Colman Domingo Marches to Freedom in First Trailer for ‘Rustin’

Netflix has released the first trailer for Rustin, starring Emmy Award winner Colman Domingo (Euphoria) as legendary gay civil rights legend Bayard Rustin. Today, August 28, marks the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington and a historic moment in the civil rights movement.

The architect of 1963’s momentous March on Washington, Bayard Rustin was one of the greatest activists and organizers the world has ever known. He challenged authority, never apologized for who he was, what he believed, or who he desired. And he did not back down. He made history, and in turn, he was forgotten. Directed by DGA Award and five-time Tony Award winner George C. Wolfe and starring Emmy Award winner Colman Domingo, Rustin shines a long overdue spotlight on the extraordinary man who, alongside giants like the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., Adam Clayton Powell Jr., and Ella Baker, dared to imagine a different world, and inspired a movement in a march toward freedom.

The the film features an all-star cast including Chris Rock, Glynn Turman, Aml Ameen, Gus Halper, CCH Pounder, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Johnny Ramey, Michael Potts, with Jeffrey Wright and Audra McDonald.

Wolfe (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) directs from a screenplay by Julian Breece and Academy Award winner Dustin Lance Black (Milk) based on a story by Breece.

Rustin is produced by Academy Award winner Bruce Cohen, Higher Ground’s Tonia Davis and George C. Wolfe, and executive produced by Higher Ground’s Barack & Michelle Obama, Mark R. Wright, Alex G. Scott, David Permut, Daniel Sladek, Chris Taaffe.

Multi-GRAMMY Award-winning artist Lenny Kravitz has written and recorded the original song “Road To Freedom” for George C. Wolfe’s Rustin. Wolfe says, “Ever since Branford Marsalis introduced me to a recording of the holy trombone choir from the United House of Prayer, I’ve been mesmerized. So when the brilliant, impassioned Lenny Kravitz agreed to write a song for Rustin, I begged him to include a chorus of trombones. Lenny took my request to the next level and brought on board the legendary Trombone Shorty. ‘Road To Freedom’ captures both 1963 and 2023; a bold celebration, as Lenny’s voice sermonizes and soars.”

Rustin will be in select theaters November 3, 2023 and on Netflix November 17, 2023. Here is the trailer.

Photo: Parrish Lewis/Netflix

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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