Chiwetel Ejiofor has praised Mary J. Blige for staying committed to his film Rob Peace when it got delayed by the pandemic.

The Oscar-nominated actor’s new directorial feature tells the real story of Robert Peace, a gifted Yale University graduate who turns to drug dealing to help his father overturn a double homicide conviction.

When the pandemic began in 2020, No More Drama singer Blige was one of the only people who had been cast in the film, and she stuck by the project for two years until it was given the go-ahead to start filming.

Ejiofor believes her commitment to the role of Jackie Peace, Robert’s mother, was “incredibly instrumental” in getting the project back up and running.

“At the end of that process it was all about trying to piece back together whatever you were talking about two years earlier, and time had moved on and a lot of projects just went away,” he explained to Variety. “It needed people like Mary J who were just completely committed to the film, so as soon as we were trying to pull it back together she was right back in the mix, saying she loved the project and was still here for it. And it really helped galvanise all those energies.

“So I really credit Mary J for sticking with the film all through that period and being brilliant in the film, holding this really passionate centre of the story and carrying it with such authenticity.”

In addition to directing, the 12 Years a Slave star also wrote the screenplay from Jeff Hobbs’s book The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace and starred as Robert’s father Skeet.

While she is best known as a singer, Blige has previously starred in films such as Respect, Mudbound and Rock of Ages.

Rob Peace, starring newcomer Jay Will, is in U.S. cinemas now. It will be released in the U.K. on 6 September.

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