Rob Peace: Chiwetel Ejiofor Reveals How the Story Inspired Him to Explore Family Dynamics

The actor and filmmaker took a good deal of inspiration from his new movie, which is based on a true story.

By Russ Burlingame

The father/son dynamic in Rob Peace was something that drew director and star Chiwetel Ejiofor to the project -- and that family dynamic remained a guiding light throughout production. The filmmaker told ComicBook that he thought the real-life Rob Peace was treated unfairly by the media, and that part of the idea behind the movie is to humanize him, and to help continue the process of moving beyond the initial way the man's story was colored by the press. That's a process that started with a book by Jeff Hobbs, on which the movie itself is based.

During the press tour for Rob Peace, Ejiofor told ComicBook that the relationship between Peace and his father -- who went to prison for crimes he may not have committed -- was key to the story's appeal and to its themes.

"I definitely felt that there's something very rich about the ties that bind -- the relationship that you, in some ways, can't shake off,'" Ejiofor explained. "That are tied to your heart, your sense of yourself in the world. One of those in this story for Rob is his relationship with his father. The responsibility of relationships, thematically, was something that I felt was so powerful in the story. Right from reading the book, where do our responsibilities lie? To what extent do our responsibilities lie to our parents, and parents to children, equally. And who decides? That, to me, was so fascinating. Are those decisions affected by any of the other systemic realities that we face? Are they harder for some people than others? What are the dynamics of those choices, and are there things that we can do to alleviate that or those who struggle with it? I was really engaged with Rob's story. I thought that in some ways, originally, people wrote about his story and they did so from a slightly unfair perspective, a very unfair perspective, and I think some of that was corrected in Jeff Hobbs's book, and my journey is trying to continue that."

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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 (Jay Will) torn between his father's shadowed past and his own promising future. Raised by his devoted mother (Academy Award® nominee Mary J. Blige, Mudbound), 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.

Rob Peace comes to theaters on August 16th.

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