According to the Paramount film’s first official trailer, Bob Marley: One Love starts from what Bob Marley deems “the beginning” — not the start of his life, but rather the birth of his famous peace-making persona. Centering on the year-and-a-half stretch following the failed assassination attempt on Marley in 1976, the film chronicles the pivotal events that led up to his 1978 performance at Jamaica’s One Love Peace Concert, offering audiences a closer look at the legendary reggae artist’s life.
The trailer opens with Marley, played by Kingsley Ben-Adir, who learned to play guitar solely for the film. “Reggae’s a people music,” he says. The visual then splices together critical moments, including performances and studio sessions, as well as personal encounters and shots of Jamaica. However, the feel-good montage comes to a screeching halt as Marley becomes the subject of a failed assassination attempt, just two days before the Smile Jamaica Concert.
“They tried to kill you and your wife, and now you’re choosing to return to Jamaica to play a peace concert? Don’t you fear for your life?” an off-screen voice asks the singer, to which he responds: “My life is not important to me. My life is people.” The last minute of the trailer features clips of Marley rebuilding in the wake of the failed assassination attempt, as he focuses on his upcoming performance and helping his hometown. Notably, No Time To Die‘s Lashana Lynch plays Marley’s wife, Rita.
Reinaldo Marcus Green directed the biopic, while Marley’s son Ziggy, daughter Cedella and widow, Rita, oversaw the film’s production with the help of Robert Teitel, Brad Pitt, Jeremy Kleiner, and Dede Gardner. “Filmed at the actual places where Bob walked, played football and sang like Trench Town and Bull bay in Kingston, [the film] is an artistic creation that we are proud of and want you to enjoy to be entertained but also to be inspired,” Ziggy wrote on Instagram in a post commemorating the trailer’s release.
The film is set to hit theaters on January 12, 2024. Stream the first official trailer for Bob Marley: One Love above.
Elsewhere in music, stream Juvenile’s epic NPR Tiny Desk Concert.
