RUMOR MILL
Monday, January 19, 2015
A BETTER DAY IN SELMA
Filmmakers, Artists, Dignitaries Return to Site of Crucial Civil-Rights Confrontation
On Sunday, cast and creators of Best Picture Oscar nominee Selma returned to the Alabama bridge where the film's most violent confrontation takes place. The historic showdown between civil-rights marchers, led by Martin Luther King Jr., and white authorities was a bloody, watershed moment in the struggle for black enfranchisement and resulted in President Johnson signing the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
At Sunday's event, stars David Oyelowo, Oprah Winfrey (also a co-producer) and Common, director Ava DuVernay and two of the film's producers joined local dignitaries (including Selma Mayor George Evans), clergy, activists, media and well-wishers to relive the march and discuss its legacy.
"Every single person who was on that bridge is a hero," told the assembled marchers.
Common and John Legend performed the Golden Globe-winning, Oscar-nominated song "Glory" from the film; Legend also delivered a stirring rendition of the very apt "Bridge Over Troubled Water."
Two free screenings of the film are being held today at the Selma Walton Theater.
