After an extensive hunt, Paramount Pictures has gotten British actor Kingsley Ben-Adir to portray Bob Marley in the studio’s biopic about the reggae icon.
Deadline reports that Ben-Adir, who recently played Malcolm X in Regina King’s One Night in Miami…, has landed the coveted role following over a year of searching. King Richard director Reinaldo Marcus Green is tapped to direct the film, while Bob’s children Ziggy and Cedella Marley will produce alongside their mother Rita Marley via Tuff Gong. Screenwriter Zach Baylin, who also worked on the script for King Richard, is behind the screenplay.
Paramount has yet to detail what fans can expect the biopic to cover, but it will presumably track his rise to success as a reggae pioneer. Marley, who died following a battle with cancer in 1981, notably survived an assassination attempt at his home in 1976. When he passed, he was given a state funeral in his home country of Jamaica.
Other credits Ben-Adir has to his name include Hulu’s High Fidelity, the BBC and Netflix’s Peaky Blinders, and The OA. He's also been cast as a “lead villain” in Marvel’s Nick Fury-focused Disney+ series Secret Invasion, although the details of his role remain under wraps.
This month, per Jam Bands, Ziggy Marley announced plans for a one-off tribute concert to his father in London. Set to place at the O2 Academy Brixton in June, the show will mark the 50th anniversary of Bob Marley’s first time touring the United Kingdom.
