Bayard Rustin is a name that should be known better. A tireless civil rights activist who Barack Obama posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, he was one of the key organizers of the famous March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which climaxed in Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Rustin’s brilliance was in his organizational skills and amazing ability to unite groups for a common goal. Yet, he never received the acclaim of his peers and was notably open about being a homosexual in an era where that was beyond taboo.
Now, Rustin has finally gotten a big-screen Hollywood biopic, with Netflix releasing a full trailer for their star-studded biopic, which premiered at TIFF in September. Colman Domingo plays the title role and is already generating serious Oscar buzz, even if – due to the ongoing strikes – he’s not able to campaign for himself too much—Chris Rock (in a dramatic turn), Glynn Turman, and Jeffrey Wright co-star. The film is directed by Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom director, George C. Wolfe, and co-written by Julian Breece and Milk scribe Dustin Lance Black.
I saw Rustin at TIFF (read my review here) and agree that Domingo, who was brilliant on Euphoria, is terrific and potentially Oscar-worthy in a rare lead role. While the film was a touch talky (at times, it feels like a filmed play), it’s nonetheless an important movie to watch and very insightful in depicting just how mammoth an undertaking the March on Washington was.
Rustin hits theaters (in limited release) on November 3rd and makes its Netflix debut on November 17th.
Will you be watching Rustin? Let us know in the comments!