WATCH: Colman Domingo wows as gay civil rights activist Bayard Rustin in highly anticipated biopic
Rustin, the story of the history-making activist, co-written by Julian Reece (When They See Us) and Dustin Lance Black (Milk).Taking on the eponymous role is fantastic gay actor (and recent Queerty Pride50 honoree!) Colman Domingo, finally getting the star turn he’s so long deserved.
Naturally, Domingo’s the film’s center of gravity and its spark—and we don’t want to jinkx it, but the part’s already garnering him some early Oscar buzz.
Fingers crossed!If Colman Domingo isn’t already considered a household name, he’s about to be.As evidenced by the first trailer, Rustin’s queerness is not just be a footnote in this story, but an essential component of his personhood that helped define his push for equality, especially as he had to defy those who wanted to count him out. “On the day that I was born Black, I was also born a homosexual,” the activist declares.Rustin reunites Domingo with his Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom director, George C.
Wolfe, as well as his co-star Glynn Turman, here playing the activist’s March On Washington cohort A. Philip Randolph.Elsewhere, you’ve got comedian Chris Rock in a rare dramatic turn as the NAACP’s Roy Wilkins, Sense8‘s Amel Ameen as MLK, Jr., the Emmy-nominated CCH Pounder as activist Anna Arnold Hedgeman, The Batman‘s Jeffrey Wright as former New York Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr., and Broadway legend Audra McDonald as civil rights leader Ella Baker.And if that’s not enough, Rustin is produced by Barack and Michelle Obama, via their company Higher Ground Productions.
