Colman Domingo Is Shocked People Haven’t Seen ‘Rustin’ Yet

Colman Domingo is calling out the lack of awards buzz for “Rustin,” despite being an Oscars contender and critically acclaimed Netflix film.

The lead star, who is among IndieWire’s Oscars shortlist for Best Actor for portraying Civil Rights leader Bayard Rustin in the film, told Vanity Fair that there are only “certain eyes that are able to” see films like “Rustin.”

“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,’” Domingo said while in conversation with Ava DuVernay for the outlet.

Domingo 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.’”

DuVernay responded to Domingo, saying, “You’re right. That’s unfortunate because we watch films from all over the world that have nothing to do with me, and we watch it because we don’t have to be centered, we are used to that because we are so often not centered. I don’t want this to be misconstrued – I’m just…