Chiwetel Ejiofor writes, directs, and stars with Jay Will and Camila Cabello in Rob Peace , a thoughtful adaptation of Jeff Hobbs' bestselling novel, which examines the struggle to reconcile ambition with mounting economic and family pressures.
We chat with Ejiofor and Will about the film at the Sundance premiere in Park City, Utah.
Growing up in an impoverished section of Newark and later graduating from Yale on scholarship, Peace led a dual life in academia, earning degrees in molecular biophysics and biochemistry while also selling marijuana to aid his father, who he believed was unjustly imprisoned for murder.
Although Peace's (Jay Will) talents are nurtured from childhood by his devoted mother (Mary J.
Blige), he lives in the shadow of his father (Ejiofor), who is imprisoned for a murky double murder.
Will vividly conveys Peace's inner turmoil, while Ejiofor gives an anguished performance as his father.
