Exclusive: Aml Ameen on playing Martin Luther King Jr. in Rustin
Currently playing on Netflix is RUSTIN, directed by 5-time Tony Award winner / DGA Award winner George C. Wolfe (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) and starring Emmy Award winner Colman Domingo alongside an all-star cast.
The architect of 1963's momentous March on Washington, Bayard Rustin was one of the greatest activists & organizers the world has ever known. He challenged authority, never apologized for who he was, what he believed, or who he desired. And he did not back down. He made history, and in turn, he was forgotten. Directed by DGA Award & five-time Tony Award winner George C. Wolfe and starring Colman Domingo, Rustin shines a long overdue spotlight on the extraordinary man who, alongside giants like the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., Adam Clayton Powell Jr., and Ella Baker, dared to imagine a different world, and inspired a movement in a march toward freedom.
The cast includes Colman Domingo, Chris Rock, Glynn Turman, Audra McDonald, Aml Ameen, Gus Halper, Johnny Ramey, CCH Pounder, Michael Potts, Carra Patterson, Adrienne Warren, Bill Irwin, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Jeffrey Wright, Lilli Kay, Jordan-Amanda Hall, Jakeem Dante Powell, Ayana Workman, Grantham Coleman, Jamilah Nadege Rosemond, Jules Latimer, Maxwell Whittington-Cooper, Frank Harts, and Kevin Mambo.
The screenplay is written by Julian Breece and Dustin Lance Black; story by Julian Breece. RUSTIN is executive produced by Higher Ground’s Barack & Michelle Obama, Mark R. Wright and Alex G. Scott. Producers are Academy Award winner Bruce Cohen and Higher Ground’s Tonia Davis.
For Aml Ameen, the opportunity to play Martin Luther King Jr. opposite Colman Domingo reunites the two from when they both appeared in Lee Daniels’ The Butler in 2013. Among Ameen’s other film credits include George Lucas's Red Tails, The Maze Runner, Gina Prince-Bythewood’s Beyond The Lights, Idris Elba’s Yardie, Inside Man: Most Wanted, and the holiday film Boxing Day, in which he made his directorial debut.
Blackfilmandtv.com’s Wilson Morales spoke with Ameen about Martin Luther King Jr. in George C. Wolfe’s Rustin.