A quick look at Chiwetel Ejiofor's upcoming film lineup — which includes a superhero franchise (“Venom: The Last Dance”), a beloved romantic comedy return (“Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy”), a Stephen King adaptation (“The Life of Chuck” directed by Mike Flanagan) and a top-tier directorial debut (“Eleanor the Great” directed by Scarlett Johansson) — hints at a very busy schedule for the actor.
But even as he's busy in front of the camera, the Briton — known for his roles in films like “12 Years a Slave,” “Love, Actually” and “Doctor Strange” — somehow manages to find time for it. Six years after his well-received directorial debut, “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind,” he's back with his second film, “Rob Peace,” which was released Friday by Paramount.
Adapted from Jeff Hope's 2014 book The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Pace, the film tells the true story of Pace (played by newcomer Jay Weil), a scientifically gifted boy growing up in Orange, New Jersey, who majored in biochemistry at Yale. Despite this incredible promise, Pace found himself unable to navigate various institutional hurdles related to race, housing, education, and criminal justice. While at Yale, he sold marijuana to help his father, Skeet (played by Ejiofor), get a double murder conviction overturned, and Pace was later killed in a drug-related shooting at just 30.
Although Ejiofor wasn’t actively looking for a second film to direct, the opportunity to be involved in this story — one that “has something so rich to fight for,” he says — was one he couldn’t pass up. One of his first casting decisions was to cast Mary J. Blige as Rob’s mother, Jackie Bess. As it turns out, it was Blige’s commitment to the film that proved “instrumental” in bringing it back to the forefront after the project was shut down during pre-production due to the pandemic.
Talk to diverseEjiofor discusses why he prefers his creative choices to happen organically, finding his lead from a recent Julliard graduate's online presentation, drawing early inspiration from Cary Grant's wildly different role choices, and rejoining the romantic comedy world of Working Title more than 20 years after “Love, Actually.”
How was your first role in Rob Peace? I heard that Antoine Fuqua created it, right?
Yes, that’s true. I read the book about 10 years ago, shortly after it came out, and I was really moved by it, by what Jeff Hobbs did. It was a really sympathetic, engaging story about his best friend and also this really balanced way of understanding what his friend went through. And it brought together some things that I had been thinking about in a slightly more fragmented way, in terms of race and the education system and criminal justice and housing… all of these intersections. And somehow in Rob’s story, and the way Jeff tells the story, all of these things came together, and Rob found himself at the center of all of these things. But after reading the book, I concluded that the rights had passed. And two years later, Antoine Fuqua and [author Jeff Hobb’s wife] Rebecca Hobbs called me. They had seen The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind and I think they were so into the humanistic approach to that film that they wanted to talk to me about adapting the book and making a film. So, obviously, I jumped at the idea.
Were you actively looking for another project to direct after The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind?
I wasn't actively interested in it, but I was interested in pursuing things. I was always thinking about things in terms of what would make a movie interesting, and just trying to figure out what I wanted to do with it. It's a huge investment of time, so you're always thinking about how you feel about putting all that energy and time into a project. But once they approached me about it, I knew I wanted to be involved. There was something very rich there for me to wrestle with.
The story is very global, but it's also very American in terms of Rob's upbringing in New Jersey and the specifics of the issues he faced. How did you feel as an Englishman coming to write and direct this film?
For me, it was about researching the project, getting to the place and starting to understand the dynamics. And in some ways, England is not that different from the United States, certainly in that part of the United States. But the first thing I did was go see Rob’s mother, Jackie Pace, and spend some time with her in Rob’s childhood home where he grew up. Then I went and spent some time with people at St. Benedict’s (the prep school that Jackie Pace worked long hours to pay for). We ended up filming there. A lot of the teachers knew Rob. So we spent a lot of time there and got a sense of that world. And then I went to Yale a lot to not only understand the dynamics there, but also to understand what it is now and how different people interpret what happened to Rob.
How did you find your Rob in Jay Will?
Jay came out of Juilliard in the year of Covid, so he didn’t really have a presentation. It was a tough year because everything was online and there was a muted reaction to all of that — no one got to see you actually perform. But someone sent me one of his presentations online where he did a scene from “American Gangster,” so I thought, “Oh, that’s pretty good.” But it’s one of those things where you end up watching something over and over again, because it seems so natural and easy. I was very adamant that I didn’t want to make a movie about code-switching, because I didn’t think that was what the story was about, and I didn’t think that was what Rob was about. For me, it’s become a bit of a loaded term as a shorthand way of talking about black dynamics, when everyone is code-switching to some degree. And I did a workshop and Jay was the only person who got that in a very real, authentic, visceral way. He recognized that Rob was a very authentic person and he was always himself. So from the beginning of the audition process, he was completely immersed in it, and that had a huge impact on the success of the film.
Is this his first major role?
Yeah, it's a real testament to him. It wasn't easy for him. I think being the hero in a movie like that is hard, and I know how hard it is. So I was aware of what he was going through and how hard it was. And again, I thought it was amazing.
You also have the wonderful Mary J. Blige playing Jackie Pace. Tell me how that came about.
Mary J. Blige was incredibly instrumental in the whole process. She came on board very early in pre-production and then the pandemic happened. She was one of the few people who was fully cast and appropriate and really responded to the material. It was all on fire, but then we took a two-year hiatus. And then at the end of that process, it was all about trying to put everything back together that you were talking about two years ago, and time had passed and a lot of projects had disappeared. It took people like Mary J. who were so committed to the film, so once we tried to put it back together, she came back on board and said she loved the project and she was still here for it. And that really helped bring all that energy together. So I really give credit to Mary J. for being so committed to the film for that long and being so amazing in the film, and really holding onto that emotional center of the story and carrying it with such authenticity.
Similar to the movie “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind”, you play the father, in this case Rob's father is Skeet Douglas. Is this just a coincidence?
When I started the writing process, which was actually a little bit of a dynamic with The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind , I didn't start the writing process thinking I was going to play this role. But the first time I went to see Jackie Pace, she opened the door and pretty much the first thing she said to me was, “You look exactly like Skeet!” But then I got to a point where I thought, “Well, here's this role that, yeah, I could ask another actor to play it, but it's in my genre, whatever it is, and the actor I asked to play this role is going to know that I can play this role, and I'm going to direct this actor the way I think this role should be done.” And at that point, you realize that you can't really make another actor go through this, and yeah, maybe I should play this role. And you come to this understanding, which I'm sure everyone knew before me.
After your experience directing The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind and the overwhelmingly positive response the film received, was there any enthusiasm to get back into the director's chair as soon as possible? And if so, how did you manage to juggle that world with being a very busy actor?
No, really. For me, it's very much an organic process. And I think with acting and directing and writing, within those creative forms, I don't know how much I've really tried to push something. For me, it's more intuitive and trying to understand how I see the world. There are different kinds of things that kind of interest me, but I definitely feel like I need that connection to something. Because I just need to feel like there's momentum and a connection to a project or a character or a story, and that's what drives the rest of it. So, it's not that I finished something like “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” and thought, “Well, what do I do next?” I think it's more that I finished it and thought, “Well, let's see what happens.”
On the acting front, you have an impressive and packed film slate. You've returned to the superhero world with “Venom: The Last Dance” and the sequel to “The Old Guard,” you've returned to Working Title's romantic comedy with “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy,” you've got a Stephen King adaptation of “The Life of Chuck” directed by Mike Flanagan, and “Eleanor the Great” directed by Scarlett Johansson. It's an incredibly eclectic mix! Is that something you enjoy?
Yeah, it’s been so busy and so wonderful. It’s been really exciting to work on very different projects and be in very different mental places. I think it’s just been an exposure to some really special material. I’m really excited about “Venom: The Last Dance” and working with Kelly Marcel and Tom Hardy. That whole world is really exciting and it’s great to be involved in it with such amazing actors. And I think “Bridget Jones” is just amazing. Renee is amazing in that role. It’s a very different pace for me in a way, which is something that’s very appealing. And Scarlett is amazing. And Mike is amazing. So it’s been a very rich time.
I think you're probably one of the few actors I can think of who audiences wouldn't be surprised to see in any kind of movie. It must be a great feeling to be in that position.
Even before I thought about becoming an actor, I always loved Cary Grant. I remember watching him in Holiday with Katharine Hepburn when I was very young, under 10, and I thought, “Oh, they do this thing called acting.” But he was an actor who I always thought could slip into different genres in this very easy way. You could buy him in comedies, romantic comedies, and then intense thrillers. You couldn’t pigeonhole him. So for me, when I started doing theater, the idea of wearing so many different hats, sometimes in the same show, was an integral part of acting for me. So, yeah, it was great. I was very grateful to discover that in my career I was able to do something similar to that in different genres and different styles of film, and that’s definitely something I hope to bring to writing and directing.
How did you feel about joining the Bridget Jones family?
Great. In a way, with Love, Actually, I feel like this kind of broader universe that the Working Title films are in is something that I’ve always been a part of. It was fun to come into it from a slightly different angle. There’s a great warmth to these films. They’re funny and engaging and beautifully acted and very well made. And on that basis, there’s an unusual framework to move in. They have a kind of human warmth as well as engaging with a kind of modern-day politics, and they have something to say about the world that we live in. But it’s always with a sense of optimism and hope and sometimes actually the best of our abilities. And I love that.
