The trailer for ‘Selma’, the Oprah Winfrey produced Martin Luther King Jr biopic is out. Scheduled for release on the 9th of January, British- Nigerian actor David Oyelowo plays Dr King. It’s directed by Ava DuVernay and written by Paul Webb.
The IMDB release describes the film as covering “the tumultuous three-month period in 1965, as Mlk led a movement to secure equal voting rights in the face of violent opposition. The film will culminate in the march from Selma to Montgomery and President Johnson’s (Tom Wilkinson) signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.”
On playing MLK, Oyelowo said to Vanity Fair
“I approached Dr. King first and foremost as a man. To try and play him as an icon would do him and the story a disservice.”
“Being born and bred in the U.K. gave me the advantage of not having grown up, as many Americans have, with Dr. King as an icon, a holiday, or as a leader who made a speech that they had to learn in school. I have felt less burdened about depicting him as a result of that, although my admiration for him is seismic.”
Find the trailer below;