‘Rustin’ trailer shows civil
Rights history shot here
A major moment in civil rights history will be coming to Netflix this fall, with a little help from Pittsburgh.
“Rustin,” Netflix’s biopic of March on Washington co-organizer Bayard Rustin, did a lot of its filming in Western Pennsylvania between fall 2021 and winter 2022. The film was produced by the Obamas’ Higher Ground Productions and saw “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” director George C. Wolfe reuniting with “Ma Rainey” stars Colman Domingo, Glynn Turman and Michael Potts on yet another Pittsburgh-shot Netflix project.
Last month, Netflix officially revealed that “Rustin” will release in select theaters Nov. 3 before beginning its global streaming run Nov. 17. On Monday — which happens to be the March on Washington’s 60th anniversary — the streamer dropped the first trailer for “Rustin” that provides the first footage of how Wolfe re-created that momentous day.
Rustin ( Domingo) worked closely with March on Washington architects A. Philip Randolph (Turman) and Roy Wilkins (Chris Rock), as well as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Aml Ameen) himself. The trailer begins with Rustin urging King to “own your power” by leading what would ultimately end up being approximately 250,000 people as they marched on Washington, D.C., in pursuit of racial equality.
Turman’s Randolph says that “there’s one person who can organize an event of this scale,” referring to Rustin. Rock’s Wilkins immediately chimes in with, “To hell with Bayard Rustin. His attentiongrabbing antics make him an easy target.” That last line is capped with a shot of Domingo’s Rustin blowing a kiss to the camera while crossing what looks like a Downtown Pittsburgh street.
“Let’s not mention the unmentionable,” Wilkins continues in reference to Rustin’s sexual orientation as the trailer cuts to him in bed with another man.
The trailer also includes Audra McDonald as fellow activist Ella Baker and Jeffrey Wright as New York Rep. Adam Clayton Powell, who at one point says to Rustin
that “your mere presence would derail the fight for racial justice in this country a good 10-15 years.”
It concludes with a few shots of large crowds marching and surrounding what is clearly the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool as Rustin says, “We are committed to the cause of altering the trajectory of this country toward freedom. They either believe in freedom or justice for all, or they do not.”
Though it’s unclear exactly what parts of the film’s March on Washington recreations were shot in Western Pennsylvania, Rose Locke of Atlanta-based Rose Locke Casting cast a wide local net in August 2021 for extras interested in “re-enacting such a crucial part of history” via “Rustin.”
If Netflix doesn’t budge on its current “Rustin” release date — which isn’t a given as studios have continued to delay titles amid the SAG -AFTRA and Writers Guild of America strikes — it will be the first Hollywood film or television show even partially made in this region to make its debut since FX started rolling out its limited series “Justified: City Primeval” in mid-July.
The Western Pennsylvania-shot Ethan Coen comedy “Drive-Away Dolls” was supposed to hit theaters Sept. 22 before Focus Features moved its release to Feb. 23, 2024. Both Netflix’s Lee Daniels-directed horror movie “The Deliverance” and season two of the Amazon Freevee drama “American Rust” are currently undated.