The film reunites Wolfe with his Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom star Colman Domingo, who plays the gay civil rights leader as he prepares for the 1963 March on Washington.

Gay Directors. By Emanuel Levy (Columbia University Press)

Rustin hits theaters November 3 prior to streaming on Netflix on November 17.

Never heard the name Bayard Rustin before film

Nobody knew this story, and that’s the crime. I think I heard about him in passing in college. And then I served as chief creative officer for the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta. As his name came up in the research I would go, “Oh, my God!” Then something else would come up, and I would go, “Oh, my God!” I just kept on going, “Oh, my God!” I was desperate to be a part of telling his story.

There are many incredible people who gave great speeches that day, but at the end of the day an international figure emerged, and that was Martin Luther King. After that extraordinary speech, he became the de facto civil rights leader. But there were also complications with Bayard having been a Communist — he later rejected it — and being out and gay.

I think history just does what it does and focuses on certain people, and other people just get washed aside. 

Great Cast: Colman Domingo, CCH Pounder, Chris Rock r

Film comes from Higher Ground, Barack and Michelle Obama’s production

I worked on the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities for two terms for President Obama. So I’d met them a number of times, and they were always great. And I got my notes from the president, and they were incredibly smart notes. Because he’s a great storyteller. You never felt separated from them. They read the scripts; they had long conversations about the characters; they really joined the work.