Rustin Trivia | 25 facts about the movie

«Rustin» is a 2023 American biographical drama film directed by George C. Wolfe, about the life of civil rights activist Bayard Rustin.

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1. Rustin is a 2023 American biographical drama film.
2. It was directed by George C. Wolfe.
3. The screenplay was written by Julian Breece and Dustin Lance Black.
4. The movie was produced by Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company Higher Ground.
5. The film stars Colman Domingo in the title role, alongside Chris Rock, Jeffrey Wright and Audra McDonald.
6. It is based on the true story of Rustin, who helped Martin Luther King Jr. and others organize the 1963 March on Washington.
7. Rustin premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on August 31, 2023.
8. It was also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 13, 2023.
9. It is scheduled to be released in select theaters on November 3, 2023, before its streaming release on November 17, 2023, by Netflix.
10. One of the producing partners for this movie is Higher Ground Productions, the banner under which former president Barack and former first lady Michelle Obama have produced several Netflix projects.
11. While Obama was president of the United States, he posthumously awarded Bayard Rustin the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. At the November 20, 2013, White House ceremony, President Obama presented Rustin’s award to Walter Naegle, Rustin’s surviving longtime romantic partner.
12. Bayard Rustin was a member of the Board of Trustees at the prodemocracy and human rights organization Freedom House.
13. One of the marchers in the March on Washington is played by Elizabeth Rosen, who works at Freedom House today.
14. Screenwriter Julian Breece penned the screenplay in 2015 for HBO Films with Lee Daniels originally attached to direct. Breece researched the project for two years, conducting over fifteen hours of interviews with Rustin’s friends and colleagues from the Civil Rights Movement.
15. Michelle and Barack Obama’s Higher Ground Productions picked up the project in 2019, making it the first feature film under their Netflix deal.
16. Jeffrey Wright has a role in this movie. He also appeared in 2001’s Boycott, in which he played Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Bayard Rustin was also depicted in that movie, played by Erik Todd Dellums.
17. Colman Domingo and Glynn Truman previously starred in the George C. Wolfe film Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020).
18. In February 2021, it was reported that George C. Wolfe would direct a film based on the life of Bayard Rustin from a script by Julian Breece and Dustin Lance Black.
19. In October 2021, Colman Domingo was cast as Rustin. Chris Rock, Glynn Turman, and Audra McDonald also joined the cast.
20. Production began in November 2021 in Pittsburgh.
21. In December 2021, Jeffrey Wright, Grantham Coleman, Lilli Kay, Jordan-Amanda Hall, Jakeem Dante Powell, Ayana Workman, Jamilah Nadege Rosemond, Jules Latimer, Maxwell Whittington-Cooper, Frank Harts and Kevin Mambo joined the cast.
22. Upon the announcement of Colman Domingo being cast in the lead role, the Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice, an LGBTQIA safe-space, community activist center voiced their approval directly to Domingo, espousing that “Your powerful voice helps amplify Bayard Rustin, Godfather of Intersectionality, Planned the March, Brought non-violence to the Movement, Inspired the Freedom Riders, Lost to history because of who he loved, Who he was. Angelic Troublemakers unite!”
23. Lenny Kravitz wrote and performed an original song, “Road to Freedom,” for the film.
24. On approaching Kravitz for writing a song for the film, Wolfe said, “The one note I gave him was the song needed to help deliver us as an audience, from feeling to action. And trombones. I begged for trombones.”
25. Wolfe became fascinated with trombones after filming Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020), and Trombone Shorty was brought on board to contribute to the song.