Actor and producer David Oyelowo gained significant recognition for his portrayal of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Ava DuVernay’s 2014 film Selma. Prior to this standout role, he memorably played blues legend Muddy Waters in the 2008 film Who Do You Love? Most recently, Oyelowo starred in the film Role Play, alongside Kaley Cuoco and Bill Nighy, which premiered in January, 2024. He can also currently be seen as the groundbreaking historical figure Bass Reeves on The Paramount+ series Lawmen: Bass Reeves.
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For his Treat, Oyelowo shines a spotlight on DuVernay's latest project, Origin. It’s a film which delves into the real life of journalist Isabel Wilkerson, played by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, as she writes her groundbreaking 2020 book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. For her efforts, Wikerson received the National Book Award for nonfiction. Calling the film “a masterpiece,” Oyelowo emphasizes its profound exploration of the Black experience, shedding light on the constructed concept of race and its use for societal control.
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This segment has been edited and condensed for clarity.
I remember Ava sending me the book, me reading it, and knowing that she wanted to make it into a film. I did Selma with Ava a few years ago. I know her to be a transcendent filmmaker. I have to admit, I really doubted that this is something that was makeable as a film, but I know her, and she was determined and she forged ahead. And she sent me a script, one of the earliest scripts, and she had cracked it.
I could tell she had cracked it. But still, you know, what is this going to be as a movie? And I saw the film recently and I have to say, as a Black person whose work… I try to make my work be about the contextualization of the Black experience, but for her to take this notion of race and develop that notion [into a] conversation beyond race. [To] take it into caste and to show it as something that is manufactured, something that is imposed upon us for the sake of control as opposed to it being a fact of birth, and how that has been used over time over history in [global] politics. It demonstrates and illustrates why we are where we are right now.
ORIGIN Official Trailer (2023) Trailer
It's a masterwork, I truly believe that to be the case. And it is something that once you watch it, you just can't stop thinking about it. Because everywhere you look, in turn, is an extension, a contextualization of what that film is about. And that is very rare.
To adapt a book for cinema is always a tricky task. And that's when it is something that lends itself to great characters, great storytelling. This doesn't do that. This is kind of an intellectual exercise around a very politicized part of our lives. So out of the gate, you're like, 'Ah, this is divisive. This is something that is controversial, off putting.’ The writer is also [in a] process of trying to explain something that is pretty inexplicable without a book [as] dense [as Caste is] to take you through. It goes into dense history. It goes into circumstances and situations that are very specific to the countries, to the politics of the place and time. So parsing all of that out and being able to pare it away enough for me to tether myself to a protagonist and feel like I've been told a story — that's a really tough needle to thread.
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by American journalist Isabel Wilkerson explores racism in the United States through the lens of a caste system—a societal structure marked by hierarchy, inclusion/exclusion dynamics, and notions of purity. Photo credit: Random House