
I was like no sir, cut it outright now because, as was
mentioned before, it didn't gointo the whole breakup of Peter
touch, the original whaler, sexwith Peter and bunny.
(54:33):
And so there was the littledefense of of Chris blackwell in
a conversation between Bob andRita.
He was like no man, hey, I waslike cut it all right there.
But I mean, when you know alittle bit I think I have again
to some of the earlier pointswhen you have a deeper
understanding of the family'srelationship with Chris
(54:54):
blackwell, fine if that is whatyou wanted to do stylistically.
But it felt like very whitesavior complex to me.
Speaker 5 (55:02):
Yes, it goes back to the superhero like dad image
thing.
You know, even I was justwatching something with Ryan,
for instance.
Ron Marley where he talks aboutis an interview from a year or
two ago where he spoke aboutwhen Bob and Rita were trying to
get back, trying to get theright for Bob.
(55:25):
You know, basically themagainst Jamaica at this point
and they asked my friend thereby a and Rita one.
Well, ron also said is ahierarchy to the eldest, so
that's boss lady Ziggy's theeldest son, boss man.
Speaker 1 (55:44):
Wait, wait, are we?
Is it you sure it's the dollar?
The sister are not, so they letthe mother so they let us know
when, when they said Rita and sothey let us.
I'm asking are we sure if it'sRita and and the mother no, so
they let us know because he wasof age she was of age at the
(56:07):
time.
Speaker 5 (56:07):
She was the only one that was of age.
So her and Rita you knowblackwell loan them the money.
So they have something in themthat still looks at blackwell
like savior.
And the whole movie, even evenin the interviews where Ziggy
says, like you know, you know,when they even mentioned my
(56:27):
Kingsley, then I did fight, andstuff like that.
Oh, you know, well, bob was toldto us I just saw a little boy
that love his daddy and havethis image of his daddy and it
said that I feel like that ispart of the reason why the movie
didn't have I mean, they didn'thave full control, but I feel
that's part of the reason whythe movie didn't have as much
substance as it could, becauseRita even used to tell the truth
(56:47):
.
When you watch a interviews,rita is keeping it real about
the situation with Bob, it'stime to feel watered down.
You know, it's a child like.
It's a child like view of.
This is my daddy and he was sogreat and and your daddy was
great.
But your daddy was also a manand you didn't show us the man
like him and really human.
(57:09):
It was like Bob Marley, thesuperhero.
Speaker 1 (57:12):
All right.
So we're going to end theepisode right here and come back
for our part two.
So part two is only going to beon Reels and Rhythms and so
come back, we're going to finishthe conversation.
They go get festive, you know,because we don't set the
foundation at the film.
We set the foundation of Hall,who is involved, and we're going
to go a little bit more andtalk about the impact of the
(57:36):
film and just just going forwardwhat this means for the film in
the Caribbean, because it saystough gang films and no one know
the Magado Mawasho are theindustry.
That film company is one thing.
So come back and listen toReels and Rhythms.
So part two and you'll comeback and catch the crew, all
(57:59):
right.
Hi everyone, welcome to this special joint episode of
Carry On Friends Style andBibes and Reels and Ritims.
And we are coming together forthis joint episode to discuss
the Bob Marley One Love Movieand it is causing quite a stir
on the internet.
And we've assembled a group ofpassionate guests family members
(00:32):
of the Breadfruit Media, familyaudience members to come in and
have a very poignant, educatedand we're going to touch on the
mix up tool that is circulatingbut we're going to have a very
festive conversation on thismovie, michaela welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Yes, so we already anticipate this being a very
long conversation.
So, to be clear and transparent, is going to be a two part
episode so that you guys canreally get the in depth
understanding of our position,as well as our amazing guests.
So, as Carrie said, the BobMarley One Love Movie released
(01:11):
on February 14th, on Valentine'sDay.
That is no coincidence.
That was planned from amarketing perspective.
Produced by Rinaldo MarcusGreen, who did King Richard
through Paramount Films, incollaboration with the Marley
family and a host of writers.
It stars King Lee Benadir, whoplayed Malcolm X in One Night in
(01:34):
Miami, and he plays Bob Marley.
Lashawna Lynch plays RitaMarley and she was in Woman King
and Captain Marvel.
We'll get into the backgroundsbecause you know we got to get
into that, but, like Carrie said, the release definitely sparked
a lot of interest.
Conversations, commentary and,you know, as Jamaican Caribbean
(01:56):
people, I forget to get on topof things More time.
I'm sure these are WhatsAppconversations, dinner table
conversations, so on our pre thefamily conversation, panda
podcast episode yeah, so,without further ado, carrie,
bring in the guests.
Bring in the guests, roll themin, roll them in.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
All right.
So joining us today, nostranger to carry on friends or
style, and vibes is our co-hostwith the most is Mr Chris
Williams.
Welcome to the show.
Per per, per, per, per, per perper.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
What's up y'all?
Speaker 1 (02:34):
And also joining us is our wonderful audience.
Member of Carry On Friends andsupporter.
Big up yourself, indira.
Welcome to the podcast.
Hi everybody, and also anotherperson we just featured on the
podcast and a supporter alreadyof Carry On Friends and Reels
and Riddims is Mikey T.
(02:56):
Big up yourself, give them thebest.
I want to go on, everybody Allright and then, and then, and
then, we goodyisha, we sheffisha, jen die Welcome to the podcast
.
She is family to me and MikaelaWelcome Jen.
Speaker 5 (03:13):
Hello everyone.
I'm so happy to be here withyou guys.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Nice, nice.
And then we have at aBreadfruit Media pambili and
also a frequent appear on theshows them Alexandria of the
Strictly Facts podcast.
Big up yourself, goody.
Speaker 6 (03:32):
Hello, hello everyone .
Thank you for having me Carry.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
All right, so I'm going to throw it back to you,
mikaela, for the guide wayproperly.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Yeah, no problem.
So we have been seeing a lot ofthe promotion leading up to the
film itself, and theconversation started way before
the movie release.
Chris, mega mega dash to you tokind of hear what was your
initial reaction to seeing thepre rollout before the movie.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
So I was excited because you know it was about
time we see this story, right,so I was looking forward to it.
But I was a little bit takenaback by the selection right,
because I wanted to see aJamaican playing Bob Marley.
So you know I knew Kingsley BenAdair.
I've been watching him as anactor.
(04:26):
You know I'm a Marvel fan, so Isaw him also in this Disney
flick where he played a villainagainst Samuel Jackson, nick
Fury of Shield, so it was reallycool.
I know the actor right, so Iknow he's talented, but I just
didn't see him as Marley.
Fine, I went into it with anopen mind and now you know we'll
talk about that later but myreaction was one of initially
(04:50):
one of excitement, you know,looking forward to it, just
concerned about the casting.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
And Deira and Mikey.
You guys go ahead, nick.
Speaker 7 (04:59):
I was very excited as well.
I could probably say this now,but I actually was able to do a
pre screening for this moviemonths before it came out.
So I was really excited to beable to get able to do that,
because sometimes it's kind ofhard to get those.
And then, of course, I had togo back again with my mom and my
brother this past Sunday towatch it again, and I was just
(05:21):
very excited to see it twiceyeah.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
I was very excited to hear about it.
Born in New York to Jamaicanparents, I remember being
shocked that Bob Marley was dead, the way that I learned about
Bob Marley.
So, growing up with that ideaof that legacy, I was very
excited about the film and Ihonestly thought it was long
overdue and I understood thebusiness impact that this film
(05:50):
was going to have when we talkabout mainstream production.
So I was able to watch it threetimes as of now, and I'll
probably go another two.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
I use your support.
I mean all of us here is doingour Jamaican duty to go out and
watch the film, not film thefilm at least one time.
You are breaking the record ayear ago about five times.
All right, respect you, respectyou, jen.
What did you think about thefilm before its release?
Speaker 5 (06:24):
I can't say that I was excited.
I mean, I'm a Bob fan, grew upon Bob, you know we love.
Bob, but I can't say I wasexcited.
I was more nervous about themovie, Like please let this be
well done.
Like even though I know thefamily is fully involved please
(06:46):
don't let it be corny and justwondering if it was going to
have enough.
But you know, I don't think Iwas excited, Thank you.
I was kind of like oh boyplease, I feel it.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
I feel it, Alexandra.
Speaker 6 (07:01):
I definitely was excited.
I was really proud of therollout that they did in
Kingston right.
It coulda just go Miami andgone to London and wherever New
York, then big place there.
But to see the rollout and theattention that they gave the
Kingston, especially with thelaunch Bear People Forward,
prince Harry and Meghan Mark, itwas just a lot for what we
(07:24):
always consider a very smallplace but a tremendous impact
and I think that to me I wasvery proud of.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
I think I went through all the motions of all
of you all at the same time andthen I immediately went to
Google.
I'm like let's see who's partof this project, because if the
family is not involved, I don'tknow how this is gonna go.
I'm sure and even Ziggy in hispromo run he talked about a lot
of people's interests anddepicting his father in this way
(07:54):
.
And two things that he saidthat I think were important is
he is of age and has thematurity of a full grown person
to really take the project onand be really into the entire
process.
And I think that that's verypoignant too, because had he
(08:15):
tried to do this maybe 10, 20years ago, I'm sure every time
he sees people they have adifferent story to talk about
his dad and he has his ownmemories.
It drums up all these entireemotions going through the
entire project.
So I do think, after kind ofviewing some of his responses,
(08:35):
that he was very intentionalabout what came to life on
screen and I definitelyappreciate that.
But beyond all the niceties,there was a lot even around the
press run like of where they didscreenings.
They did it in Jamaica, theydid it in London, they did it in
(08:58):
LA.
There was a lot of promotionalactivity, there were screens,
and noticeably missing was NewYork and Miami.
Like you mentioned, alexandria,and for such huge hubs of
Jamaican culture, I think thatwas surprising to me to not see
(09:18):
those two major cities as partof the rollout.
But I did appreciate.
Let's start in Jamaica firstand then kind of make our rounds
.
But there was a lot of othercontroversy that we saw online
before even seeing the movie.
Did that sway your opinion orviews before you saw the film?
(09:40):
So I'm gonna go to Carrie andthen Alexandria.
I want you to kind of happen.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
The level of misinformation and the level of
controversy and I saidmisinformation because there was
legit misinformation like wegot information that there were
no Jamaicans on the album or thesoundtrack, whereas the artwork
(10:06):
that we saw really only did thetop billing of crossover
artists like Casey Musgrave, andit did like Daniel Caesar, but
it wasn't until after likeShenziah has a song on it.
So the statement that there'sno Jamaican on it was lies.
But we're so emotionally vestedin this thing, anything anybody
(10:29):
posts, it was just like, oh mygosh, why me to know you
couldn't find no Jamaican tosing a song.
So I feel like there was alevel of misinformation or not
enough research or whatever itwas.
But that really took me fromanticipating it to like, well,
I'm gonna really care about itat this point.
(10:49):
I'm just going to do mynational duty, my duty as a
Jamaican, to go watch it andthat's it.
But regardless of what washappening, I just knew I was
going to watch it.
The statement about you know,ziggy couldn't find a Jamaican
to play Bob, I mean, I hadcoworkers who are not black, who
are not Caribbean, who asked meabout that right, and so that
(11:15):
played into how I was feelingabout this and the
representation.
So the conversations in socialmedia, misinformation or
preliminary information that youknow people didn't really dig
deep into and for myself didn'tdig deep into, you know, because
I just got this and just sharedit really played into how I was
(11:37):
receptive to what was happeningand I know a few people.
I shared those posts.
So I know social media and howpeople were reacting and I had
to be intentional to say youknow what later for social media
, a lot of people you are hereknow that after a while I was
like I don't want to see nosocial media posts.
I'm just I'm going to watch itand I don't want to really kill
(11:59):
my vibe about it and, yeah,that's it.
So I'm curious to hear anyoneelse's experience with the
social media, the controversy,people, opinion, no Jamaican.
And that's the other thing too,maybe jumping ahead.
While Kingsley Ben Adir isBritish and he's of Caribbean
(12:21):
heritage, he's not Jamaican.
But when people said there's noJamaican, that's a misnomer
that we have to correct.
You know you have Jamaican bornactors and you have actors born
to Jamaican parents, just likehow Mikey T, michaela,
alexandria Jindai you're born toJamaican parents.
(12:42):
You are Jamaican and my issuewith people is that we can't.
We can't choose when we want tobig up Sherri Lee Ralph, who is
not Jamaican she's born toJamaican parents.
So when it convenience we saybig up Sherri Lee Ralph, we
can't collectively come off amute and say piu, piu, piu, piu,
piu piu.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
Yes, I'll call for them.
We can't do this Piu, piu, piupiu.
I get that a lot of timesYou're not really Jamaican.
No, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
You cannot pick and choose.
So if you're looking for aJamaican born, so one thing, but
you can't say they're notJamaican.
You have people who areJamaican born and those who born
to Jamaican parents and all ofus here collectively say, yeah,
you're born to Jamaican parents,you are Jamaican.
So this idea that there's noJamaican part of it, we need to
clarify that, as you haveJamaican born and those who born
(13:33):
to Jamaican parents, and we'regoing to move off on that
because everybody's sayingKingsley did a good job.
I felt that they went withKingsley for the likeness of Bob
.
I don't necessarily think thathe gave the best performance.
I feel somebody else could havegiven a better performance, who
was initial?
But I'm going to give otherpeople time.
(13:54):
I risk my case until the nextargument.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Yeah, as to your point, I was born in New York
but I found out I could get myJamaican citizenship through
descent, which I was able to get, and I have my Jamaican
passport.
So when I land they tell mewelcome home, even though I was
born in New York.
So when it comes to Kingsleyand when it comes to that idea
of why wasn't a Jamaican chosento play Bob Marley, I think in
(14:24):
the realm of art we have to bevery careful with that
conversation, because the wholepoint of acting is taking
somebody and learning andbecoming that character.
Are we going to, in thisconversation, then typecast our
Jamaican actors?
Where it becomes hey, there'sthis big role, the star is from
(14:48):
California and a Jamaican actorwho has a perfect California
accent.
It becomes oh, we can't look atyou because you're not from
California.
Acting is the art of becomingsomebody else.
Has Will Smith ever been apolice officer in New York who's
battling aliens?
Has Samuel L Jackson ever beena house slave in the Deep South?
(15:13):
We have to be very careful andI think what happens is when
you're putting on a productionlike this that costs that much
money, you want somebody thathas range, while we have great
Jamaican actors, when we talkabout the range of emotions that
Bob Marley went into that movie, when I'm spending XYZ amount
(15:36):
of money on a production that issupposed to bring people out of
their seats and into a moment,I need to feel confidence in the
range of that actor to say theycan go from point A to point B,
naturally, and take people outof their seats.
So that's my opinion.
Yes, we would have loved to seea Jamaican in that role, but is
(15:59):
there evidence of a Jamaicanactor that actually goes the
depth and that's what we love tosee, and did it make business
sense?
That's just my point.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
All right, go ahead Jen.
Speaker 5 (16:13):
One thing I just need us to, or this narrative that
now I feel that Ziggy ispromoting it and I feel like you
co-signed it the narrative thatthere's no Jamaican actors that
are capable just because youmight not personally know of
them.
It kind of talks down on usLike we're not able.
(16:34):
If anybody from anywhere elseis able, why aren't we not able?
And it's not to say thatsomeone from elsewhere can't do
the role, but why can't we dothe role, something that should
be so natural?
I've watched, especially throughCOVID, the amount of phenomenal
acting that I've seen onYouTube channels alone.
(16:56):
Not even big production, withJamaican actors, with range
actors and actresses that do noteven have big production
budgets and are pulling off somephenomenal roles.
It's not fair to say maybe theydon't have the resources, but
if people are not giving them achance, I'm sorry to say, but I
(17:19):
have yet to hear someone fromsomewhere else other than
Jamaica master the accent.
I don't know.
It's very complicated, it'shard.
He didn't do an awful job.
He did a good job for Bob, butI just don't understand why
people keep on saying that it'sdegrading to us and belittles us
(17:40):
.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Just saying we don't know.
One question I do have was thatthe headline?
I know the answer, but that wasthe headline that social media
ran with and we didn't get tosee the depth of the entire clip
of what he was referring to.
So I also want to give space tosay that.
(18:03):
Go ahead, Chris.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
Okay, so I'm going to come from a few different
angles.
So I am actor, right, I may notbe doing any work, but I
studied theater, studied acting.
You guys probably don't noticeMikaela Kari.
I have done my little workbehind the scenes, so for me, I
(18:24):
get what you're saying.
Mikaela acting is that's whatit is right.
But the thing about this BobMarley and the Bob Marley movie
is it's the Jamaican pridethat's behind this makes it
something that is so importantfor us as a nation you know, as
(18:46):
a nation, to be able to havesomething where one of us can be
in the lead.
The thing that bothered me isthat you have this family who I
think, has a responsibility tomake this as genuine as possible
.
You know, take someone from ourisland like Bob was uplifted
(19:12):
and put up on a pedestal fromour island to really reflect
that, to be that, to emulatethat, and I think it was their
responsibility to do that.
Now we could say I could alsogo back to it from a business
perspective and say, well, youknow, from a business
perspective, we need to putbutts in the seat.
So we've got to make sure weget somebody that's recognizable
(19:35):
, that people might, but noteverybody and a lot of people
don't know Kingsley Ben Adair.
People know him, but he's notknown worldwide.
You know what I'm saying.
So he's still a you know, sortof lesser known actor, right?
So we could have taken a chanceon one of ours.
I'm going to go back to whatwhat I remember was done when
they remade Superman.
(19:55):
That actor who played Supermanway back when nobody knew, right
, and it became a huge success,right, he was a young white guy
who just got catapulted to fame,right, I can't remember his
name, it's not Henry K Vell.
This is another.
I want to say Brandon Ruth orsomething like that.
I can't remember what thebottom line is.
This guy nobody knew and he hascatapulted to fame playing
(20:19):
Superman.
We could do the same thing, wecould.
We had the responsibility,opportunity to do the same thing
with this film, but forwhatever reason, they chose not
to.
You have the brother who playedNeville Gag, for example.
Sheldon Shepard, talented actor.
I saw him when he did.
Better must come.
Amazing actor.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
He has range, he's also in champion, which he would
have been a better.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
Bob Marley and he's an artist, he's a performer, he
gets it, he could.
He could embody Bob right.
So it's something that I'm notgoing to tear it down, because
this represents us and I'm gladthat this was done.
But I really do hope that whatwill come from this is people
(21:04):
see that we have amazing actors.
We're not even going to talk.
We have to talk about later andI'm going to stop here Kwan
Deja Henriquez.
I mean, I hope I said his nameright, but he played young Bob
like oh my God, like this kid isgoing places.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
But I just want to say I want to interject what
Mikey said was a very importantpoint that I didn't quite
consider it the way youarticulated, because it's a it's
a good point and I had a pointto support what you said.
Right, it's about becoming thecharacter and I felt like
(21:41):
Sheldon Shepard could havebecome the character of Bob
Marley and the example that Ihave was Jamie Foxx.
Don't look like Ray, but Jamiewent through a transformation
that made him feel like, oh mygosh, this is Ray Charles.
The same thing with ChadwickBoseman, for get up with with
(22:03):
James Brown.
So the point that you made,mikey, I don't want to feel I
know you don't feel it.
I felt like you made a reallygood point.
I think what most of us aretaking issue with is the
statement coming from a Marleythat outside, to a larger
culture, a white audience, theywill take it as gold, as stone
(22:25):
that there are no Jamaicanactors that are good enough to
play the role Alexander.
Speaker 6 (22:31):
I just wanted to add a point about that sort of
misinformation.
The issue with social media is,you know, they're trying to get
the hype and draw everybody inwith the quick little 10 second
bite, right.
So you know, not to fed nobodyCause.
In a lot of ways I also wouldhave looked to see a Jamaican
actor play Bob, right.
But the social media clip wasthere are no talented Jamaicans,
(22:53):
right.
If you had watched the longervideo where Ziggy explained that
, you know he was trying to,they were trying to find
somebody with the pull.
You know, as both Chris and, Ithink Mikey also mentioned,
right, that the businessperspective, the not defending
it, right.
But if that was their main goal, right In trying to choose a
(23:14):
person.
But I did take issue, you know,initially hearing that bite
size clip and I was like wait,let me, let me go on, go, do my
due diligence and not just, youknow, run with what is
immediately buzzing on socialmedia.
Speaker 7 (23:26):
And Deira.
Of course, you know I saw allthe commentary about which actor
they chose in and why theydidn't choose one of Bob's many
kids, grandkids, and you knowthey're not actors, but not to
say that they can't be.
But yeah, I feel like it alwayscomes down to like you know,
(23:48):
it's a, it's a business, andlike the studios want to make
money and they they have a hardtime understanding that we can
sell films and like even withbig films that came out was
still risky for them.
They're not sure this is goingto make money.
And then we show up.
It's like billions and millionsof dollars and but they still
(24:12):
feel like you know, oh, blackaudiences won't turn up for this
.
That's always in the back oftheir mind, although we know
better.
But that type of mindset isalways like frustrating for when
it comes to like our film.
So it's like I see, kind of,why they decided to go with this
actor, but I'm sure they're youknow, like the actor that you
mentioned.
(24:33):
I looked them up Cause I didn't.
I'm really bad with names, so Ilooked them up and, yeah, he
would have been perfect as well.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
So I want to piggyback.
Why do you think the studiocause everyone's like it's a
great production?
I don't know if everybody wasexpecting subpar production from
Paramount, you know like Iwasn't expecting it right.
But why?
Why was the industry notexpecting people to go out and
watch this?
Because it shatteredexpectations and, based on the
(25:02):
dailies, it continues to benumber one, even when it's our
stories.
Cause we'd have backfitted ourstories and we are get our
stories.
Why?
Why do they still feel like wewon't show up for our stories
and then, fiend surprise, that'swhen we show up, like I don't
understand that.
Could you possibly share whyyou think that's the case?
Speaker 7 (25:21):
I mean, you know, it all comes down to them just
being, you know, I don't knowracist prejudice, I don't know
which is the better term forthis, but it's like they.
They have no faith in ourtalent, they have no faith in
our stories.
I mean, I see it in theindustry that I work in that a
(25:41):
big superhero film that came outand even with that film they
thought I don't, they weren'tsure if they were going to make
the money that they thought theywould make from this film, if
they were just going to breakeven or anything like that.
But we showed out and we showedout twice.
And you know, it's just howthey think.
(26:02):
I don't know, it's veryannoying.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Jen, I see you.
Speaker 5 (26:05):
Yeah, I don't think it's us that they're worried
about showing up.
It's them that they're worriedabout showing up.
I think they're worried aboutwhite people showing up to the
theater.
Now, if you look at Kingsley, Imean aesthetically, he
resembles Bob Marley's face, forinstance.
It was him versus Sheldon.
He looked more like Bob Marley.
(26:28):
He has that, you know, kind ofa mixed light skin.
Look like Bob Sheldon.
He doesn't look like the prettyboy persona that they like.
Bob was super talented but weknow the way he looked was a big
part of it.
He was some dark skin, strongAfrican teacher, black man with
locks.
But people, once they put theBob Marley on there, I'm sorry.
(26:51):
Honestly, I think whoever theycasted, people were going to go
out of curiosity.
They could have cast anyone anylight skinned man, brown
skinned, raster man, they couldhave cast and people would have
went just out of mere curiosity.
But I think the main peoplethey were worried about coming
to the box office are whitepeople not black people, all
right, so that's a good seguefrom Mikael and I to jump in.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
So we've covered the casting and I wanted to share
some research.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
So hold on.
Why are you back up on thecasting?
Because we're not even talkabout.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
LaShana.
Yeah, we're gonna go to that ina little bit, but we want to
set up the production right.
So let's circle back, right.
So this movie, the Marley movie, was as Horane Henry in a Carry
On Friends podcast he says thatthere are multiple people that
put together a show.
So Paramount was involved andPlan B productions right.
(27:47):
And Plan B is a productioncompany that initially started
with Brad Pitt and JenniferAniston.
Jennifer sold her steak in PlanB and so Plan B entertainment,
as executive producer, they werethe ones responsible for going
out and to try to get thefunding for the film and so, as
(28:11):
executive producer, the firstperson on that list was what's
she name?
Again, didi Gardner and JeremyKleiner was on there, and
they're the ones that have thePGAA that Amy M and Ziggy has
that as well because he was onset and part of the production a
(28:31):
good amount at the times.
So let me just run down someimportant people Panikas and our
Panik crew, includingnon-acting crew, and then we get
into LaShana.
So we already Didi Gardner isproducer, jeremy Kleiner is
producer, ziggy, executiveproducer, orly Marley, executive
(28:52):
producer Sidella and Rita alsogot producer credits.
The Faye Ellington, who we grewup knowing she is credited as a
dialect coach and she also wasthe announcer at the concert
scene we have.
Steven Marley is music producercredits.
Harvey Mason Jr has executivemusic producer credit, and the
(29:17):
reason why Harvey Mason Jr isimportant?
Because Harvey Mason Jr isassociated with the Grammys.
So he is what McCann rememberin position, but you end up on
the stage a couple of weeks agofor the Grammys.
He's the head of the Grammys.
He's the head of the Grammys Ifyou watch champion Sissy, who
is the woman in champion,natalie Thompson she has
(29:41):
production manager credits onthis because she's part of the
Jamaican unit.
There.
The casting director is alsothe casting director that was on
black cake.
Brad Pitt is executive producerand then the actors we have
Nadine Marshall, who play Ariain champion played young Sidella
(30:02):
Marley, as in Bob's mother, nothis daughter, sidella, we
talked about Sheldon.
There is Anna Sharee Blake, akaSavannah, who plays Judy Moat,
and then we also have NaomiCohen who plays Marcia Griffiths
.
We had Kwan, which Chrismentioned, and of course,
(30:23):
lashanna.
Those are like names that weknow.
And also there's a lot ofpeople who've made appearance in
the movie.
So we saw Muta.
Baruka had a few appearances inthe movie and so we can get
into the characters from there.
I just wanted to set that upfor everybody.
And so if you're wondering whywas Brad Pitt at the premiere,
(30:45):
he's an executive producer.
His production company helpedto finance the film, along with
Paramount, and whatever theMarley is going, run it, call us
.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
In finding the money, in finding money, forget it
done.
I think Kingsley did a good jobright, but I also think that
that kind of ties into myoverall feeling of the movie.
I do think it wasn'tnecessarily the acting, but the
(31:15):
delivery and the writing.
I think that there were somethings that were missing for me,
Like I think they got theemotional connection, but I
wanted to walk away from themovie.
Like I walked away from Selenaor Rey or Ali or Get Up.
(31:37):
I wanted to walk away lookingfor the catalog, feeling like I
have jumped into an era that Icompletely missed and would have
transported myself back to tojust experience that.
And I think that everything tome, including the acting,
(31:58):
including the accents, includingthe delivery, was good but it
wasn't great.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
No, I agree with you, mikayla.
I felt like I walked awaywatching a dramatization of
Eyeshot and the Sheriff, adocumentary.
I felt like that's what Iwatched.
Like you said, the writing wasjust weak, the story was weak,
it didn't pull me in and thatwas it.
It wasn't the acting, it wasthe story.
It just wasn't strong enough.
(32:25):
I watch a lot of documentariesBob Marley he has the most
documentaries on his life thananybody else in the world, right
, and I've watched at leasteight of them, and so I come
with knowledge about stories.
But telling and fictionalizingaspects of the story, and I
think that's what's missing.
Right, they were focused ontelling a true story, but
(32:46):
they're aspects of a true storythat you need to fictionalize in
order to bring in, because evenZiggy, as his son, they're not
able to really convey becausethe person who they're telling
the life of they're not aroundto fill in the gaps.
So I agree with Mikayla on that, mikey, and then Jen.
Speaker 4 (33:04):
There were two points that I wanted to get into.
There was a mention of theaccent, the Jamaican accent.
I don't know, I'm not in any ofthese board meetings or
anything, but I think one of thethings that they worry about is
getting lost.
If you have too authentic of anaccent and then they worry
(33:28):
about having to create subtitlesfor a film, you have a lot like
you know, at the end of the day, jamaicans, really, when they
get deep into their character,when they get deep into their
accent, they can lose a lot ofpeople.
And that confusion in a movietheater when you can't rewind
has the potential to losesomebody.
(33:50):
But it's not me because, guesswhat, I'm going to get it.
But at the end of the day, inmaking a film for a wide screen
audience, those are the smallthings that they have to think
about without adding subtitles.
And when it comes to, again, thecast and choice, I wonder if
the fact that the UK has a veryhuge support of Caribbean
(34:14):
content we see a lot of movies,we see a lot of films and series
coming from the UK that areCaribbean based and Caribbean
centered Did that play inParamount's decision, like I
don't know how big Kingsley or,I'm sorry, the young lady who
played Rita.
I don't know how big they arein the UK.
(34:34):
Did that play a role in theirdecision to say, hey, they'll
bring in the seats, definitelyover in the UK?
I don't know.
Speaker 7 (34:44):
So one of the questions that they asked during
the pre-screening that I wentto and they asked it a couple of
times was the accent hard tounderstand, and I remember I
told Kari Ann about that acouple of months ago, and to me
it seems like they want to makethe accent palatable, they want
(35:06):
to water it down a bit.
So, that way, like you weresaying, they want to make sure
they don't have to add in anysubtitles or anything like that.
And I remember that there was acouple guys behind me that I
heard them talk low about howsome parts of it they couldn't
really understand.
And I'm sure on that, becausethey give you a phone to answer
(35:29):
the questions.
I'm sure on the phone theyprobably put that, but it was an
interesting question.
It's like I wonder if they evenask these questions at other
types of films with characterswho have accents.
I mean, for me I can understandif my parents are Caribbean,
but for non-Caribbean viewers Idon't know.
Speaker 5 (35:50):
I think a lot of people would be surprised to
know how much they really dounderstand, especially the fans
of Bob Marley, because BobMarley was not speaky-spoky and
these people watch Bob Marley'sinterviews.
If there's one Jamaican personthat they understand is Bob
Marley.
Now, kingley did a great job,honestly to me.
(36:12):
He did a better job thanLaShawna, and she has Jamaican
parents.
The man took his time.
I said you know what he soundlike, bob?
I don't know if he was playinganother Jamaican person, but
he's specifically studying Bob,so he got it.
He did well.
Lashawna, damn.
I mean, for Jamaican parents,we need a foundation like a
(36:34):
school for the children ofJamaican parents so that we can
properly pick up the dialect orsomething I don't know or
something I don't know.
But it was difficult for me.
But, as what you were saying, Ifelt like a lot of things were
left out of the movie.
It felt lacking.
I felt disappointed.
I was like, oh, this is nice,but I felt disappointed.
(36:57):
I felt like there could be more.
Some characters didn't evenspeak.
There were some people that Iknow were supposed to be in the
movie and their parts got cut,and I'm sad about that, because
how do you talk about Bob'sjourney without him and you
mentioned them.
So it's kind of fascinating tomention them and don't really
show that they were in Pedro inthe journey.
(37:19):
You can't put everything in amovie but if watered down and
even the white people and otherpeople who are not Black, other
people who aren't Jamaican, knowthat it could have had more, it
could have had some more too.
I just wish they would havegave us some more and really
show us Kingsley's range toreally portray, because it
(37:43):
honestly was like a littlesummary and barely anybody spoke
.
Naomi said like two linesDevana did not say a thing.
I don't recall for saying aword One time I just looked at
her and said, oh yeah, she kindalooks like Judy in that scene,
but she ain't saying nothing.
All now.
I mean I like that.
I heard Hexer talking, you know.
But yeah.
(38:04):
I fell asleep at one point.
Doze off, honestly, and Ididn't expect that for myself,
honestly.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
All right.
So Jensen just dropped offasleep.
All right, wait.
So I'm going to get to a couplepoints.
So I agree with LaShawna on theaccent and what Kingsley did
was he was very intentional.
So, alexandria, I wanted to popin because this guest was on
your show, dr Farquhorson, whois the head of the Jamaica
(38:36):
Language Institute, who is doinga lot of work to recognize or
language as a language.
So Jamaican Patois, whatever isa language.
He actually went to theLanguage Institute and they
taught him the dialect and theytaught him how to remember.
I said that Faye Ellington wasa dialect coach.
(38:58):
Specifically, he had his owndialect coach, so he was more
conscious of having the languagein there and I want Alexandria
to talk about that.
And then, indira, you can tellus all the things they cut out
or tell it from where you see inthe pre-screen.
So what we saw live.
Speaker 6 (39:16):
Yeah, I definitely will say after a big up the
accent on Kingsley's part.
I think that was something whenwe all heard the movie, where
that's always the trepidationaround, when we're in a movie
where I said I don't know whatthey're going to sound like
because they're going to soundlike we.
But Kingsley was veryintentional, had studied at the
(39:38):
Jamaica Language Union at Uemonain Kingston and I think that
definitely gives credit not onlyto his dedication towards the
role, but you know again why wethink it definitely excelled in
particular ways in terms of hisaccent and portrayal of Bob.
Speaker 7 (39:55):
Okay.
So they did have a lot ofscenes when Bob was like I guess
was he like a teenager when hehad went to that recording
studio.
So they did cut out a few moreof those scenes from that.
And then the Uemona scene wherethey were he and Rita were I
(40:16):
guess this one.
They were in Paris and shementioned his other bandmates.
There was a scene with them, Iguess when they got into, I
guess when they broke up.
There was that scene that theycut out and I thought that was
interesting that they left thatout and what else.
There was more scenes with himand Rita when they were younger
that they also cut out as well.
(40:38):
I mean, I guess it would havemade the movie much longer than
what it already was, but it wasinteresting that they made those
decisions.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
Before I go to your, chris, I think overall I think
them choosing that specifictimeline was probably
problematic because and what Ididn't like was how they did
flashbacks in it, as opposed tojust set up Bob from little bits
coming up and then go intowhere he is Doing the flashbacks
(41:07):
weren't very helpful at allbecause it felt out of place.
People wanted to understand Bobas a young man, this half white
person in Jamaica to when hegot to you know, and again
cutting out Peter and Bonnie,who Bonnie is technically a
second cousin, so he's familyother than a family.
Speaker 3 (41:31):
Technically a brother , yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:33):
Yeah, I mean, you know technically a brother, but
they were better in coming.
They were better in comingExactly so.
So cutting that out just didn'treally make sense, because you
assume that everybody know whoBob Marley is.
People know the name, but theydon't always know the story.
They're not a watch documentarylike us.
So I thought that was a missedopportunity.
(41:54):
Chris run it.
Speaker 3 (41:56):
Yeah, I mean, I'm going to what you, what you said
, right, what you said, so 100%.
Like the movie was about anhour and 47, 48 minutes.
We saw Ray Ray was like threehours, right.
I mean, like you, they couldhave made this a three hour
movie and, trust me, they wouldnot have lost the audience.
All they need to have was greatwriters.
(42:17):
All they needed to have wasgreat writers, a great story and
three hours.
Nobody would have batted an eye, nobody would have sat in those
seats to watch this movie,because everybody love Bob.
Bob translates to you couldn'tlive in an Iceland, reykjavik or
wherever.
You know Bob, everybody knowsBob.
So my thing is an opportunitywas missed as far as I'm
(42:39):
concerned.
But listen, I'm not making themovie, I don't own it, it's not
mine.
We're just talking about whatif, if this were done
differently, I think I think itwas a missed opportunity.
And also I'm going to touch onParamount.
Like Paramount, I don't thinkthey have anybody on their team
that understood how to marketthis film properly.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
Okay, Because none of these studios know all of it.
Do it.
Speaker 3 (43:05):
Peer period period especially when it comes to us.
Okay, because, no matter whatyou want to say, while Bob is
for the world, this is a storyspecifically about us, for us,
and this is why it's importantfor us to really control our
stories and the way they aretold.
And I don't know if the Malifamily really control it the way
(43:28):
it should have been controlled.
You know, I just don't.
You know, am I wrong for sayingthat?
Okay, if I am, tough luck notto have my talk over, feel you
know.
Speaker 2 (43:39):
The chat festive, we can't even get to the chat.
But, jen, I thought the sameexact thing.
I said they probably spent moretime with Kingsley and the
accent.
And he see, I Saw an interviewwith him when he was on the
Breakfast Club and he talkedabout he's like.
He asked them.
He's like are you sure you wantme go back and find someone
(44:01):
else and then come?
If you feel that I'm the rightperson, then fine.
But he was very intentional andthat I saw that interview after
seeing the movie and I reallythought that he conveyed the
emotions of Bob.
I Looked at him a few times andI connected what I saw of Bob
(44:22):
Marley in documentaries to him.
So he captured the characterbeautifully.
The music for me fell so flat,the music like it's so integral
to who Bob was, is, today, willbe, and I just felt that it was
(44:44):
like when they were in thestudio and he's like give me a
one, drop my like.
I just didn't find thatconnection and it wasn't
hard-hitting, like I rememberthe scene from even in Ray and
like I said, selena, the musicscenes there, and even when
Chadwick was in the hotel and hewas working with his band and
(45:05):
you saw the footstomp and youheard the click-clack and you
heard the vibration of the, thedrums and the horns coming in
and the guitars and it just likeyou felt like getting up and
dancing.
I wanted us to be in theretalking about rust stuff.
I like, do the the inside thecollar responds yeah, we're a
(45:25):
stuff All right, you know what Imean.
Like that's the kind ofexcitement that I really wanted
to feel in terms of theConnection to the movie itself.
So I think Kingsley did abeautiful job and, like Jen said
, it almost did a disservice tohow good of a like job he did,
capturing that role and the, thewriting and just falling flat.
(45:49):
I think LaShawna from the momentshe spoke, it like something
was off.
I read Rita Marley's biographyCalled no women, no cry, so a
lot of the movie.
If you read that book, it wasalmost like they were capturing
Bob's response To the moments inthat book.
(46:09):
So I highly recommend that youread that book, listen to it,
whatever it is, because everysingle moment that was in her
book we were seeing Bob respondto those moments as a person,
because she talks about all ofit how they met, the
circumstances, her being in thestudio, pregnant and him telling
(46:32):
her to go home, and how thethey you know she got shot and
how she kind of transpiredthrough the struggle of
remaining in his legacy and howshe dealt with all the women.
And you know the movie alludesto her having her own man too,
like.
So if you read that book youunderstand the, the character
(46:53):
that LaShawna was Filling butfor for a lot of the public
especially if you haven't readthat book you're really getting
exposed to the power of RitaMarley and the, the influence
that she had and the connectionthat they truly had.
They were both seen as likeoutcasts and that's kind of how
they Grew their love and he hadsuch an admiration and respect
(47:17):
and so did she, so much so thatshe mentions it in the film.
The message became themessenger and she to this day,
her family kind of still alludesto that Legacy in in honing, in
hit in in Bob's name, yo.
Speaker 1 (47:37):
Mikey just drops something at the track Mikey
come to.
Speaker 4 (47:41):
With the track Mikey come to, come to, we were yes no
, I said they spoke more aboutRita stepping out of the
marriage the one man that shehad.
Then they spoke of Bob'swomanizing, which was strange.
And I only say that because Iwatched Ziggy Marley's interview
and he said, listen, this filmis a deep dive into Bob, the
(48:04):
person, not Bob the icon.
And I was like this film is adeep dive into Bob my daddy it
looked like Ziggy was like,because he was 12 years old when
his father died.
And what do you really knowabout your father's your parents
?
Like telling a picnic, please.
Like what do you really knowabout your father's life at 12
(48:25):
years old, to say that you'regonna convey a deep dive.
You don't know the real storybecause you were a child and I
think that's one of the thingsthat let me down, because it's
like Sometimes we talk about ourlegacies and our heroes and
they seem so perfect and theymake people feel like I Can't
tell my story because there's somuch wrong with my life.
(48:48):
If they would have taken thatopportunity To humanize Bob,
that would like come on, likeyou know, you have so many
children, so many outsiderelations, why, why, what was it
?
Was it a deep self-hatred inyourself that you felt nobody
could love you because you werehalf white, half black.
And you went through that inJamaica and you know that's what
(49:09):
I was looking for.
And I'll say one thing aboutKingsley that I think was very
interesting, about his accent.
He said when he was goingthrough the tapes of Bob's
interviews that he received, hesaid he could understand 70% of
what Bob said and he said thereare certain, there are certain
things.
He called all his Jamaicanfriends and was like do you know
(49:29):
what he's saying here?
And they're like nah, and hecalled the Marley family, was
like hey, can you tell me whatyour father's saying here?
And they were like I just sawBob talk and I will say Kingsley
did something very Intentionalwhich I don't know if anybody
can, if anybody can tell me whathe said.
So after, after, after theshooting and the attempt on
(49:51):
Bob's life shot out, michaelWard, jamie from Top Boy, born
in Spanish town, went to Englandwhen he was four.
But, um, when he hugged her, hesaid something to her and I
watched the movie three timesand if I tell you I know what
words Kingsley said to thatwoman, I'd be lying if anybody
can tell me, if anybody's heardit and understood.
(50:13):
But when he hugged her, he saidRita, she said, oh, I signed
myself out of the hospital andhe said something to her and he
hugged her and I was like whatit sound like Kingsley did that
on purpose.
I know what he said.
What he said, please tell me.
Speaker 5 (50:27):
No, please tell me, I want to know.
He said you have somethingmouth.
He said a woman, you havesomething mouth, it's I don't
know.
So you really stopped mouth.
Speaker 4 (50:35):
Yeah, no off to me inside the thing, and I wonder
if he did that on purpose whenhe talked about studying Bob's
linguistics, which I found veryinteresting because I never
thought about it.
He's like listen, bob was bornin the country and say, then in
the country, grew up in trenchtown and then traversed through
Europe.
(50:55):
So while Bob had a Jamaicanaccent, there are certain words
and there are certain thingsthat were kind of unique to Bob,
which I do see through a lot ofJamaicans that I know that come
up here and when they go backhome they're like listen, I know
you've been to foreign andthey're like wait, how did you
know?
One of the things that one ofmy friends said to me is
Jamaicans back in the day,jamaicans back home really don't
(51:17):
use the F word, they don't useit in conversation, but he says
the guys experiences, when a lotof them come back, they use
that a lot more than normallywhen they grow up in Jamaica,
which is something that I don'tknow, that I find very
interesting when it comes todialect and the morphing of of
two different dialects andcultures.
Speaker 1 (51:39):
The other thing is that what people and I just
talked about it in the interviewwith Andrew of Rata production.
She said we use Bob as the samething.
Bob had the country speak.
I know this because I come fromMobile and everywhere else I
can send his country to Kingstonpeople.
So we talk a specific way.
I come from Brooklyn, I have aBrooklyn style of speaking, but
(52:02):
also when you think of Bob, bobis in the early stages of you
know, bob is a Rastafarian and aRastafarian has some
Rastafarian speak, them of the Iand I and the in and the.
You know I for I and all ofthese things that they change
around for the language or forthe religion.
So if you are outside ofRastafarianism, jamaican culture
(52:26):
, it will all feel foreign andlike you're not used to it.
For most of us who go up around.
You know.
You know even Chris, when Christalks to me and Chris will say,
kerry, I don't appreciatebecause I don't eat.
I appreciate love.
You know, with a makeup words,you know with a makeup words and
(52:47):
so you have to reallyunderstand the concept and flow
with Bob.
Because the thing about Bob too,he's not a fast part to a
speaker, he's a slow speaker butbecause he's deliberate and
he's just a giant Rastafarianand he's quoting Bible.
If you don't know the Bible itwill also feel very foreign.
A lot of Bob songs but can tellyou which Bible verse and
(53:09):
chapter them come from.
So if you're not familiar withthe Bible and him using turn you
know, changing eyes and use tothe Rastafarian speak plus the
Jamaican plus the other things,what he's saying is going to
sound very foreign.
So I like that you bring thatup, because language morphs and
changes, but the very, very tooimportant what's the word
(53:31):
influences is Rastafarianism andthe Bible and the application
of all of that mix up alsocontributes to this new language
that he has that people may notbe able to understand.
We want to switch a little bitbecause we know certain things
to say.
But I'm Alexandra, I haven'theard you so much.
So we know you had some thingsto say.
Did we touch on what you didwant to say?
Speaker 6 (53:52):
yet talk to them Me in a like Chris Mcwhale
character, I don't business orone shot or fight about it.
If you're not, if you'rewatching all of the Marley them
documentary, like all Kerry, say, 10 million documentary out
there, bob, bob, it was givingvery, I think, kevin Costner in
(54:13):
Hidden Figures when him gotsmashed down the city and so I
was like where is this whitesavior complex business?
I was like no sir, cut it outright now because, as was
mentioned before, it didn't gointo the whole breakup of Peter
touch, the original whaler, sexwith Peter and bunny.
(54:33):
And so there was the littledefense of of Chris blackwell in
a conversation between Bob andRita.
He was like no man, hey, I waslike cut it all right there.
But I mean, when you know alittle bit I think I have again
to some of the earlier pointswhen you have a deeper
understanding of the family'srelationship with Chris
(54:54):
blackwell, fine if that is whatyou wanted to do stylistically.
But it felt like very whitesavior complex to me.
Speaker 5 (55:02):
Yes, it goes back to the superhero like dad image
thing.
You know, even I was justwatching something with Ryan,
for instance.
Ron Marley where he talks aboutis an interview from a year or
two ago where he spoke aboutwhen Bob and Rita were trying to
get back, trying to get theright for Bob.
(55:25):
You know, basically themagainst Jamaica at this point
and they asked my friend thereby a and Rita one.
Well, ron also said is ahierarchy to the eldest, so
that's boss lady Ziggy's theeldest son, boss man.
Speaker 1 (55:44):
Wait, wait, are we?
Is it you sure it's the dollar?
The sister are not, so they letthe mother so they let us know
when, when they said Rita and sothey let us.
I'm asking are we sure if it'sRita and and the mother no, so
they let us know because he wasof age she was of age at the
(56:07):
time.
Speaker 5 (56:07):
She was the only one that was of age.
So her and Rita you knowblackwell loan them the money.
So they have something in themthat still looks at blackwell
like savior.
And the whole movie, even evenin the interviews where Ziggy
says, like you know, you know,when they even mentioned my
(56:27):
Kingsley, then I did fight, andstuff like that.
Oh, you know, well, bob was toldto us I just saw a little boy
that love his daddy and havethis image of his daddy and it
said that I feel like that ispart of the reason why the movie
didn't have I mean, they didn'thave full control, but I feel
that's part of the reason whythe movie didn't have as much
substance as it could, becauseRita even used to tell the truth
(56:47):
.
When you watch a interviews,rita is keeping it real about
the situation with Bob, it'stime to feel watered down.
You know, it's a child like.
It's a child like view of.
This is my daddy and he was sogreat and and your daddy was
great.
But your daddy was also a manand you didn't show us the man
like him and really human.
(57:09):
It was like Bob Marley, thesuperhero.
Speaker 1 (57:12):
All right.
So we're going to end theepisode right here and come back
for our part two.
So part two is only going to beon Reels and Rhythms and so
come back, we're going to finishthe conversation.
They go get festive, you know,because we don't set the
foundation at the film.
We set the foundation of Hall,who is involved, and we're going
to go a little bit more andtalk about the impact of the
(57:36):
film and just just going forwardwhat this means for the film in
the Caribbean, because it saystough gang films and no one know
the Magado Mawasho are theindustry.
That film company is one thing.
So come back and listen toReels and Rhythms.
So part two and you'll comeback and catch the crew, all
(57:59):
right.
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