2024-03-02 06:21:49
by Chiara Maffioletti
From Freddie Mercury in «Bohemian Rhapsody» to «Elvis», success of the biographies of music stars. And so unknown actors become celebrities (with Oscars)
Very famous unknowns. Kingsley Ben-Adir, a 38-year-old English actor, joins the curious list of those who have reached the heights of world cinema takings despite not yet being so well-known. And not with a secondary role, but as an absolute protagonist. There is an explanation to this apparent mystery: if his name has yet to become familiar to most, everyone knows that of Bob Marley to whom Ben-Adir lent his face, body and voice in the biopic Bob Marley: One Love, the first in takings in America but also at the top of the Italian rankings, exceeding 1 million 207 thousand euros.
The Jamaican legend – much more than a singer, a symbol of peace and freedom – has returned to life in the cinema with this actor who, before accepting the role, couldn’t even sing. «I thought it was a gamble to show up at the casting – he said -. I was convinced that it wasn’t worth auditioning: I can’t sing, I can’t dance.” Despite this, director Reinaldo Marcus Green chose him and he, in response, also learned to play the guitar. And so, after playing Malcom always in an excellent way – he specified -. I have ruined many people’s ears for many days… Bob is not someone you can copy: his singing and dancing come from an internal experience, so you really have to find your own version. The more I dug into Bob, the more I realized that music truly was everything to him. It saved his life.”
Together with his music, the actor’s prices are now soaring – also appreciated by the son of the reggae star, Ziggy, who produced the film together with Brad Pitt – who rightfully enters the A series of Hollywood faces. More than an episode, a trend. Bohemian Rhapsody had already thought of showing everyone the detonating force of a well-made musical biography. Bryan Singer’s 2018 film about Queen was only recently surpassed by Oppenheimer in the list of most-watched biopics of all time, grossing $910 million. Playing – even in that case extraordinarily well – Freddie Mercury was the then unknown Rami Malek: that role alone gave a driving force to his career, also earning him an Oscar for Best Leading Actor. After him it was sir’s turn. Elton John: in 2019 Rocketman grossed over 196 million dollars, also taking home sixteen awards, including an Oscar for Best Original Song and two Golden Globes: for Best Original Song and, once again, for Best Actor a musical or comedy film to Taron Egerton.
2022 marked another big success with Elvis, the biography of the king of rock directed by Baz Lurhmann which grossed $290 million. Austin Butler was chosen to take on the showy role of the singer and from that moment his career changed course. What convinced the director was precisely the S factor, where “S” stands for “little-known”. In fact, Harry Styles was also in pole position for the role, but the actor and singer was rejected because he was too famous. In short, to become an icon, you don’t have to be one yourself, which represents a great opportunity for many actors waiting to make the big leap. The other paradox is that to make it in the cinema you have to play a music star, because the biographical films that have conquered the box office all have singers as protagonists. Whoever is afraid to dream is destined to die and if a dream has many obstacles it means it is the right one, said Bob Marley. But anyone who now dreams of becoming a movie star would be better off starting to take some singing lessons too.”
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February 29, 2024 (modified March 2, 2024 | 07:21)
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