Earlier this month, Rob Peace star Jay Will chopped it up with us about the newly released film.
Source: Courtesy / Republic Pictures
Rob Peace tells the story of an inner-city Newark kid who attends Yale but ultimately returns to his community with the hope of improving life for his friends and family. Directed, adapted by, and starring Academy Award® nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 YEARS A SLAVE), ROB PEACE follows the true story of a brilliant young man torn between his father’s shadowed past and his own promising future. Raised by his devoted mother (Academy Award® nominee Mary J. Blige), Rob risks everything he has worked for to free his imprisoned father (Ejiofor). Also starring Camila Cabello and based on the New York Times bestseller by Jeff Hobbs.
Check out the trailer below:
Jay Will told us that the first thing he did to prepare for his role was to make sure Rob’s family was fully onboard with the project.
Source: Courtesy / Republic Pictures
“In our community we always got to ask for the respect and ask for the blessing,” Will told BOSSIP. “We knew the situation of Rob’s life. Just like I would ask a young lady’s mom or her father if I could have their blessing, I went to speak with Rob’s mother and I asked if I can have the blessing of playing him because I felt like that was just a part of the sequence of events for me to get to that place within myself to channel this energy.”
“I went to his home and spoke to his uncles, his mom, his cousins, all the folks, and I got their position on the film happening,” Will added. “Just trying to find the same page and once we got there, I finally asked you know? ‘I would love the opportunity… I’m not coming to you on no type of, you know, XYZ…’ Rhis is person to person, ‘Because I know I got what it takes…’ I knew it as soon as I read the script, I knew it. I just had to go do the sequence of events, so once I got the blessing I was off to the races. The preparation, last aspect from there, after it got past the technical — learning all the words and relearning how to swim, all that again, and float in the water, after all the technical stuff, it was seeking into my own personal experience and going from there.”
Source: Courtesy / Republic Pictures
Will also spoke about working with Chiwetel Ejiofor, both as a director and as an actor and scene partner.
“As an actor, his process is interesting because he would be so seamless,” Will recalled. “He would go right into acting real quick, the voice would change, the demeanor would change and then he’ll be like, ’Alright now we’re going to go…’ And you know he’s going to direct me now. It’s like, ‘Whoa what just happened?’ It was inspiring just to see the expansion and release from him, back and forth, going into the directorial seat. He’s very inspired, very creative.”
“When I saw the work he did with ‘12 years…’ as Solomon Northup… I remember sitting in the theater after it was all black, credits rolling. Sitting there, just tears rolling up,” Will continued. “I wanna do that. I want to do that to somebody — how I feel. It was an honor, to be faced with the dream into reality, just to work.”
Much of the film hinges around Peace’s complex relationship with his father, both while he was free and incarcerated.
“It resonated for me so much because we’re so used to the narrative of the father not being there,” Will told BOSSIP. “In that narrative we’re used to the resentment of the children. Here we see a particular situation where the father wasn’t there because of injustices. He wasn’t there yet Rob still wanted his father to be a part of his life. He not only wanted, but he did things to promote that reality and into existence. Going to Yale and getting money how he did, helping his father with his cancer treatments, helping his father get a lawyer. This is a unique situation because it has a lot to do with sacrifice. The sacrifice of self, selflessness and stepping into just the eternal purpose for the whole existence for the human race.”
Source: Courtesy / Republic Pictures
We also asked Jay Will about working with Mary J. Blige, who plays his mother.
“I knew from the jump [she was in the film], but it was different when I saw them boots strutting in the office,” Will recalled. “I was like, ‘Wow this is like black royalty here.’ So when I got on set with her to see her just completely switch up and get into the character — we all go through our dilemmas of tapping into it. To see her work through that, the scenes that I had going back and forth, trying to deepen that thing she inspired me. Shout out to Mary. I hope I get to work with her again. I’m thankful for her. She’s a great person.”
Rob Peace is in theaters now.