With this year’s awards circuit right around the corner, moviegoers are about to experience cinema’s annual purple patch. Not to disparage those films that hit during the course of the spring and summer, but as the nights get darker, generally speaking, Hollywood studios begin to play their ace in the holes. And this year it’s been no different, with Foxcatcher, The Imitation Game, Birdman and Nightcrawler all already drawing praise across the industry. But one release that is beginning to emerge as a dark horse of sorts is Ava DuVernay’s Martin Luther King biopic, Selma.
Over the past few months, we’ve been teased with umpteen screenshots for the civil rights drama and today, the studio has finally unveiled the first full-length trailer, which shows David Oyelowo in the role of the renown activist circa 1960.
In essence, the story will chart the groundswell of support that King instigated; one which culminated with the famous demonstration march that took place between Selma and Montgomery. Joining Oyelowo for the biopic are Tom Wilkinson, Tim Roth, Carmen Ejogo and The Good Wife‘s Dylan Baker.
Selma is due for a limited release on December 25th before arriving in theaters across the country on January 9th. For now, be sure to share your thoughts on the potential Oscar candidate in the comments section below.
SELMA is the story of a movement. The film chronicles the tumultuous three-month period in 1965, when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led a dangerous campaign to secure equal voting rights in the face of violent opposition. The epic march from Selma to Montgomery culminated in President Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of the most significant victories for the civil rights movement. Director Ava DuVernay’s SELMA tells the story of how the revered leader and visionary Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (David Oyelowo) and his brothers and sisters in the movement prompted change that forever altered history.