Fear the Walking Dead‘s Colman Domingo has committed to star in Netflix’s Rustin, the first feature film to be produced by former United States President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground production company.
Netflix confirmed Colman Domingo, who earned a Screen Actors Guild Awards nomination as part of the ensemble of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, will play civil rights activist Bayard Rustin. Chris Rock (Fargo) is set to portray activist Roy Wilkins, Glynn Turman (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) is on board as A. Philip Randolph, and Audra McDonald (Respect) will play Ella Baker.
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom director George C. Wolfe co-wrote the screenplay with Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black (Milk). Wolfe will also direct the biopic based on Bayard’s life, with Academy Award winner Bruce Cohen (American Beauty) and Higher Ground’s Tonia Davis producing. Higher Ground’s Mark R. Wright and Alex G. Scott will serve as executive producers.
Netflix released the following synopsis of Rustin:
Rustin tells the story of charismatic, gay, civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, who overcame an onslaught of obstacles, and altered the course of American history by organizing the 1963 March on Washington.
