Colman Domingo saddened by lack of Rustin attention

Colman Domingo is disappointed about the lack of awards buzz for 'Rustin'.

The 54-year-old actor plays civil rights activist Bayard Rustin in the biopic and admits that he was left dismayed after hearing that so many people had not seen the flick despite its critical acclaim.

In conversation with filmmaker Ava DuVernay for Vanity Fair, Colman said: "Now, my question is this, Ava, because I always think, is it about the certain eyes that are able to land in our films? Because I literally went into a dinner party the other night and I was struck by the amount of people that still hadn't seen 'Rustin'."

He continued: "I've seen 'Oppenheimer', I've seen 'Killers of the Flower Moon', I've seen 'Saltburn'. I've seen all these things because I think I've always been groomed knowing that I look at stories outside of my experience.

"But I think there's a large contingent of people who need to be told, like you're saying with marketing dollars, that, 'This has something to do with you.'"

'Rustin' is directed by George C. Wolfe and follows the charismatic activist as he organises the famous March on Washington in 1963 – although Domingo had a "crisis of faith" about the movie launching during the SAG-AFTRA strike that left him "sidelined" by being unable to publicise the work.

The 'Fear the Walking Dead' actor told IndieWire: "At some point, honestly, I really did have a crisis of faith where I thought it was lasting too long, where I could not talk about the film and why I care about it and how I led it and all that stuff.

"And honestly, I got a little depressed. And I thought, 'Why me?' This is such a momentous occasion and something I care about so deeply. My first leading role in a film, and I thought, 'Well, why must I be sidelined?'"