PARK CITY, UTAH – JANUARY 21: Camila Cabello, Jay Will and Chiwetel Ejiofor, at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival “Rob Peace” premiere at Eccles Theatre on January 21, 2024, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by George Pimentel/Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival

By Stephanie Ornelas

If you want to get to know a person, talk to their closest friends and family. That’s how director Chiwetel Ejiofor got to know Rob Peace. And he simply fell in love. 

Based on the best-selling book The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League by Jeff Hobbs, who was also Peace’s college roommate and friend, Rob Peace, which premiered at Eccles Theatre in Park City, Utah, on January 22, gives us a glimpse into the harsh realities of those from disadvantaged communities. A young and brilliant child living with his mother, Jackie (Mary J. Blige), Peace’s connection with his father Skeet (Ejiofor) proves to be a crucial relationship for both of them, especially when they are pulled apart. 

Skeet acknowledges and praises his son’s exceptional intellect every chance he gets, as he realizes Peace is destined for much more than their community has to offer. However, Skeet’s incarceration for double homicide abruptly halts Peace’s childhood, setting the stage for external forces that contribute to his later struggles. Jackie, determined to steer her son away from a grim fate that befalls most of the boys and men of their neighborhood, works tirelessly to send him to St. Benedict, a private boys high school. There, his brilliance flourishes and he forms lifelong friendships while secretly working on his father’s case. 

“I read the book and I immediately fell in love with it,” says director Chiwetel Ejiofor. “I fell in love with Jeff’s empathy and the way he wrote about his friend. I had been thinking about it in different ways, and not quite in the way that it was written in the book — in the way it was created in Rob’s life, and that meant understanding fully this confluence of race, housing, education, the criminal justice system, and how Rob found himself at this extraordinary crossroad.”     

His acceptance into Yale, far from meeting racial quotas, reflects Peace’s genuine genius. However, despite excelling academically, participating in sports, and socializing with peers of all walks of life, Peace finds the weight of his father’s imprisonment leads him down a different path. 

Ejiofor explains how the casting process was key in making the film. “It’s sort of everything in most films, but in this, it was about finding who was going to play Rob, who was going to carry us through the story. The weight of the film was going to be on the shoulders of one person.” 

And he got that from Jay Will.

“I was struck by his charisma. So I was excited about him reading for Rob. He made that experience true for me and true for what I had seen and what I had read in terms of how he engaged in the world,” explains Ejiofor. “[Rob] was himself in all spaces. He was proud of himself, proud of his heritage, of his culture, his people, and his community. He could find himself in these different spaces and different environments and make micro adjustments as we all do. And Jay carried that so effortlessly.”           

Says Will, “This film just weighs heavy on my heart because it’s a real person and I just want to honor that first before anything. It’s a heavy thing and I’m just blessed to share it all. The relatability of it all gave me so much to pull from.” 

Camila Cabello, who plays Naya, Peace’s girlfriend, was immediately captivated by the script, and explains that although she doesn’t have a lot of acting experience, she trusted Ejiofor completely. 

“When I first read the script, it showed so much nuance and complexity. I love stories that open us all up to challenge our thinking of things that are oversimplified. I love the empathy in the original book and how Jeff told the story of Rob and also just in the film,” says Cabello. 

“I loved that and I just wanted to be a part of it. And I just loved the character. I loved her compassion, I loved how much she supported Rob, and how much she was always loving on him. And working with Chiwetel, I felt like I was in the best hands. I really trusted the process.”  

As the film progresses, viewers witness Peace’s choices clash with societal expectations at Yale, exposing the stigma attached to those from impoverished backgrounds. Relationships strain as friends and loved ones question the sacrifices he makes for his father at the cost of throwing away a brilliant future. 

Ejiofor’s directorial vision challenges preconceived notions about escaping underprivileged backgrounds, emphasizing that success shouldn’t equate to abandonment. The film explores Rob’s aspirations: freeing his father, reinvesting in his community, and pursuing noble endeavors. Yet, as a Black man born into poverty, even a Yale degree doesn’t shield Rob from the harsh realities he faced at birth.

Rob Peace powerfully illustrates that ascension to Ivy League heights often fails to alter the predetermined options for marginalized individuals. The film serves as a poignant tale of a human being who deserved a better fate than the limited choices society presented him — challenging ingrained perceptions and highlighting the systemic challenges faced by individuals striving for success against all odds.