Alexx A-Game On Becoming BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE’s Peter Tosh
It’s easy to feel as though we’ve seen the musical biopic through to its final form.
A peek into Freddie Mercury’s life via Bohemian Rhapsody brought swathes of award nominations (that are still brought into question to this day); Baz Luhrmann’s glitzy, glamorous touch bled into Elvis’ story with impossible flair in the blockbuster of 2022; and taking Chadwick Boseman and Joaquin Phoenix into the public eye in the shoes of James Brown and Johnny Cash respectively have proven the film structure’s power. Now, though, we stare down the barrel of the future of music biopics not as a means of reflecting a crucial artist’s life, but as a means to win awards. Audiences are growing exhausted with the cinematic appearances of the artists we know — but there’s one film that threatens to change this.
One Love is a movie that has been a long time coming. Bob Marley and the Wailers have long been contributors to the zeitgeist, but beyond a few “I shot the sheriff’s” here and “three little birds” there, Marley has suffered cultural de-personification much like Che Guevara, being reduced to a T-shirt where he is considered safe for consumption. Yet his story is a crucial one, not only because of the politics he popularized, but because of what he and his musical compatriots represent in the world of becoming a musician, especially in Jamaica. This stands as part of the core of One Love — not just reggae pioneering, not just musical iconography. The film is about who Bob Marley is, who his Wailers are, and what they created through music with just enough heart.
Few know what this means to the wider music world more than Alexx A-Game, for more reasons than one. Not only is the actor a long-time fan of Bob Marley & the Wailers, but their influence is felt in his everyday life, both as a musician and as One Love’s very own Peter Tosh, establishing member of The Wailers and Jamaican musical icon. Even with A-Game’s heart in the musical world, there was little doubt that the pressure was on.
