Rustin is now in theaters, enjoying a limited qualifying release before it hits Netflix on November 17th. With this biopic on civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, Colman Domingo may earn his first Oscar nomination, in the Best Actor category. His hopes seem amply justified when you look over the production's premise and early reviews. It looks like a project calibrated to appeal to the Academy's taste, finely tuned for the campaign trail. After all, it's telling a real-life story full of inspirational details and a sense of great social importance, directed by George C. Wolfe from a screenplay coauthored by Dustin Lance Black.
That last name is especially interesting for it recalls Milk's triumph in 2008 and contextualizes Domingo's Oscar as a chance to make history…
At the 81st Academy Awards, Sean Penn became the fourth man to win the Best Actor Oscar for playing a queer character. Before him, there was William Hurt in Kiss of the Spider Woman, Tom Hanks in Philadelphia, and Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote. After Penn, there came Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club - even if the film doesn't explore Ron Woodroof's bisexuality - Rami Malek in Bohemian Rhapsody, and Brendan Fraser in The Whale. Despite the roles they played, none of these individuals publicly identified as anything other than cisgender straight.
The situation is similar in the other acting categories, proving that, as much as AMPAS and Hollywood may proclaim progressive ideals, there's a long way to go. Openly queer actors still struggle to find the same kind of opportunities afforded to their more "normative" colleagues. And when talking about Domingo, there's also the matter of his Blackness within an industry built upon systems that privilege white voices, artists, stories. If nominated, he'll be the second Black openly gay thespian to be thus honored in Best Actor, following Paul Winfield for 1972's Sounder.
In those terms, he'd also be the first actor nominated for playing a Black gay man. And, if he were to win, Domingo would break through a number of other records, finally adding an openly queer performer to that list of Oscar-winning turns. It almost happened before, with Ian McKellen's James Whale in Gods and Monsters, but he lost to Roberto Benigni. Hell, it should have happened already, and the fact it hasn't should shame everyone involved. Sure, representation concerns can narrow one's view of art, and demanding all such details about an actor's identity can be problematic. Nevertheless, there's no denying how incredible a Colman Domingo victory would feel for many a viewer.
What do you think of Colman Domingo's Oscar chances for Rustin? Is he a potential frontrunner, or will Netflix invest all its attention in Bradley Cooper's Maestro?