NIGEL CAMPBELL
Hector "Roots" Lewis was casually checking e-mail after a West coast concert in 2022, when he came across an e-mail from Emmy Award-winning casting director Avy Kaufman telling him he had been chosen to audition for the new Bob Marley: One Love biopic for the pivotal role of Carlton "Carly" Barrett, Wailers’ drummer and Marley’s friend and sometimes co-songwriter.
That was a pivotal point in the career of the Grammy-nominated musician and singer – and now actor, that began as a protege of reggae star Chronixx. Lewis and Kes The Band are label mates on Ineffable Records.
Newsday recently got to chat with Lewis before the première of the movie in Jamaica. The movie opened in Trinidad and the US on February 14.
His story has an impact on our perceptions here in the Caribbean about the international film industry, and how the process of moving from idea to première is long, and has a different context for island actors and creatives.
Between December 2022 and January 2023, filming took place in London before moving to Jamaica in February-March 2023. Lewis, said playing the man who was also the brother of Wailers' bassist Aston "Family Man" Barrett, who recently passed, allowed him to understand his character.
[caption id="attachment_1064131" align="alignnone" width="973"] Bob Marley -[/caption]
Lewis says, “I took it upon myself to search his role this way. When I just got the gig, I started practising (the drums) immediately. And while practising that, I would look for any interview I’d find.”
Lewis noted how the son of "Family Man," Aston Jr, was also critical to his research as the brothers Barrett were “similar in structure, similar in almost vocal tone.”
The film showcases the humanity of the icon, and explores Marley’s relationships with his musicians. "Carly" Barrett’s subtle mannerisms and his onstage connections to Marley, as well as his juxtaposing nonchalant demeanour in crowds versus the excitability of his performance, are all fleshed out in this role. Beyond the obvious recounting of Marley’s actions leading up to the One Love Peace Concert in 1978 in Jamaica, where the clasping of the raised hands of then Prime Minister Michael Manley and Opposition Leader Edward Seaga was a key feature, the film acts as a platform to continue the legacy of the reggae icon who died of cancer in 1981.
[caption id="attachment_1064132" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Kingsley Ben-Adir stars as Bob Marley and Lashana Lynch, who plays Rita Marley in a scene from the film Bob Marley: One Love. - via AP[/caption]
The trend of recent flashy biopics that take a narrow snapshot of the lives of musical greats such as Queen frontman Freddy Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, Elton John in Rocketman, and Whitney Houston in I Wanna Dance With Somebody, and more – continues with the Marley film, which is set just in the five years between the 1976 assassination attempt and his death in 1981. Critical reviews of the film are mixed, according to review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, but there is hope for a s
