Bob Marley: One Love director Reinaldo Marcus Green and star Kingsley Ben-Adir have spoken about the film’s use of patois and the lack of subtitles.
In interviews with ComingSoon, the two were asked about the use of patois and how the film didn’t use subtitles to clarify what was being said for viewers who might not be accustomed to patois. Green explained the process of deciding how heavily to lean into the language, revealing how he tried to keep it so that anyone could understand at least every third word. The filmmaker also said that ADR was a big part of finding a good balance after filming.
“The mental math that I had going into the film was if you understand, as a viewer, every third word, you totally get it. You don’t question it. If you understand every fourth word, you’re confused. So that’s the line we had to toe. We were dangerously in the four and five area for a long time, but I would much rather embrace that because that’s totally closer to the reality than going into the one-to-two area,” Green stated.
“We dialed it in in post. We had, fortunately, the opportunity to go back and get some stuff. ADR is our friend, and we used every tool at our disposal to dial the language in a place that we felt did justice to Bob, his family, the music, Kingsley [Ben-Adir]‘s performance … To answer your question, it was a team effort to dial in the language, which you heard, but we certainly leaned into the authenticity of it because I don’t think Bob would’ve had it any other way.”
Ben-Adir also discussed how the emotion behind the words still comes through, even if viewers might not understand every word. The star even stated that a woman in Jamaica gave him a B+ grade for his patois.
“I knew that there were going to be so many moments where people weren’t going to understand because I remember not understanding,” the actor revealed. ” All the work went into honoring the language, all the conversations around authenticity being the most important thing, and the whole journey of that … A lady in Jamaica gave me a B+, and I remember just feeling so happy with that. I just remember feeling like, ‘Oh man, that’s really good that we got there as a non-Jamaican is really amazing. It was more about the attempt to honor him in that way or the language in that way. It’s nice. I kind of like that people are like, ‘I didn’t understand.’ [Laughs]. Like, I feel like understanding the emotion is really what’s important.”
Who else stars in Bob Marley: One Love?
The cast of Bob Marley: One Love also includes Lashana Lynch, James Norton, Tosin Cole, Anthony Welsh, Michael Gandolfini, Umi Myers, Nadine Marshall. The film was produced by Robert Teitel, Brad Pitt, Jeremy Kleiner, Dede Gardner, Ziggy Marley, Rita Marley, and Cedella Marley. The executive producers for the movie were Richard Hewitt, Orly Marley, and Matt Solodky.
