INDIANAPOLIS — Oscar nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor ("12 Years a Slave," "Dirty Pretty Things") is credited with directing, writing and starring in a devastating true story about a brilliant, young man, played by actor Jay Will ("The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," "Tulsa King").
In "Rob Peace," the title character's father (played by Ejiofor) is imprisoned for a double homicide that he might not have committed.
"Rob became obsessed with getting his father out of prison. He was convinced his father was innocent. That obsession, in some ways, derailed in his life," Ejiofor said. "He went to Yale in the meantime to do molecular biochemistry and biophysics, and was just an exceptional talent, brilliant mind."
Peace's college roommate, Jeff Hobbs, turned Peace's story into a biography in 2014, titled "The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace."
In his first film role, Will drew parallels from his own experiences at The Julliard School to play Peace.
"Being a fish out of water and going to a whole other ecosystem, it was tough in the beginning, but I knew what I had to bring back home. I knew that it was just a temporary circumstance — four years, get the knowledge, go back home and start to sprout out," Will said of his time at Julliard. "Rob, same way. He knew what his purpose was. He knew what he came from, he knew what he was, so he went to school to get the tools and go back home."
And it didn't take long for Ejiofor to know Will was going to be the lead role of the film.
"I was sent one of his tapes that they had online as his end-of-year project, and I thought he was absolutely brilliant. He chose a scene from 'American Gangster,' so I knew he had good taste," Ejiofor said — nodding to his role as Huey Lucas in the 2007 film. "It became very clear very, very quickly that he was a remarkable talent, and he's brilliant in the film."
Also co-starring in the film are two of the biggest names in the music industry: Mary J. Blige and Camila Cabello, as the title character's mother and fellow Yale student, respectively.
"It boosted my game up to see the ensemble that I'm with," Will said. "If I'm with these people, what does that make me? I start to have these questions, and I boost up my own intellect. Just creative, constantly innovating, constantly staying inspired."
Obviously known for his acting career, Ejiofor took on multiple roles to get this important story told.
"I really wanted to try and bring all aspects of this to life. I was excited to play Skeet, obviously excited to adapt the book and direct the film," Ejiofor said. "My primary way of communicating is sometimes through the acting, through the work, so being able to be in a scene sometimes allows me to communicate certain things that I want to get out of the scene in a way that if I sat down and tried to explain, it wouldn't be necessarily as clear."
"Rob Peace" is now in theaters nationwide.