‘Rustin’ Star Glynn Turman Hopes Film Inspires Activism From Viewers: ‘We Don’t Need to Wait for the Next Person, We Are That Next Person’

variety.com:

Stuart Miller When George C. Wolfe was casting his civil rights movie “Rustin,” he got Colman Domingo for the titular Bayard Rustin, and then added Michael Potts and Glynn Turman in smaller, but crucial roles. “It was wonderful the way he got the band back together,” says Turman, who plays labor leader A.

Philip Randolph, who, along with Rustin, is the most important (and overlooked) person in bringing the pivotal 1963 March on Washington to life.

That’s a phrase that’s often used for a reunion, but in this case Turman was referring to the fact Wolfe used him, Domingo and Potts (along with Chadwick Boseman) as the literal band in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” And Turman takes the analogy even further, calling Wolfe a “a master conductor and a master at the tempos that he sets for each scene” and saying he and Domingo had an easy chemistry asRandolph and Rustin “because we know each other’s notes.” Even his performance has a musicality to it: When Turman watched videos of Randolph online and went to the National Museum of African American History and Culture to study the history of the March he was struck by Randolph’s commanding baritone. “I wanted to play it in his key, you know what I mean,” says Turman. “He’s a little more resonant and deeper than even my baritone, and he had a very distinct sound.” Finding the voice helped him find Randolph’s character, the ability to come across as calmly persuasive or intimidating depending on what was needed. “He was a union leader and those were rough boys, so while he was a gentleman and he was a learned man, he was a fellow that could handle himself in different circumstances if tested.” Turman has handled himself in different acting circumstances for decades: At 12, he was.