When I first talked to Remi Adeleke, he was just days away from his first box office action film, Transformers: Last Knight. Having survived the Bronx as a young man, and the Navy Seals as a young adult, monstrous CGI robots were hardly enough to intimidate him. But to understand who Adeleke was, and to marvel at how far he’s come, consider his story as told through I am Second.
Catching up with Adeleke a month removed from his Transformers debut, the veteran and actor seems more at ease. He admits that the Michael Bay (whose film The Rock inspired his Navy Seals career) film has opened up doors that he never imagined, with two major film projects in development over the next year and a deal with CBS for some appearances. Even his first endorsement, Jockey, found that they received more than they bargained for as the ad has exceeded all expectations.
But Adeleke is quick to point out that this isn’t about him; it’s about the way God is using his story.
“God has developed my story, so the burden for who I become doesn’t fall on me. God allowed me to go through the things I did, like losing my father at a young age, to dealing drugs, to the Seals, to not knowing how we’d make ends meet, to use it all to bring glory to His name.”
While he now shares screen time with names like Mark Wahlberg and Anthony Hopkins, the Seal-turned-actor remembers when he was just a background filler – even in the first days of shooting on Last Knight. Watching his part gradually grow lends itself to his belief in always being prepared, and focusing on the basics, like “shoot, move, and communicate,” a lesson from his Seals days that applies to filming the story.
What stands out is Adeleke’s childhood memories of sitting in Michael Bay’s first film, Bad Boys, of realizing that Will Smith and Martin Lawrence were the first black actors he’d seen on the screen playing the good guys, not thugs or villains. And the desire to be like them some day. Now he can, even as he says that the tide is turning, as a focus on diversity in casting, or “reflecting the people of the world” grows in movies, from Black Panther to A Wrinkle in Time.
But the person Adeleke is exceeds one thing – he is Navy Seal veteran, model, actor, husband, father, Master’s graduate. And Christian. It’s that thing which comes up frequently, and flows seamlessly in his understanding of himself.
“You can tell people you’re a Christian all you want. But the first way you preach is in the way you live your life. You don’t have to preach, but your fruits show the kind of person you are.”
The young man from the Bronx is all grown up from those days wishing there’d be more African American leads, and wondering how things were going to work out. Now, he’s setting the standard, of culture, of acting, and of faith, one role, one step, one action at a time.
It’s no surprise that Disney holds a monopoly when it comes to films about fairy tales and princesses. Not only are the films all-time classics, but the princesses themselves cross generation to generation, with the help of the parks of course. Over the last few years, Disney has made a 180 degree turn in the stories they tell about their princesses. Early on, these young beautiful princesses needed a prince to save them and define them, but now in our ever-changing culture, that is no more, and that’s a good thing. There was a prince near to Tiana, but she was a strong and independent character that didn’t need him. Merida taught young girls to be brave. Anna showed us the power of love and fearlessness when the odds were not in our favor, and taught us to be there for your family even when everyone is against them. Moana follows this same path and, quite frankly, goes beyond it as well.
A few years ago, Frozen fever took over and it still goes strong today. As good as the film was, I feel Moana is leaps and bounds better. Maybe it’s because I find the Broadway style to the Island music more entertaining, but also, I felt that the story was much more powerful and heartfelt. Moana is a strong-willed character that tries with all her might to do what she thinks is right, and that’s be the chief her father is teaching her to be, but she can’t ignore the pull inside of her to go out into the ocean and explore. She teaches us that we should embrace the path that we are called to and not the one everyone says we should live, even if it goes against what the popular position is. Her courage and resolve blended with her heart and compassion jumps out on the screen and is really felt as she interacts with Maui.
Maui is strong, immortal, arrogant, funny and yet sad and lost. Maui just wants to be loved but has no idea how that works. He tries and tries and tries and it’s never enough. The world is dying because Maui just wanted to be loved and did something that he shouldn’t have done. We’ve met many people like Maui. Good people that are lost because at some point when they were young they were abandoned. It’s only when they reach a low point that we can learn who they really are. Moana was on an adventure to save the world and find her identity, but during that adventure Maui ended up finding the same. With all of his great charisma, we are able to see a vulnerability in the character that allows us draw close and emotionally connect with him and fall in love with him. It was a well-developed character that was perfectly cast with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
