( ENSPIRE Entertainment ) Netflix Releases a Trailer for “Rustin,” a Movie to Honor Bayard Rustin
ENSPIRE Contributor: Wesley Tran
On August 28th, Netflix released the first trailer for “Rustin,” an upcoming film about the life and work of Bayard Rustin. He was an openly gay Black civil rights leader and the architect of 1963’s March on Washington. This movie promises to put an end to the history of erasure around the visionary’s legacy. Bayard Rustin was an organizer who advised Martin Luther King Jr. on the historic march and gathering — an eight-week endeavor, according to the trailer. His refusal to apologize for who he was, what he believed in, and who he loved, alongside his instincts to challenge authority (even in the communities his work most served), is captured in the powerful two-minute teaser.
“Rustin” will be in select theaters on November 3rd and will be available to stream beginning November 17th. The first look captures the passionate, profound, and often tumultuous journey of one of the country’s most significant civil rights activists, socialists, pacifists, labor unionists, and gay rights advocates. The movie is directed by DGA award and five-time Tony winner George C. Wolfe. In addition, Colman Domingo will be taking on his first leading role to embody the radical voice and fixture of the 20th-century fight for equality and justice in American democracy.
Despite others’ unwillingness to see Black queer people as equal fighters and benefactors in the civil rights cause, Rustin’s strength of character and his will helped to galvanize a generation. He set in motion one of history’s most monumental displays of resistance and calls for freedom. It also begs the question of how he could have been so forgotten by the very country he reshaped for the better. “He is a role model for what it means to be an American, what it means to daily, moment-to-moment, commit to democracy, commit to freedom, commit to possibility, commit to discovery, commit to passing on that which you know to other people,” Wolfe told Netflix.
“Rustin” is the second film that focuses on society’s forgotten heroes that Netflix has dropped a trailer for, the first being “Maestro.” While it remains to be seen if either of these films can avoid falling prey to the formula that was so memorably skewered in “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story,” the talent involved in making them is reason enough to give them the time of day. In addition to the amazing work Netflix is doing for our forgotten heroes, it is also an exciting time for Colman Domingo’s fans. With decades of phenomenal character work, he is sure to bring the story alive and give Bayard Rustin the attention he deserves.
Watch the trailer for “Rustin,” below!
To learn more about “Rustin,” be sure to check out IMDb’s page and Netflix’s synopsis of the movie here!
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