‘Rustin’ Trailer Teases Colman Domingo As Queer Activist

It’s an opportune moment for a certain trailer drop. On the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Netflix released the first look at its upcoming film, Rustin, a biopic about queer civil-rights activist Bayard Rustin, who painstakingly organized the demonstration in spite of his detractors. Colman Domingo plays the eponymous character, who was forced to lead in a behind-the-scenes capacity due to fear that criticism over his sexuality would derail the movement. In the trailer, we see the visionary organizer plan the event in eight weeks, scribbling on scratch paper and mapping out the march’s route, begging Dr. Martin Luther King to participate. “Own your power,” he tells MLK. The man has haters, though. “To hell with Bayard Rustin,” Chris Rock, playing NAACP leader Roy Wilkins, says. “His attention-grabbing antics make him an easy target.” Jeffrey Wright as Adam Clayton Powell Jr. tells Rustin that his “mere presence would derail the fight for racial justice in this country a good 10, 15 years.” George C. Wolfe (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) directs the Barack and Michelle Obama–produced film. Rustin premieres at Toronto International Film Festival before hitting theaters on November 3 and Netflix on November 17.