Netflix Shares First Look Of Colman Domingo As Bayard Rustin In Upcoming Biopic
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The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. we know today wouldn’t exist without the efforts of Bayard Rustin. The latter is being immortalized in the upcoming biopic, Rustin. Set to premiere in select theaters on Nov. 3 and globally on Netflix on Nov. 17, the film stars Colman Domingo as the gay activist who helped co-organize the historic March on Washington. A first look into the film was shared with Vanity Fair.
Prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike, the film’s director, George C. Wolfe, praised Rustin’s ability to organize the non-violent protest in seven weeks, saying, “The cause, the responsibility, the task is so monumental.”
When sharing why he chose to tell Rustin’s story, Wolfe added, “History very frequently is like a Hollywood movie. Whoever has the best agent gets the best billing. And who doesn’t gets tossed aside. We’re trained to see the star and not see anything else.”
Domingo later chimed in. “We owe a lot to Bayard Rustin. I think it’s part of my mission to make sure that hopefully, come this fall, there will never be that question again, who Bayard Rustin was,” expressed the Philly native.
After having starred in Euphoria, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, and Zola, the upcoming star of The Color Purple expressed just how ready he was to step into this particular role, sharing that he feels what he’s done is “legacy work.”
“I knew it was my charge to empower every single person on that set. I’m the center of this production, and the way you succeed or fall apart is because of me,” said Domingo.
“Right now, at 53 years old, I can look at the body of my work and I see it’s legacy work. It’s work that I know that I feel really good about and the imprint that I’m making in the arts.” Alongside Domingo, Chris Rock, Glynn Turman, Aml Ameen, Gus Halper, CCH Pounder, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Johnny Ramey, Michael Potts, Jeffrey Wright, and Audra McDonald star in Rustin.
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