Robert Peace’s life was cut short, but his legacy will live on in Chiwetel Ejiofor’s new movie, “Rob Peace.” The Oscar nominee directed, adapted and costars in the drama based on the book “The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace” by Jeff Hobbs, which tells the true story of the late and intellectually gifted young man Robert DeShaun Peace. The movie follows Peace's life from his early days as an extremely smart young boy to his scholarly success at Yale, where he studied molecular biochemistry and biophysics.
Raised by his single mother, Jackie Peace, after his father is imprisoned for manslaughter, Rob Peace does what he can to help free his dad from prison — even if it means putting his own life at risk. Starring Jay Will as Rob Peace, Mary J. Blige as Jackie Peace and Ejiofor as patriarch Robert “Skeet” Douglas, the film does more than just highlight a story of tragedy, it captures the immense weigh of societal challenges and how one must have utter resilience to navigate it.
When asked by producers Antoine Fuqua and Rebecca Hobbs to bring the book to life, Ejiofor said he felt it was his duty to take great care with the film. “I read the book not long after it came out, maybe about 10 years ago,” Ejiofor tells TODAY.com, sharing how he was “stunned” by Hobbs’ story about Peace, his former roommate at Yale.
“The book has such empathy, sensitivity and real understanding. I really wanted to try to represent that.” When first encountering Pea.