Rustin True Story: All About Bayard Rustin, the Real-Life Activist Portrayed in Netflix Film

Colman Domingo stars as real-life activist Bayard Rustin in a new Netflix biopic.

The film Rustin, per a synopsis from the studio, "shines a long overdue spotlight" on the man who played a strategic part in organizing the historic Aug. 28, 1963, March on Washington, where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech.

According to the National Museum of African American History & Culture, Rustin was "one of Martin Luther King Jr.’s closest advisors, especially on techniques of nonviolent resistance."

Rustin was also an openly gay leader among the civil rights movement. Actor Domingo, who is also gay, told Netflix's Queue he was shocked he didn't know this part of LGBTQ history from school.

"I was just like, ‘Wait, what? So, this openly gay man organized the March on Washington and inspired Dr. King to know about passive resistance and the teachings of Gandhi. ... Why don’t I know this?' " said Domingo, 53. "I just felt duped by my whole education."

Domingo explained why he felt he "was the only one who could play Bayard Rustin."

He told Queue that he said to the filmmaking team, "I have everything that I need, and all the tools to lend, to give this man his full humanity, his humor, his sexuality, his joy. I have no fear stepping into any of his spaces."

Rustin died in 1987 at age 75 in New York City. His real-life partner Walter Naegle attended the Rustin New York City special screening held Oct. 30.

The cast also includes: Chris Rock as Roy Wilkins; Glynn Turman as A. Philip Randolph; Aml Ameen as Martin Luther King Jr.; Jeffrey Wright as Adam Clayton Powell Jr.; Gus Halper as Tom Kahn; CCH Pounder as Dr. Anna Hedgeman; Audra McDonald as Ella Baker.

According to Netflix's Tudum, Johnny Ramey plays "one of few fictional characters" in the film, named Elias, who serves as a "composite of the closeted lovers Rustin encountered."

Domingo told MovieWeb he found many connections between himself and Rustin while researching.

"First of all, we’re both left-handed. We’re both from Pennsylvania; he’s from West Chester, and I’m from Philadelphia. A lot of my nieces and nephews have gone to Quaker schools, and he was a Quaker. We’re both openly gay men. I think he was about 6-foot tall, I’m 6-foot-2-inches. There’s many similarities."

"The more that I start to understand him, and understand the way he operated in the world, I find that there are things that maybe have inspired me to become a bit more like him in a way," the Euphoria actor continued.

"The idea that he was very much a great civics leader, and he really cared about people. I think about his life’s work, how he rolled up his sleeves, it was our humanity, and making sure there was justice and wrongs were righted."

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Directed by George C. Wolfe, Rustin has, among its executive producers, former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama, via their Higher Ground company.

At a screening of Rustin in Washington, D.C., earlier this month, former President Obama, 62, spoke about Rustin's legacy and why it deserves to be more widely known.

He said, according to Variety, that Rustin "is one of the seminal figures that changed the course of American history. Without him, I might not have been President and you might not be sitting where you are today."

Rustin is now streaming on Netflix.