Bob Marley: One Love trailer explores highs and lows of reggae musician

A trailer released for the upcoming Bob Marley biopic looks at the highs and lows of the Jamaican singer’s turbulent and short life.

The reggae musician – who had hits including I Shot The Sheriff and Buffalo Soldier – died aged 36 in 1981, and is being portrayed in Bob Marley: One Love by British actor Kingsley Ben-Adir.

The movie was filmed in England and Jamaica and is directed by King Richard filmmaker Reinaldo Marcus Green.

It also stars No Time To Die star Lashana Lynch as the singer’s wife Rita Marley, also a musician, and Happy Valley actor James Norton.

In the teaser, released on Thursday, Ben-Adir is seen with Marley’s dreadlocks speaking about reggae as a “people music” and playing to adoring crowds at the height of his fame.

There is then a warning of a war coming before the clip depicts the assassination attempt on Marley in 1976 at his home in Kingston.

A few days after the shooting, Marley played the Smile Jamaica Concert, organised to defuse political tensions in the country.

Ben-Adir, 37 – who has also portrayed Malcolm X in One Night In Miami… and stars in new Marvel series Secret Invasion – is seen saying: “My life is not important to me, my life is for people.”

The end of the teaser is interspersed with clips of Marley on stage, sitting with adoring fans, walking through riots, surrounded by police and in front of cheering crowds getting on a plane.

Ben-Adir then says: “One love, one heart, one destiny,” referencing Marley’s 1965 hit One Love, which forms part of the film’s name.

Other Marley songs such as Jamming and Exodus also feature, and the film has been approved by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee’s family.

His son Ziggy Marley, a musician and eight-time Grammy winner, said in a statement on Instagram: “You’ve heard the music and you think you know the man but do you really understand what he went through and what moments shaped him into the person he became.

“Authenticity fills the screen with numerous Jamaican actors doing us proud in representing the culture.

“The family produced it with Paramount studio and for us it represents the continuation of Bob’s message and growth.

“With this release we look forward to inspiring not only the long time fans but also the younger generation, giving them a vehicle that opens the door to explore Bob’s life and music and in so doing expand his universal message of unification, justice and peace throughout the earth.”

Born in the rural Jamaican parish of Saint Ann in 1945, Marley moved with his mother to the poor neighbourhood of Trenchtown after his father died.

In the early 1960s, he began recording music and became a Rastafarian – a religious group and social movement.

Bob Marley And The Wailers had international success with No Woman No Cry and became not just a musician but a motivator for peace in his country.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Jamaica saw widescale violence mainly between followers of opposing political parties.

Marley moved to England where he recorded the album Exodus before returning in 1978 for the One Love Peace Concert, which featured political leaders holding hands with him, in Kingston.

While touring, his cancer spread throughout his body and he died on May 11 1981 and his posthumously released 1984 record Legend became one of the biggest selling albums of all time and spent 12 weeks topping the UK charts.

Bob Marley: One Love is set for release next year.