Carry On Friends: The Caribbean American Experience
Carry On Friends has an unmistakable Caribbean-American essence. Hosted by the dynamic and engaging Kerry-Ann Reid-Brown, the podcast takes listeners on a global journey, deeply rooted in Caribbean culture. It serves as a melting pot of inspiring stories, light-hearted anecdotes, and stimulating perspectives that provoke thought and initiate conversations.
The podcast invites guests who enrich the narrative with their unique experiences and insights into Caribbean culture and identity. With an array of topics covered - from lifestyle and wellness to travel, entertainment, career, and entrepreneurship - it encapsulates the diverse facets of the Caribbean American experience. Catering to an international audience, Carry On Friends effectively bridges cultural gaps, uniting listeners under a shared love and appreciation for Caribbean culture.
Carry On Friends: The Caribbean American Experience
Bob Marley One Love Movie: A Community Townhall (Part 1)
Our latest episode is a joint episode with Style & Vibes and Reels and Riddims with guests from the Breadfruit Media family. Including Chris Williams and Alexandria Miller as well as friends of the show, Indira, Mikey T and Jendai.
We dissect the impact of this film's release on Valentine's Day. From the precise timing to the casting of Kingsley Ben Adir as Bob Marley and Lashana Lynch as Rita Marley, we unpack the layers of expectation, excitement, skepticism and fervent conversations that surround this cinematic tribute to a legend.
Feel the heat of the debate as we wade into the casting controversy that has everyone talking. We navigate the choppy waters of social media opinions, the responsibility of filmmakers to their subjects, and how these decisions ripple through the film's authenticity and success. And we don't stop at the surface; we dig into the implications of these choices for unrecognized talents and the portrayal of cultural figures on the screen.
Concluding this episode we invite listeners to listen to part 2 of this conversation on the Reels & Riddims podcast.
Resources mentioned:
Documentary: Marley , Remastered: Who Shot the Sheriff
Book: No Woman, No Cry by Rita Marley and Hettie Jones
Connect with @carryonfriends - Instagram | Facebook | YouTube
A Breadfruit Media Production
Hi everyone, welcome to this special joint episode of Carry On Friends Style and Bibes and Reels and Ritims. And we are coming together for this joint episode to discuss the Bob Marley One Love Movie and it is causing quite a stir on the internet. And we've assembled a group of passionate guests family members of the Breadfruit Media, family audience members to come in and have a very poignant, educated and we're going to touch on the mix up tool that is circulating but we're going to have a very festive conversation on this movie, michaela welcome.
Speaker 2: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 can really get the in depth understanding of our position, as well as our amazing guests. So, as Carrie said, the Bob Marley One Love Movie released on February 14th, on Valentine's Day. That is no coincidence. That was planned from a marketing perspective.
Speaker 2:Produced by Rinaldo Marcus Green, who did King Richard through Paramount Films, in collaboration with the Marley family and a host of writers. It stars King Lee Benadir, who played Malcolm X in One Night in Miami, and he plays Bob Marley. Lashawna Lynch plays Rita Marley and she was in Woman King and Captain Marvel. We'll get into the backgrounds because 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 people, I forget to get on top of things More time. I'm sure these are WhatsApp conversations, dinner table conversations, so on our pre the family conversation, panda podcast episode yeah, so, without further ado, carrie, bring in the guests. Bring in the guests, role them in, role them in.
Speaker 1:Alright, so joining us today. No stranger to Carrie on Friends or Style and Vibes is our co-host with the most is Mr Chris Williams. Welcome to the show. Perperperperper, perperperperper.
Speaker 3:What's up y'all?
Speaker 1:And also joining us is our wonderful audience. Member of Carrie on Friends and supporter. Big up yourself, indira. Welcome to the podcast, hi everybody, and also another person we just featured on the podcast and a supporter already of Carrie on Friends and Reels and Riddims is Mikey T. Big up yourself, give them the best.
Speaker 4:I'll go on everybody.
Speaker 1:Alright, and then, and then, and then, we goodyisha, we sheffisha Jendai welcome to the podcast, she is family to me. And Mikaela welcome, jem.
Speaker 5:Hello everyone. I'm so happy to be here with you guys.
Speaker 1:Nice, nice. And then we have at a Breadfruit Media pambili and also a frequent appear on on the shows them Alexandria of the Strictly Facts podcast. Big up yourself, goody.
Speaker 6:Hello, hello everyone. Thank you for having me, carrie.
Speaker 1:Alright, so I'm gonna throw it back to you, mikaela, for guide me properly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no problem. So we have been seeing a lot of the promotion leading up to the film itself, and the conversation started way before the movie release. Chris, mega mega dash to you to kind of hear what was your initial reaction to seeing the pre rollout before the movie.
Speaker 3: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 taken aback by the selection right, because I wanted to see a Jamaican playing Bob Marley. So you know I knew Kingsley Benadir. I've been watching him as an actor. You know I'm a Marvel fan, so I saw him also in this Disney flick where he played a villain against Samuel Jackson, nick Fury of Shields, so it was really cool. I know the actor right, so I know he's talented, but I just didn't see him as Marley. Fine, I went into it with an open mind and now you know we'll talk about that later but my reaction was one of initially one of excitement, you know, looking forward to it, just concerned about the casting.
Speaker 2:And Deira and Mikey, you guys go ahead, nick.
Speaker 7:I was very excited as well. I can probably say this now, but I actually was able to do a pre screening for this movie months before it came out. So I was really excited to be able to get able to do that, because sometimes it's kind of hard to get those. And then, of course, I had to go back again with my mom and my brother this past Sunday to watch it again, and I was just very excited to see it twice.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I was very excited to hear about it. Born in New York to Jamaican parents, I remember being shocked that Bob Marley was dead, the way that I learned about Bob Marley, so growing up with that idea of that legacy, I was very excited about the film and I honestly thought it was long overdue and I understood the business impact that this film was going to have when we talk about mainstream production. So I was able to watch it three times as of now, and I'll probably go another two.
Speaker 1:I use your support I mean all of us here is doing our Jamaican duty to go out and watch the film, not film the film at least one time. Right, you'll break the record a year ago about five times. Alright, respect you, respect you, jen. What did you think about the film before its release?
Speaker 5:I can't say that I was excited. I mean, I'm a Bob fan who grew up on Bob, you know we love. Bob, but I can't say I was excited. I was more nervous about the movie, like please let this be well done. Like even though I know the family is fully involved, please don't let it be corny and just wondering if it was going to have enough. And you know, I don't think I was excited. I was kind of like oh boy please, I feel it.
Speaker 1:I feel it, Alexandra.
Speaker 6:I definitely was excited, I was really proud of the rollout that they did in Kingston. Right, it could have just gone to Miami and gone to London and wherever you know New York, then big place there. But you know to see the rollout and the attention that they gave to Kingston, especially with the launch, bear People followed, prince Harry and Meghan Mark, you know it was just a lot, for you know what we always consider a very small place but a tremendous impact, and I think that to me I was very proud of.
Speaker 2:I think I went through all the motions of all of you all at the same time and then I immediately went to Google. I'm like let's see who's part of this project, because if the family is not involved, I don't know how this is gonna go. I'm sure and even Ziggy in his promo run he talked about a lot of people's interests in depicting his father in this way, and two things that he said that I think were important is he is of age and has the maturity of a full grown person to really take the project on and be really into the entire process. And I think that that's very poignant too, because had he tried to do this maybe 10, 20 years ago, I'm sure every time he sees people they have a different story to talk about his dad and he has his own memories. It drums up all these entire emotions going through the entire project. So I do think, after kind of viewing some of his responses, that he was very intentional about what came to life on screen and I definitely appreciate that.
Speaker 2:But beyond all the niceties, there was a lot even around the press run of where they did screenings. They did it in Jamaica, they did it in London, they did it in LA. There was a lot of promotional activity, there were screens, and noticeably missing was New York and Miami. Like you mentioned, alexandria, and for such huge hubs of Jamaican culture, I think that was surprising to me to not see those two major cities as part of the rollout. But I did appreciate. Let's start in Jamaica first and then kind of make our rounds. But there was a lot of other controversy that we saw online before even seeing the movie. Did that sway your opinion or views before you saw the film? So I'm gonna go to Carrie and then Alexandria. I want you to kind of hop in.
Speaker 1:The level of misinformation and the level of controversy and I said misinformation because there was legit misinformation like we got information that there were no Jamaicans on the album or the soundtrack, whereas the artwork that we saw really only did the top billing of crossover artists like Casey Musgrave, and it did Daniel Caesar, but it wasn't until after like Centsia has a song on it.
Speaker 1:So the statement that there's no Jamaican on it was lies. But we're so emotionally vested in this thing, anything anybody posts it was just like, oh my gosh, what it means to know you couldn't find no Jamaican to sing a song. So I feel like there was a level of misinformation or not enough research or whatever it was. But that really took me from anticipating it to like, well, I'm gonna really care about it at this point. I'm just going to do my national duty, my duty as a Jamaican, to go watch it and that's it. But regardless of what was happening, 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 had coworkers who are not Black, who are not Caribbean, who asked me about that right, and so that played into how I was feeling about this and the representation. So the conversations in social media, misinformation or preliminary information that you know people didn't really dig deep into and for myself didn't dig deep into, you know, because I just got this and just shared it really played into how I was receptive to what was happening and I know a few people. I shared those posts. So I know social media and how people were reacting and I had to be intentional to say you know what Later for social media, a lot of people you hear know that After a while I was like I don't wanna see no social media posts. I'm just I'm going to watch it and I don't want to really kill my vibe about it and, yeah, that's it. So I'm curious to hear anyone else's experience with the social media.
Speaker 1:The controversy, people opinion, no Jamaican. And that's the other thing too, maybe jumping ahead. While Kingsley Ben Adir is British and he's of Caribbean heritage, he's not Jamaican. But when people said there's no Jamaican, that's a misnomer that we have to correct. You know you have Jamaican-born actors and you have actors born to Jamaican parents, just like whole Mikey T. You know Michaela Alexandria Jindai you're born to Jamaican parents. You are Jamaican and my issue with people is that we can't. We can't choose when we want to big up Sherri Lee Ralph, who is not Jamaican. She's born to Jamaican parents. So when it's convenient we say big up Sherri Lee Ralph.
Speaker 2:We can collectively come up and mute herself. Pium, pium, pium pium.
Speaker 4:Yes, I'll call for them.
Speaker 6:We can't do this Pium, pium, pium, pium.
Speaker 4:I get that a lot of times You're not really Jamaican. No, oh, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:You cannot pick on, choose. So if you're looking for a Jamaican born, so one thing, but you can't say they're not Jamaican. You have people who are Jamaican-born and those who are born to Jamaican parents and all of us here collectively say, yeah, you're born to Jamaican parents, you are Jamaican. So this idea that there's no Jamaican part of it, we need to clarify that, as you have Jamaican-born and those who are born to Jamaican parents and we're going to move off on that because everybody is saying Kingsley did a good job. I felt that they went with Kingsley for the likeness of Bob. I don't necessarily think that he gave the best performance. I feel somebody else could have given a better performance, who was initial. But I'm going to give other people time. I risked my case until the next argument.
Speaker 4:Yeah, as to your point, I was born in New York but I found out I could get my Jamaican citizenship through descent, which I was able to get, and I have my Jamaican passport. So when I land they tell me welcome home, even though I was born in New York. So when it comes to Kingsley and when it comes to that idea of why wasn't a Jamaican chosen to play Bob Marley, I think in the realm of art we have to be very careful with that conversation, because the whole point of acting is taking somebody and learning and becoming that character. Are we going to, in this conversation then, typecast are Jamaican actors. Where it becomes hey, there's this big role, the star is from California and a Jamaican actor who has a perfect California accent. It becomes oh, we can't look at you because you're not from California.
Speaker 4:Acting is the art of becoming somebody else. Has Will Smith ever been a police officer in New York who's battling aliens? Has Samuel L Jackson ever been a house slave in the Deep South? We have to be very careful and I think what happens is when you're putting on a production like this that costs that much money, you want somebody that has range, while we have great Jamaican actors, when we talk about the range of emotions that Bob Marley went into that movie, when I'm spending XYZ amount of money on a production that is supposed to bring people out of their seats and into a moment, I need to feel confidence in the range of that actor to say they can go from point A to point B, naturally, and take people out of their seats. So that's my opinion. Yes, we would have loved to see a Jamaican in that role, but is there evidence of a Jamaican actor that actually goes the depth and that's what we love to see, and did it make business sense? That's just my point.
Speaker 1:Jen go ahead, yeah, go ahead Jen.
Speaker 5:One thing I just need us to, or this narrative that now I feel that Ziggy is promoting and I feel like you co-signed it the narrative that there's no Jamaican actors that are capable just because you might not personally know of them. It kind of talks down on us Like we're not able. If anybody from anywhere else is able, why aren't we not able? And it's not to say that someone from elsewhere can't do the role, but why can't we do the role, something that should be so natural?
Speaker 5:I've watched, especially through COVID, the amount of phenomenal acting that I've seen on the YouTube channel alone. Not even big productions with Jamaican actors, with range actors and actresses that do not even have big production budgets and are pulling off some phenomenal roles. It's not fair to say maybe they don't have the resources, but if people are not giving them a chance, I'm sorry to say, but I have yet to hear someone from somewhere else other than Jamaica master the accent. I don't know. It's very complicated, it's hard. He didn't do an awful job. He did a good job for Bob, but I just don't understand why people keep on saying that it's degrading to us and belittles us.
Speaker 2:Just saying we don't know. One question I do have was that the headline? I know the answer, but that was the headline that social media ran with and we didn't get to see the depth of the entire clip of what he was referring to. So I also want to give space to say that. Go ahead, chris.
Speaker 3:Okay, so I'm going to come from a few different angles. So I am actor, right, I may not be doing any work, but I studied theater, studied acting. You guys probably don't notice Mikaela Carrey, you know have been done my little work behind the scenes. So for me, I get, and I get what you're saying. Mikaela acting is that's what it is right.
Speaker 3:But the thing about this Bob Marley and the Bob Marley movie is it's the Jamaican pride that's behind this, makes it something that is so important for us as a nation, you know, as a nation, to be able to have something where one of us can be in the lead. The thing that bothered me is that you have this family who I think, has a responsibility to make this as genuine as possible. You know, take someone from our island like Bob was uplifted and put up on a pedestal from our island to really reflect that, to be that, to emulate that, and I think it was their responsibility to do that. Now we could say I could also go back to it from a business perspective and say, well, you know, from a business perspective, we need to put butts in the seat. So we've got to make sure we get somebody that's recognizable, that people might, but not everybody. And a lot of people don't know Kingsley Ben Adair. People know him, but he's not known worldwide. You know what I'm saying. So he's still a, you know, sort of lesser known actor, right? So we could have taken a chance on one of ours.
Speaker 3:I'm going to go back to what I remember was done when they remade Superman. That actor who played Superman way 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, he was another, I want to say Brandon Ruth or something like that. I can't remember. But the bottom line is this guy nobody knew and he has catapulted to fame playing Superman. We could do the same thing, we could. We had the responsibility, opportunity to do the same thing with this film, but for whatever reason, they chose not to. You have the brother who played Neville Gag, for example Sheldon Shepherd, talented actor. I saw him when he did Better Must Come. Amazing actor. He has range.
Speaker 3:He's also in champion which he would have been a better Bob Marley Amazing, and he's an artist, he's a performer, he gets it. He could embody Bob right. So it's something that I'm not going to tear it down, because this represents us and I'm glad that this was done. But I really do hope that what will come from this is people see that we have amazing actors. We're not even going to talk. We have to talk about later and I'm going to stop here Kwan Deja Henriquez. I mean I hope I said his name right, but he played young Bob like, oh my God, like this kid is going places, but now shut up.
Speaker 1:I just want to say I want to interject. What Mikey said was a very important point that I didn't quite consider the way you articulated, because it's a good point and I had a point to support what you said. Right, it's about becoming the character, and I felt like Sheldon Shepard could have become the character of Bob Marley and the example that I have was Jamie Foxx don't look like Ray, but Jamie went through a transformation that made him feel like, oh my gosh, this is Ray Charles. The same thing with Chadwick Boseman for Get Up with James Brown. So the point that you made, mikey, I don't want to feel I know you're not feeling it. I felt like you made a really good point. I think what most of us are taking issue with is a statement coming from a Marley that outside to a larger culture, a white audience, they will take it as gold as stone that there are no Jamaican actors that are good enough to play the role Alexander.
Speaker 6:I just wanted to add a point about that sort of misinformation. The issue with social media is they're trying to get the hype and draw everybody in with the quick little 10 second bite. So not to offend nobody, because in a lot of ways I also would have loved to see a Jamaican actor play Bob. But the social media clip was there are no talented Jamaicans. If you had watched the longer video where Ziggy explained that they were trying to find somebody with the pull, as both Chris and, I think, mikey also mentioned, right that the business perspective not defending it, right. But if that was their main goal in trying to choose a person. But I did take issue initially hearing that bite size clip and I was like wait, let me go do my due diligence and not just run with what is immediately buzzing on social media.
Speaker 7:Andira, of course I saw all the commentary about which actor they chose in and why they didn't choose one of Bob's many kids or grandkids. And they're not actors, but not to say that they can't be. But yeah, I feel like it always comes down to like it's a business and like the studios want to make money and they have a hard time understanding that we can sell films and like even with big films that came out was still risky for them. They're not sure this is going to make money. And then we show up. It's like billions and millions of dollars and but they still feel like you know, oh, black audiences won't turn up for this. That's always in the back of their mind, although we know better. But that type of mindset is always 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 you know, like the actor that you mentioned.
Speaker 7:I looked him up. I didn't I'm really bad with names, so I looked him up and, yeah, he would have been perfect as well.
Speaker 1:So I want to piggyback. Why do you think the studio? Because everyone's like it's a great production. I don't know if everybody was expecting subpar production from Paramount, you know like I wasn't expecting it. Right, but why? Why was the industry not expecting people to go out and watch this? Because it shattered expectations and, based on the dailies, it continues to be number one, even when it's our stories, because with a back fit our stories and we are get our stories. Why? Why do they still feel like we won't show up for our stories and then, fiend surprise, that's when we show up, like I don't understand that. Could you possibly share why you think that's the case?
Speaker 7:I mean, you know, it all comes down to them just being, you know, I don't know racist prejudice, I don't know which is the better term for this, but it's like they have no faith in our talent, they have no faith in our stories. I mean, I see it in the industry that I work in that a big superhero film that came out and even with that film they thought I don't, they don't, weren't sure if they were going to make the money that they thought they would make from this film, if they were just going to break even or anything like that. But we showed out and we showed out twice and you know, it's just how they think. I don't know. It's very annoying, jen, I see you.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I don't think it's us that they're worried about showing up. It's them that they're worried about showing up. I think they're worried about white people showing up to the theater. Now, if you look at Kingsley, I mean aesthetically he resembles Bob Marley's face, for instance. It was him versus Sheldon. He looked more like Bob Marley. He has that, you know, kind of a mixed light skin. Look like Bob Sheldon. He doesn't look like the pretty boy persona that they like. Bob was super talented but we know the way he looked was a big part of it. He was some dark skin, strong African teacher, black man with locks. But people, once they put the Bob Marley on there, I'm sorry. Honestly, I think whoever they casted, people were going to go out of curiosity. They could have cast anyone any light skinned man, brown skinned rasta man, they could have cast and people would have went just out of mere curiosity. But I think the main people they were worried about coming to the box office are white people, not black people.
Speaker 1:All right, so that's a good segue from Mikael and I to jump in. So we've covered the casting and I wanted to share some research.
Speaker 2:So hold on. Why are you back up on the casting? Because we're not even talking about.
Speaker 1:LaShana. Yeah, we're gonna go to that in a 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 that there are multiple people that put together a show. So Paramount was involved and Plan B Productions right. And Plan B is a production company that initially started with Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. Jennifer sold her steak in Plan B and so Plan B Entertainment, as executive producer, they were the ones responsible for going out and to try to get the funding for the film and so, as executive producer, the first person on that list was what's she name? Again, didi Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner was on there, and they're the ones that have the pgaa and Ziggy has that as well because he was on set and part of the production a good amount at the times. So let me just run down some important people Panikas and our Panik crew, including non-acting crew, and then we get into LaShana.
Speaker 1:So we already Didi Gardner is producer, jeremy Kleiner is producer, ziggy executive producer. Orly Marley, executive producer Sidella and Rita also got producer credits, the Faye Ellington who we grew up knowing. She is credited as a dialect coach and she also was the announcer at the concert scene. We have Steven Marley is music producer credits. Harvey Mason Jr has executive music producer credit, and the reason why Harvey Mason Jr is important? Because Harvey Mason Jr is associated with the Grammys, so he is what I can't remember in position, but you end up on the stage a couple of weeks ago for the Grammys. He's the head of the Grammys. He's the head of the Grammys If you watch champion Sissy, who is the woman in champion. Natalie Thompson she has production manager credits on this because she's part of the Jamaican unit.
Speaker 1:There is the casting director is also the casting director that was on Black Cake. Brad Pitt is executive producer and then the actors we have Nadine Marshall, who played Aria in champion played Young Sidella Marley, as in Bob's mother, not his daughter, sidella we talked about Sheldon. There is Anna Sharee Blake, aka Savannah, who plays Judy Moat, and then we also have Naomi Cohen who plays Marcia Griffiths. We had Kwan, which Chris mentioned, and of course, lashana. Those are names that we know, and also there's a lot of people who've made appearance in the movie. So we saw Muta. Baruka had a few appearances in the movie and so we can get into the characters from there. I just wanted to set that up for everybody. So if you're wondering why was Brad Pitt at the premiere, he's an executive producer. His production company helped to finance the film, along with Paramount and, whatever the Marley is going, run it. Co-host.
Speaker 2:In finding the money, in finding the money, forget it. I think Kingsley did a good job, but I also think that that ties into my overall feeling of the movie. I do think it wasn't necessarily the acting, but the delivery and the writing. I think that there were some things that were missing for me. I think they got the emotional connection, but I wanted to walk away from the movie, like I walked away from Selena or Rey or Ali or Get Up. I wanted to walk away looking for the catalog, feeling like I have jumped into an era that I completely missed and would have transported myself back to to just experience that. And I think that everything to me, including the acting, including the accents, including the delivery, was good.
Speaker 1:But it wasn't great. No, I agree with you, mikayla. I felt like I walked away watching a dramatization of I Shot the Sheriff, a documentary. I felt like that's what I watched. Like you said, the writing was just weak, the story was weak, it didn't pull me in and that was it. It wasn't the acting, it was the story. It just wasn't strong enough. I watch a lot of documentaries Bob Marley he has the most documentaries on his life than anybody else in the world and I've watched at least eight of them, and so I come with knowledge about stories. But telling and fictionalizing aspects of the story, and I think that's what's missing. Right, they were focused on telling a true story, but they're aspects of a true story that you need to fictionalize in order to bring in, because even Ziggy as his son, they're not able to really convey because the person who they're telling the life of they're not around to fill in the gaps. So I agree with Mikhail on that. Mikey, and then Jen.
Speaker 4:There were two points that I wanted to get into. There was a mention of the accent, the Jamaican accent. I don't know, I'm not in any of these board meetings or anything, but I think one of the things that they worry about is getting lost. If you have too authentic of an accent and then they worry about having to create subtitles for a film, you have a lot 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 of people. And that confusion in a movie theater when you can't rewind has the potential to lose somebody. But it's not me, because guess what, I'm going to get it. But at the end of the day, in making a film for a wide screen audience, those are the small things that they have to think about without adding subtitles.
Speaker 4:And when it comes to, again, the cast and choice, I wonder if the fact that the UK has a very huge support of Caribbean content we see a lot of movies, we see a lot of films and series coming from the UK that are Caribbean based and Caribbean centered Did that play in Paramount's decision? I don't know how big Kingsley or, I'm sorry, the young lady who played Rida. I don't know how big they are in the UK. Did that play a role in their decision to say, hey, they'll bring in the seats, definitely over in the UK? I don't know.
Speaker 7:So one of the questions that they asked during the pre-screen that I went to and they asked a couple of times, was the accent hard to understand. And I remember I told Carrie Ann about that a couple of months ago and to me it seems like they want to make the accent palatable, they want to water it down a bit, so that way, like you were saying, they want to make sure they don't have to add in any subtitles or anything like that. And I remember that there was a couple guys behind me that I heard them talk low about how some parts of it they couldn't really understand. And I'm sure on that, because they give you a phone to answer the questions, I'm sure on the phone they probably put that, but it was an interesting question. It's like I wonder if they even ask these questions at other types of films with characters who have accents. I mean, for me I can understand if my parents are Caribbean, but for non-Caribbean viewers I don't know.
Speaker 5:I think a lot of people would be surprised to know how much they really do understand, especially the fans of Bob Marley, because Bob Marley was not speaky-spoky and these people watch Bob Marley's interviews. If there's one Jamaican person that they understand is Bob Marley. Now, kingley did a great job, honestly to me. He did a better job than LaShawna, and she has Jamaican parents. The man took his time. I said you know what he sound like, bob? I don't know if he was playing another 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 school for the children of Jamaican parents so that we can properly pick up the dialect or something I don't know or something I don't know. But it was difficult for me. But, as what you were saying, I felt 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. I felt like there could be more.
Speaker 5:Some characters didn't even speak. There were some people that I know were supposed to be in a movie and their parts got cut, and I'm sad about that, because how do you talk about Bob's journey without him and you mentioned them. So it's kind of facely to mention them and don't really show that they were in Pedro in the journey. You can't put everything in a movie but if watered down and even the white people and other people were in Jamaican know that it could have had more, it could have had some more to it. So I just wish they would have gave us some more and really show us Kingsley's range to really portray, because it honestly was like a little summary and barely anybody spoke. Naomi said like two lines, savannah did not say a thing. I don't recall for saying a word. One time I just looked at her and said, oh yes, she kinda looks like Judy in that team, but she ain't saying nothing, all now. I mean, I like that. I heard Hexer talking, you know.
Speaker 4:But yeah.
Speaker 5:I fell asleep at one point. Doze off, honestly, and I didn't expect that for myself, honestly.
Speaker 1:All right. So Jensen just dropped off asleep. All right, Wait. So I'm going to get to a couple of points. So I agree with Lashana on the accent and what Kingsley did was he was very intentional. So, Alexandria, I wanted to pop in because this guest was on your show, Dr Farquhorson, who is the head of the Jamaica Language Institute, who is doing a lot of work to recognize or language as a language. So Jamaican Patois, whatever is a language. He actually went to the Language Institute and they taught him the dialect and they taught him how to remember. I said that they Ellington was a dialect coach. Specifically, he had his own dialect coach, so he was more conscious of having the language in there and I want Alexandria to talk about that. And then, Indira, you can tell us all the things they cut out or tell it from where you see in the pre-screen what we saw live.
Speaker 6:Yeah, I definitely will say I have to big up the accent on Kingsley's part. I think that was something when we all heard the movie, where that's always the trepidation around when we're in a movie, where I said I don't know what they're going to sound like because they're going to sound like we. But Kingsley was very intentional, had studied at the Jamaica Language Union at Uemona in Kingston and I think that definitely gives credit not only to his dedication towards the role. But you know again why we think it definitely excelled in particular ways in terms of his accent and portrayal of Bob.
Speaker 7:Okay. So they did have a lot of scenes when Bob was like I guess was he like a teenager when he had went to that recording studio. So they did cut out a few more of those scenes from that. And then the Uemona scene where they were he and Rita were I guess this one. They were in Paris and she mentioned his other bandmates. There was a scene with them, I guess when they got into, I guess when they broke up. There was that scene that they cut out and I thought that was interesting that they left that out. And there was more scenes with him and Rita when they were younger that they that they also cut out as well. I mean, I guess it would have made the movie much longer than what it already was, but it was interesting that they made those decisions.
Speaker 1:Before I go to your, chris, I think overall I think them choosing that specific timeline was probably problematic because and what I didn't like was how they did flashbacks in it, as opposed to just set up Bob from little bit, coming up and then go into where he is doing the flashbacks weren't very helpful at all because it felt out of place. People wanted to understand Bob as a young man, this half white person you know, in Jamaica, to when he got it, you know. And again cutting out Peter and Bonnie, who Bonnie is technically a second cousin, yeah, you know, so he's family other than a brother.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean you know technically a brother, but yes, Exactly so. So cutting that out just didn't really make sense, because you assume that everybody know who Bob Marley is. People know the name, but they don't always know the story. And I watch documentary like us, so I thought that was a missed opportunity. Chris run it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, I'm gonna what you, what you said, right, what you said, so 100% like the movie was about an hour and 4748 minutes. We saw Ray Ray was like three hours, right. I mean, like you, they could have made this a three hour movie and, trust me, they would not have lost the audience. All they need to have was great writers. All they needed to have was great 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't live in Iceland, rick Javik or wherever. You know Bob, everybody knows Bob. So my thing is, an opportunity was missed as far as I'm concerned. But listen, I'm not making the movie, I don't own it, it's not mine. We're just talking about what if this were done differently, I think I think was a missed opportunity. And also I'm going to touch on Paramount. Like Paramount, I don't think they have anybody on their team that understood how to market this film properly.
Speaker 1:Okay, because none of these studios know all for doing periods, periods especially when it comes to us.
Speaker 3:Okay, because no matter what you want to say, the wild Bob is for the world. This is a story specifically about us, for us, and this is why it's important for us to really control our stories and the way they are told. And I don't know if the Mali family really control it the way it should have been controlled. I just don't. Am I wrong for saying that? Hey, if I am tough, luck, not tough, my talk over feel.
Speaker 2:The chat festive, we can't even get to the chat. But, jen, I thought the same exact thing. I said they probably spent more time with Kingsley and the accent. And he see, I saw an interview with him when he was on the breakfast club and he talked about he's like. He asked them. He's like are you sure you want me Go back and find someone else? And then if you feel that I'm the right person, then fine. But he was very intentional and that I saw that interview after seeing the movie and I really thought that he conveyed the emotions of Bob. I looked at him a few times and I connected what I saw of Bob Marley in documentaries to him. So he captured the character beautifully.
Speaker 2:The music for me fell so flat. The music like it's so integral to who Bob was, is, today, will be, and I just felt that it was like when they were in the studio and he's like give me a one drop. I just didn't find that connection and it wasn't hard hitting Like I remember the scene from, even in Rey and, like I said, selena, the music scene's there, and even when Chadwick was in the hotel and he was working with his band and you saw the foot stomp and you heard the click clack and you heard the vibration of the drums and the horns coming in and the guitars and it just like you felt like getting up and dancing. I wanted us to be in there talking about Rasta Far Like. Do the the inside the collar response Rasta Far right. You know what I mean. Like that's the kind of excitement that I really wanted to feel in terms of the connection to the movie itself. So I think Kingsley did a beautiful job and, like Jen said, it almost did a disservice to how good of a like job he did, capturing that role and the writing and just falling flat. I think LaShawna, from the moment she spoke it like something was off.
Speaker 2:I read Rita Marley's biography called no Women, no Cry. So a lot of the movie. If you read that book, it was almost like they were capturing Bob's response to the moment in that book. So I highly recommend that you read that book, listen to it, whatever it is, because every single moment that was in her book we were seeing Bob respond to those moments as a person and because she talks about all of it how they met, the circumstances her being in the studio pregnant and him telling her to go home and how the you know she got shot and how she kind of transpired through the struggle of remaining in his legacy and how she dealt with all the women.
Speaker 2:And you know the movie alludes to her having her own man too, like. So if you read that book you understand the character that LaShawna was filling. But for a lot of the public, especially if you haven't read that book, you're really getting exposed to the power of Rita Marley and the influence that she had and the connection that they truly had. They were both seen as like outcasts and that's kind of how they grew their love and he had such an admiration and respect and so did she, so much so that she mentions it in the film. The message became the messenger and she to this day, her family kind of still alludes to that legacy in honing in Bob's name, yo.
Speaker 1:Mikey just dropped something at the chat Mikey come to. With the chat Mikey come to come to, we were just saying that.
Speaker 4:No, I said they spoke more about Rita stepping out of the marriage the one man that she had. Then they spoke of Bob's womanizing, which was strange. And I only say that because I watched Ziggy Marley's interview and he said, listen, this film is a deep dive into Bob, the person, not Bob the icon. And I was like this film is a deep 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 know about your father? Your parents? Like telling a picnic, please. Like what do you really know about your father's life at 12 years old, to say that you're going to convey a deep dive. You don't know the real story because you were a child and I think that's one of the things that let me down, because it's like sometimes we talk about our legacies and our heroes and they seem so perfect and they make people feel like I can't tell my story because there's so much wrong with my life, like they would have taken that opportunity to humanize Bob. That would like come on. Like you know, you have so many children, so many outside relations. Why, what was it? Was it a deep self-hatred in yourself that you felt nobody could love you because you were half white, half black. And you went through that in Jamaica and you know that's what I was looking for.
Speaker 4:And I'll say one thing about Kingsley that I think was very interesting, about his accent. He said when he was going through the tapes of Bob's interviews that he received, he said he could understand 70% of what Bob said and he said there are certain, there are certain things. He called all his Jamaican friends and was like you know what what he's saying here? And they're like nah, and he called the Marley family, was like hey, can you tell me what your father's saying here? And they were like I just saw Bob talk and I will say Kingsley did something very Intentional which I don't know if anybody can, if anybody can tell me what he said.
Speaker 4:So after, after, after the shooting and the attempt on Bob's life, shout out Michael war Jamie from Top Boy, born in Spanish town, went to England when he was four. But, um, when he hugged her, he said something to her and I watched the movie three times and if I tell you I know what words Kingsley said to that woman, I'd be lying if anybody can tell me, if anybody's heard it and understood. But when he hugged her he said Rita. She said, oh, I signed myself out of the hospital and he said something to her and he hugged her and I was like what it sound like? Kingsley did that. What do you say? Please tell me, no, please tell me.
Speaker 5:I want to know it's.
Speaker 4:Me inside the thing and I wonder if he did that on purpose when he talked about studying Bob's Linguistics, which I found very interesting because I never thought about it.
Speaker 4:He's like listen, bob was born in the country and say then in the country, grew up in trench town and then traversed Through Europe. So while Bob had a Jamaican accent, there are certain words and there are certain things that were kind of unique to Bob, which I do see through a lot of Jamaicans that I know that come up here and when they go back home they're like listen, I know you've been to foreign and they're like wait, how did you know? One of the things that one of my friends said to me is Jamaicans back home really don't use the f-word, they don't use it in conversation, but he says the guys experiences when a lot of them come back, they use that a lot more Then normally when they grow up in Jamaica, which is something that I don't know, that I find very interesting when it comes to dialect and the morphing of of two different dialects and cultures the other thing is that what people and I just talked about it in the interview with Andrew of brought a production.
Speaker 1:She said we use Bob as the same thing. Bob had the country speak. I noticed because I come from a be and everywhere else at Kingston is country to Kingston people. So we talk a specific way. I come from Brooklyn, I have a Brooklyn style of speaking, but also when you think of Bob, bob is in the early stages of.
Speaker 1:You know, bob is a rastafarian and a rastafarian has some rastafarian speak, them of the I and I and in, and you know I for I and all of these things that they Change around for the language or for the religion. So if you are outside of rastafarianism, jamaican culture, it will all Feel foreign and like you're not used to it. For most of us who go up around, you know. You know even Chris, when Chris talk to me and Chris will say carry, I don't appreciate because I don't eat. I appreciate love. You know with a makeup words. You know With a makeup words and so you have to really understand 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 but because he's deliberate and he's just a giant or a star far and he's quoting by blind. You don't know the Bible. You go also feel very foreign.
Speaker 1:A lot of Bob songs. We can't tell you which Bible verse and chapter them come from. So if you're not familiar with the Bible and him Using turn you know, changing eyes and use to the 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 that up, because language more send changes. But the very too important what's the word influences is rastafarianism and the Bible and the application of all of that mix up Also contributes to this new language that he has that people may not be able to understand. We want to switch a little bit, become a no-no thing to say. But I'm Alexander, I haven't heard you so much. So Minoya had some things to say. Did we touch on where you did one say? Yet talk to them mean a like Chris Mcwhale character.
Speaker 6:I don't business, oh, if you know, if you're watch all at the Marley them documentary, like okay, say, 10 million documentary out there. Bob, it was giving very Atty Kevin Costner in hidden figures when him got smashed down the city and so I was like when is this white savior complex business? I Was like no sir, cut it out right now. Because, as as was mentioned before, it didn't go into the whole breakup of Peter Tosh, the original whaler, sex with Peter and bunny. And so there was the liquor defense of of Chris Blackwell in a conversation between Bob and Rita and he was like no man. Hey, I was like cut it all right there. But I mean, when you know a little bit I think I have again to some of the earlier points when you have a deeper understanding of the family's relationship with Chris Blackwell, fine if that is what you wanted to do stylistically. But it felt like very white savior complex to me.
Speaker 5:Yes, it goes back to the superhero, like dad image Thing. You know, even I was just watching something with Rowan, for instance. Rowan Marley where he's talked about is an interview from a year or two ago where he spoke about when Bob I saw it and it didn't I and Rita were trying to get back, trying to get the right for Bob. You know, basic them again to Jamaica at this point and they asked my Della and Rita one.
Speaker 5:Well, I'm also said is a hierarchy to Della's the eldest. So that's boss lady, ziggy's the eldest son, boss man.
Speaker 1:Wait, wait, are we? Is it you sure it's the Della the sister, or not? So Della the mother? No, no, no. When, when they said Rita and Cdella, I'm asking are we sure if it's Rita and and and the mother?
Speaker 5:no, and Rita, you know black well, loan them the money so they have something in them that still looks at black well, like Savior and the whole movie, even even in the interviews where Ziggy says, like you know, you know, when they even mentioned my Kingsley, then I did fight and stuff like that.
Speaker 5:Oh, you know Well, bob was told to us I just saw a little boy that love his daddy and have this image of his daddy and it said that I Feel like that is part of reason why the movie didn't have I mean they didn't have full control, but I feel that's part of reason why the movie didn't have as much substance as it could. Cuz Rita even used to tell the truth. When you watch a Rita interviews, rita is keeping it real about the situation with Bob, so it's kind of feel watered down. You know it's childlike, it's a childlike view of this is my daddy and he was so great and and your daddy was great. But your daddy was also a man and you didn't show us the man like him and really human. It was like Bob Marley the superhero.
Speaker 1:All right. So we're going to end the episode right here and come back for our part two. So part two is only going to be on reels and riddims and so come back, we're gonna finish the conversation. They go get festive, you know, because we 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 and talk about the impact of the film and Just just going forward what this means for the film in the Caribbean, because it says tough gang films I don't want to know them, I got no more show are the end of straight up feeling company, if it is one thing. So Come back and listen to, to use everything. So part two and you'll come back and catch the crew, all right.
