Hector Lewis on his role in Bob Marley: One Love

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.

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.

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 significant opening week of wide release – projected in the United States at US$30 million, balances out the US$70 million investment by Paramount Pictures. Additional production companies include Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment and the Marley family’s Tuff Gong Pictures.

Kingsley Ben-Adir stars as Bob Marley, and Lewis notes that he heard the star “is singing my praises through the roof – just my acting.”

Ben-Adir encouraged Lewis in continuing his career and his natural acting ability. He recounts what the star along with British actress Lashana Lynch, who plays Rita Marley, said to him. “They are saying they have never seen it, the way I took to it, and the fact that we only got two weeks of acting classes, or two weekends of acting classes. Because that was the approach, get musicians and teach them to act.”

It was more than reading the lines, it was emoting everything that was the person “in a real way.” Lewis says that was the spark to set his talent ablaze, encouraging him to continue down the acting path alongside his music career.

Lewis is able to plan a potential trans-Atlantic creative career, as he identifies that the US West coast and Central America are fertile grounds for a reggae career with festivals continuing to offer profitable spaces for performance. And, he is aware of the easier fit for Caribbean voices, accents and lives into the British film scene than the Hollywood scene.

He said, “I am very intrigued with the British scene. I really, really love British actors,” – so much so that he is building connections in the UK as he looks to continue having his options open everywhere. He smartly has an American agent to cover all bases in the US too.

Despite a musical heritage of generations –his mother was popular Jamaican recording artist Barbara Jones, once described as the “Billie Holiday of reggae music”– he learned that having an international presence and a competent team are important tools for a multi-pronged career.

The experience of being on the Bob Marley: One Love set and the people he met there was inspirational. Film hair stylist Morris Roots, originally from Trinidad, “revolutionised the place,” according to Lewis.

The Paramount Pictures execs on set have a different take on island style now. How Caribbean people are properly represented on film to the world has become a focus of Lewis. That new understanding of Marley and of Carlton "Carly" Barrett are lynchpins for how creative careers can evolve. “The film changed everybody.”

The power of the Marley’s spirit has inspired the way Lewis is going to continue his career with recognition that standards keep moving higher. He says, “Bob was a perfect purpose, probably not a perfect man, but a perfect purpose.”

Jamaican pride and Caribbean pride are on show, and the results are to be gauged by audiences everywhere. What the film The Harder They Come did for reggae 50 years ago, could be replicated here, and Lewis is ready for the ride of his life.