Rustin will star Colman Domingo as Bayard Rustin with Audra McDonald, Chris Rock, and Glynn Turman among others in other key roles. George C. Wolfe of ‘Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' set to direct.
BANG Showbiz English
Colman Domingo, Chris Rock, Glynn Turman and Audra McDonald are to star in ‘Rustin'.
The movie is a biopic of the gay civil rights activist Bayard Rustin and is the first feature to be produced by Higher Ground, the production company set up by former US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama.
George C. Wolfe, who previously helmed ‘Ma Rainey's Black Bottom', is to direct the movie from a screenplay he has co-written with Dustin Lance Black. The film will be released on Netflix as part of their deal with Higher Ground.
The project will look at the various obstacles that Rustin had to overcome to organise the march on Washington in 1963, where Martin Luther King delivered his famous ‘I Have a Dream' speech.
Colman will play Rustin in the movie with Chris starring as NAACP leader Roy Wilkins. Glynn will portray activist A. Philip Randolph and Audra will star as civil rights icon Ella Baker.
Oscar-winner Bruce Cohen and Tonia Davis will produce the film.
Chris recently starred in and executive produced ‘Spiral', which marked his debut in the ‘Saw' franchise, and hopes that it can reinvigorate the series in a similar way to how the ‘Creed' movies provided a new lease of life to the ‘Rocky' franchise.
Asked if he wanted to appear in more ‘Saw' movies, Chris – who dreamt up the story for the motion picture – said: “Yeah, I mean, I hope this movie is like ‘Creed'. In the sense that ‘Creed' is technically like ‘Rocky 7'.
“So, hopefully there's more ‘Spirals' and hopefully I'm in more ‘Spirals'.”
