David Oyelowo plays Martin Luther King Jr. in the film Selma, which tells the story of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches led by King. Oprah Winfrey is a producer of the film and plays Annie Lee Cooper, whose arrest helped spark the marches. The film took over seven years to make due to script and director changes. Oyelowo believes his role as King was divinely guided, while Winfrey was committed to honoring real people like Cooper who fought for voting rights. The film aims to shed light on lesser known leaders and bring attention to the continued struggle for equal rights.

1. IN HER LATEST PASSION PROJECT, Oprah Winfrey JOINS David Oyelowo
AND Carmen Egojo TO TELL THE STORY THAT STARTED A MOVEMENT
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2. how her scuffle with the law gave birth to a long walk that
would change our nation forever.
The distance between Selma and Montgomery is 54 miles, a
littleoveranhour’sdrive.Butifyouwereonfoot,you’dprobably
be looking at a 16-hour walk. Six weeks after Cooper’s arrest,
some 600 people set out east on Highway 80 in Selma, headed
toMontgomery,Alabama’scapital,toprotestthelackofvoting
rightsforBlacksinDallasCounty—andthroughouttheSouth.
Local civil rights leaders had attempted to bring attention
to their cause. But it wasn’t until organizers called in the Rev.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that the climate shifted and the
news crews arrived.
ThestoryofSelmabeginswithpeacefulprotestmarchesand
ends with the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In be-
tween, there were public beatings in the streets, the killing of
unarmed individuals and countless arrests. On March 7, 1965,
known as Bloody Sunday, marchers were stopped abruptly on
the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. Alabama state troopers
andDallasCountysheriff’sdeputiesrefusedtoallowthegroup
tocross,tramplingandbeatingpeopleintosubmission.Images
ofpolicemenonhorsebackandbillowsofthicksmokefromtear
gas made their way around the country. Those who had chosen
to ignore what was happening in the South could no longer do
so.Afterward,thelinewasdefinitivelydrawnbetweentheBlack
community and the White establishment. Interestingly, this
incredible moment and the events leading up to it had never
before been explored on the big screen.
Director Ava DuVernay takes a step forward to transform
us with this courageous new film—part MLK biopic, part his-
tory lesson, part prophesy of events that are still playing out
50 years later.
Just as the march had been interrupted, so had the momen-
tum to get Selma made. It took more than seven years, several
scripts and more than a few high-profile directors for the film
tocometofruition.Beforeitsofficialdebut,ithadreceivedfour
Golden Globe nominations, and Oscar buzz is abound. That
could be because Oprah Winfrey is tied to the project, both as
aproducerandactor.Andbecauseofafullcastofvibrantindi-
viduals who all had serendipitous stories bringing them to this
momentousproject.Butcriticsagreethatafterseeingthefilm,
you will know that the buzz has been ignited because of the
one man who is most responsible for securing Winfrey’s par-
ticipation and introducing producers to DuVernay, essentially
gettingthefilmmade.YouundoubtedlyknowDavidOyelowo’s
face, but after seeing Selma, you will remember his name.
AAA
“I said to Ava and David many times, ‘There’s
no need to worry if we’re going to go forward with
this movie. God’s got this’.” — O P R A H W I N F R E Y
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ANNIE LEE COOPER is not a name most people will recog-
nize. She was just another Black woman who arrived at the
Dallas County Courthouse in Selma, Ala., on Jan. 25, 1965,
with the intention of registering to vote. Like many in her
day, Cooper had tried to register multiple times but had been
turned away. Tensions were high and she knew the risks; on
that day, however, it didn’t matter. She’d had enough.
At the time, 51 percent of Dallas County was Black, yet
Whites comprised 99 percent of registered voters. The 54-
year-old Cooper remained undeterred. She stood in line for
hours until Sheriff James G. Clark told her to return home.
In defiant protest, she ignored his request. What happened
next varies, depending on who’s telling the story. But some
published reports say Clark responded by pushing Cooper
andwhackingheracrossthehead.Sherepliedwithafisttohis
jaw. He fell back, stunned, then beat her repeatedly with his
nightstick.AdditionalofficerspouncedonCooperwhileClark
subdued her with his club. She was arrested and charged with
assault and attempted murder yet was released 11 hours later.
Cooper died in 2010, still for the most part unknown. And
while other women such as Rosa Parks and Daisy Bates have
been recognized in very public ways, Cooper remained invis-
ible in the narrative of the movement—until now. The movie
Selma, currently in wide release, sheds light on the story of
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3. DIVINE INTERVENTION
F O R O Y E L O W O , playing King is more than just another
role.The38-year-oldclassicallytrainedBritishactorhadbeen
seen most recently playing opposite Winfrey in Lee Daniels’
The Butler and in smaller parts including the 2012 hit Lincoln
and Interstellar in 2014. But unlike any other role he’s played,
he believes it is his unshakable faith and deep spirituality as a
Christian that led him to Selma.
“At one time, the director who was attached to the script
didn’t feel I was the right person to play Dr. King. In the pre-
ceding years, another three directors came and went,” re-
counts the actor during a conversation with Winfrey and co-
star Carmen Ejogo at Harpo Studios in Chicago.
Yet, Oyelowo knew it wasn’t over. Director Lee Daniels was
eventually hired and cast him as King. Unfortunately, things
continued to stall, and Daniels eventually left the project to
work on The Butler. While the film was on hold, Oyelowo ap-
pearedinMiddleofNowhereunderDuVernay’sdirection.After
workingwithher,hesays,heimmediatelybelievedshewasthe
missing piece to the Selma puzzle.
“She came on board, and then things just started coming
together,” he says emphatically.
While preparing for the role, Oyelowo met King’s youngest
child, Bernice. She asked him what made him think he could
play her father.
“I told her I felt like I’d been preparing for this role since
my birth.”
Oyelowosaysthatatthatmoment,BerniceKing,whoisalso
a minister, prayed for him, silently giving her blessing. That
was two days before Selma began shooting.
Taking on a character such as King is a tricky thing for any
actor. The look has to be right, but not so much that it be-
comes a caricature. The vocal tone and inflection has to be
spot on, but not so much that it feels like an imitation.
Oyeloworefusedtowearprostheticstophysicallytransform
for the role, believing that movie viewers are sophisticated
enough and would be distracted by it. Instead, he added 30
pounds to his slender frame, changed his hairline slightly and
perfected the reverend’s slow and methodical baritone.
According to Oyelowo, the physical changes were second-
ary; nailing the part meant trying to uncover who King was
as a man.
“HeexhibitsinspadestheattributeIvaluemostinahuman
being,andthat’ssacrifice,”saysOyelowo.“Myfeelingwasthat
unless I tapped into who this man was spiritually, everything
else would mean nothing.”
A WOMAN OF SUBSTANCE
W I N F R E Y K N O W S something about embracing the spir-
it of a character. From Sofia in The Color Purple and Mattie
Michael in The Women of Brewster Place to Gloria Gaines in
The Butler, she has consistently played no-nonsense women
with honor, duty and strength—which is not at all very differ-
ent than who she is in real life. In addition to coming in as one
of the film’s producers (a responsibility she shares with the
Pathé company and the Plan B production company, helmed
by Brad Pitt, Jeremy Kleiner and Dede Gardner), Winfrey
plays the role of Cooper, ensuring her legacy is cemented.
Winfrey had heard about the unfinished Selma over the
years. She and Oyelowo had become very good friends on the
set of The Butler. She says the spark to get the film made was
ignited after she saw a video of Oyelowo reciting one of King’s
speeches. “I said, ‘Whoa,’ exclaims Winfrey with her eyes
widening. “Let me do whatever I can to help this film come
to fruition.”
In addition to wanting to see Oyelowo play the role he
seemed born to play, Winfrey also believed in DuVernay’s
mission to showcase both the well-known players and the
lesser-known names who were instrumental in affecting
lasting change.
“Ava wanted to make a really strong effort to show the role
that women played in the movement, Winfrey explains. “An-
nie Lee Cooper represents every
one of our grandmothers, great grandmothers, grandfa-
ther, uncles, cousins and brothers who tried, believed, cried,
prayed, wished for, desired in the deepest part of themselves
and could never imagine that one day there would be a movie
producedandstarringpeoplesuchasthemselves.IsaidtoAva
andDavidmanytimes,‘There’snoneedtoworryifwe’regoing
to go forward with this movie. God’s got this.’”
DuVernay wrote and directed the highly acclaimed 2010
film I Will Follow and became the first African-American
“He exhibits in spades the attribute I value most in a human
being, and that’s sacrifice. My feeling was that unless
I tapped into who this man was spiritually, everything else
would mean nothing.” — DAV I D O Y E L O W O
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4. “I’m an actress. Some of my favorite work has been
when I felt the most far away culturally from the experience.
It means that I can’t take anything for granted.”
— C A R M E N E J O G O
woman to win the Best Director Prize at the Sundance Film
Festival for her second feature, Middle of Nowhere, in 2012.
It seems as if she, too, with roots that deeply penetrate the
South, was called to do Selma. Her father, a native of Lowndes
County, Ala., was 9 years old when one of the marches passed
through his family’s farm.
The idea that she would be able to shoot the film in places
where her own family experienced the events in real time was
chilling for the director.
“We were in two state capitol buildings, in Alabama and
Georgia, where in 1965, Blacks were barely allowed to go
and conduct transactions,” says DuVernay. “Now you have a
Black woman director and a Black lead and a whole bunch
of Negroes running around making a movie in there? The
did my best to honor her while she was alive,”
she says. “I know she would want this story to
be shepherded in a way that really upheld the
dignityandthemagnitudeofwhatthosemonths
in Selma meant.”
THE SECOND TIME AROUND
T O T H E W O R L D , King is the epitome of
pacifism, nonviolence and a stoic resolve; we
know him as the force behind the movement.
But not much has been revealed about Martin
the man. The woman closest to him, his wife,
Coretta Scott King, walked hand-in-hand with
herhusbandonMarch25,1965,duringthethird
(and first successful) attempt at completing
the march from Selma to Montgomery. He was
36 years old, and she was 37. After 12 years of
marriage, they were the parents of four small
children. But by then, King was often away from
home for long periods of time and had become
somewhat estranged from his family.
Playing Mrs. King is British actress Ejogo, 41,
who first portrayed her in HBO’s 2001 Boycott.
In that film, the actress performed opposite
her real-life husband, Jeffrey Wright, depicting
King’s wife at the beginning of their marriage.
InSelma,shehastherareopportunitytoresume
the role at a different point in Mrs. King’s life.
During the early months of 1965, the couple was
inthethickofamovementpoisedtochangeAmerica,butthey
were also managing a low point in their relationship because
ofrumors,whichwerelaterconfirmed—andevidencedbyFBI
wiretaps—of King’s infidelity.
“By the time we get to Selma, things were relentless for
them. Martin and Coretta were really quite masterful at
maintaining and projecting a certain image to the public,”
says Ejogo. “What went on behind their closed doors is far
more mysterious than with other couples in history. Part of
thechallengewasfiguringoutexactlywhothesepeoplewere.”
Known for her roles in 2012’s Sparkle and 2014’s The Purge:
Anarchy, Ejogoaced her audition with DuVernay, who admits
shehadnotseentheactress’spreviousportrayalofMrs.King.
In fact, it was the star’s small role in a 2005 TV production
knowledgeofwhatweweredoingandthegroundthatwewere
standing on was really present with us every day we shot.”
Talk to any one of the Selma cast or crew members, and
there is one word that frequently pops up: responsibility. The
importance of getting it “right” weighed on everyone’s mind,
particularly because many of the complex characters are real
people, some of whom are still alive today, such as U.S. Rep.
JohnLewis,formerU.N.AmbassadorAndrewYoungandcivil
rights pioneer Diane Nash. It was vital to DuVernay’s vision
that these icons be represented in an authentic way.
Winfrey also felt the haunting connection between the past
and the present. The minute she signed on to the project, she
contacted the King family to reassure them that the story was
in good hands. “I was very good friends with Mrs. King and
of Lackawanna Blues that made the director take notice of
Ejogo’s acting vulnerability.
Some will question why two British-born actors with Nige-
rian heritage are playing the most lauded African-American
couple in history. Ejogo’s answer is simple: “The more I think
about it, the more I feel like there is no explanation needed.
I’m an actress. Some of my favorite work has been when I felt
the most far away culturally from the experience,” she says. “It
means that I can’t take anything for granted. I have to actu-
allygraspwhatthismomentinhistoryisaboutbecauseIdidn’t
learnitinschool.Insomeways,Ihadtodothreetimesasmuch
work as somebody who is actually from here.”
MANY BRIDGES TO CROSS
FOR THOSE WHO are too young to remember the Civil Rights
Movement, Selma is the kind of film that becomes a timeless
reference. It is indicative of where we were as a community and
a precursor to where we are headed. There are correlations to
events that have played out recently in our biggest news sto-
ries—namely, the repeal of voting rights, the constant disre-
spect of the nation’s first Black president, the civil unrest in
Ferguson, Mo., and the numerous protests nationwide spurred
by the decision not to indict a New York Police Department of-
ficer after the chokehold death of Eric Garner. Although many
responses to injustices today are often reactionary, the film
highlights how daily survival with constant victimization such
asJimCrowlawswasanadditionalmotivationfortheintensity
of the civil unrest the nation experienced 50 years ago.
“Selma is an invitation to explore within ourselves what dig-
nityandpersonalpowermeanstous;whatweareorarenotdo-
ing to better our world,” explains DuVernay. “Just because we
aren’t living in that time doesn’t mean that we’re not required
to do more to help the next guy.”
UnderDuVernay’swatchfuleye,Winfrey,OyelowoandEjogo
skillfully provide evocative, authentic portrayals set in an in-
tensecontextthatwillleaveyouinawe.Thegoalistowalkaway
not feeling weighed down by the past but enlightened by what
todoforthefuture—toencourageustostandupforwhat’sright
with a rebellious spirit, as Annie Lee Cooper once did.
“One of the most important things that we can do as story-
tellersandfilmmakersistotellthestoryofwhoweareandwho
we’ve been,” explains Winfrey. “And allow people to see this in
such a way in that they feel strengthened and inspired by it.”
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