{"id":70262,"date":"2014-10-24T15:10:08","date_gmt":"2014-10-24T15:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/0de2709a84.nxcli.net\/0-kjasnb\/2014\/10\/24\/exclusive-first-pic-of-tessa-thompson-common-from-ava-duvernays-mlk-biopic-selma\/"},"modified":"2018-12-18T03:56:26","modified_gmt":"2018-12-18T03:56:26","slug":"exclusive-first-pic-of-tessa-thompson-common-from-ava-duvernays-mlk-biopic-selma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/exclusive-first-pic-of-tessa-thompson-common-from-ava-duvernays-mlk-biopic-selma\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive: First Pic Of Tessa Thompson, Common From Ava DuVernay’s MLK Biopic ‘Selma’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exclusive: First Pic Of Tessa Thompson, Common\u00a0From Ava DuVernay’s MLK Biopic ‘Selma’<\/strong>Posted by Wilson Morales<\/p>\n

October 24, 2014<\/p>\n

\"Tessa<\/a>Blackfilm.com has been provided with two images, a look at Tessa Thompson<\/strong> as Diane Nash<\/strong> and Common<\/strong> as James Bevel <\/strong>as well as\u00a0a pic\u00a0illustrating the\u00a0course of the film,<\/strong>\u00a0from Paramount’s upcoming\u00a0MLK film\u00a0‘Selma<\/strong>,’ which will have a limited release in the U.S. on Christmas day (Dec. 25) and will open wide on January 9, 2015.<\/p>\n

Directed by Ava DuVernay<\/strong> (\u201cMIDDLE OF NOWHERE\u201d), \u201cSELMA<\/strong>\u201d 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 real 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.<\/p>\n

\"SELMA\"<\/a>The film stars David Oyelowo<\/strong> as Martin Luther King Jr., Tom Wilkinson<\/strong> as Lyndon Baines Johnson, Carmen Ejogo<\/strong> as Coretta Scott King, Andre Holland<\/strong> as Andrew Young, Omar J. Dorsey <\/strong>as James Orange, Alessandro Nivola<\/strong> as John Doar, Dylan Baker <\/strong>as J. Edgar Hoover, Giovanni Ribisi <\/strong>as Lee White, Common<\/strong> as James Bevel, Tessa Thompson<\/strong> as Diane Nash, Colman Domingo<\/strong> as Ralph Abernathy, Stephen Root <\/strong>as Al Lingo, Jeremy Strong <\/strong>as James Reeb, with Tim Roth <\/strong>as George Wallace, and Oprah Winfrey <\/strong>as Annie Lee Cooper.<\/p>\n

Nash was a founding member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)<\/strong> in April 1960. She who also played a key role in bringing\u00a0Martin Luther King Jr.<\/strong> to Montgomery, AL, in support of the Freedom Riders. She was sentenced to two years in prison for teaching nonviolent tactics to children in Jackson, MS. She was later released on appeal. Nash played a major role in the Birmingham de-segregation campaign of 1963 and the Selma Voting Rights Campaign of 1965.<\/p>\n

\"SELMA\"<\/a>According to Wikipedia<\/a>, Bevel was \u201ca leader of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement who, as the Director of Direct Action and Director of Nonviolent Education of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) initiated, strategized, directed, and developed SCLC\u2019s three major successes of the era: the 1963 Birmingham Children\u2019s Crusade, the 1965 Selma Voting Rights Movement, and the 1966 Chicago Open Housing Movement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nash and Bevel were married to each other for seven years and had two children.<\/p>\n

\"Diane<\/a><\/p>\n

Distributed by Paramount Pictures and Path\u00e9, the film is being produced by Oprah Winfrey<\/strong>, Plan B, the producers of the Academy Award\u00ae-winning \u201cTWELVE YEARS A SLAVE,\u201d and Cloud Eight Films\u2019 Academy Award\u00ae-winning Christian Colson<\/strong> (\u201c127 HOURS,\u201d \u201cSLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE\u201d).<\/p>\n

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