Coming from ‘King Richard’ director Reinaldo Marcus Green, Bob Marley’s upcoming biopic One Love stars Lashana Lynch as Bob’s wife, Rita Marley.
Notably, the film also has some Marley estate blessing. The icon’s son, Ziggy Marley, joins the project as a producer, unveiling the first look at the film at this year’s CinemaCon.
Covering everything from Marley’s celebrity status to anti-war activism and subsequent assassination attempt, the film has it all.
Was Rita Marley really assassinated?
Two days before the Smile Jamaica Concert, on December 3, 1976, at 8:30 p.m., seven armed men broke into Bob Marley’s home at 56 Hope Road. Marley was taking a break from rehearsal with his band. Rita, the wife of Marley, was shot in the head while driving into the driveway. Marley was struck in the arm and chest by the gunman. Don Taylor, his manager, was shot in the torso and legs. Louis Griffiths, a band member, also received a torso wound. None of the victims died.
Bob Marley informed the concert’s organiser Trevor Philips that Michael Manley’s political rival, Edward Seaga, is thought to have instructed his security, Lester “Jim Brown” Coke, to be there during the shooting. As a neighbour and close friend of Marley, Nancy Burke recalls hearing Wailers percussionist Alvin Patterson exclaim, “Is Seaga guys! “Dem are coming to kill Bob!” According to various sources, the shooters went back to Tivoli Gardens, a JLP-supporting neighbourhood that also houses the infamous Shower Posse.
According to Timothy White’s biography of Bob Marley, the CIA hired JLP gunman Carl Byah “Mitchell” to plan the Marley shooting, and Lester Coke, aka Jim Brown, led the charge on Hope Road. White also claimed that information he received from JLP and PNP officials and US law enforcement officials led him to believe that Carl Byah “Mitchell” was responsible for the Marley shooting. Marley’s manager, Don Taylor, asserted that he and Marley were present when the shooters who shot Marley were tried and executed in court. Before one of the gunmen was murdered, Taylor claims he said the job was donefor the CIA in exchange for cocaine and firearms.
Despite the shooting, Marley promised he would perform one song at the Smile Jamaica Concert on December 5 at National Heroes Park, Kingston. In the event, Bob Marley & The Wailers played for 90 minutes.
