Oscar nominee Colman Domingo can now get used to the party. The actor, nominated in 2024 for the film Rustin, which is a biopic about Martin Luther King Jr.’s main advisor, Bayard Rustin, whose participation in the fight for Civil Rights was erased due to prejudice because he was gay, is already with no less than TWO others biographical roles, which will certainly highlight your career.

According to what he spoke to Variety magazine, Colman is in the cast of the highly anticipated biopic about Michael Jackson, directed by Antoine Fuqua. In Michael, Colman will play the role of Joe Jackson, the patriarch of the Jacksons and their children’s manager for much of their career. There are histories of physical and psychological abuse by the father on his children, especially Michael, so he plays an essential role in the narrative that promises to be transparent about the King of Pop’s childhood.

The other project is even more significant. According to what he told the magazine, Colman has been working in secret for years on the project of bringing the life of iconic singer Nat King Cole to film. He not only wrote the script but he will direct the musical, making his debut in this chair.

Nat King Cole‘s life has great relevance for black music and culture in the United States, he is also considered one of the most popular and influential of the 20th century. Born 105 years ago, in March 1919, in Alabama, he was the son of a pastor and initiated into music in the church. Growing up in Chicago, he played piano from an early age, so unsurprisingly pursued a career as a pianist playing jazz. In 1937, he got a job in a jazz quartet in Hollywood, but when the drummer gave up appearing, the now famous Nat King Cole Trio was born, creating a different style at the time (piano, guitar, and bass only) that would have contributed to what came to be known as ‘swing’.

The reference to King would have been a joke by a man in the audience who would have placed a hat on the pianist’s head, consecrating him, and the joke simply stuck. He became ‘King Cole’. On the same night, the singer was born. Someone in the audience asked them to sing Sweet Lorraine and unbelievably he would have replied that “we don’t sing”, but as the tips were good, Nat tried. We can only imagine people’s reactions upon hearing that inimitable and, pardon the joke, unforgettable voice for the first time. The trio’s first successful recording was the delightful Straighten Up and Fly Right in 1943, but Nature Boy made them a worldwide success.

Although he was quickly adored worldwide, Nat suffered, like all black Americans, racial discrimination. Even though he was rich and famous, he was not accepted in white neighborhoods and was famously attacked on stage at a performance in Alabama. When the singer returned to the stage he received a 10-minute standing ovation. His dedication to the Civil Rights cause was considered too soft by some, but he is against celebrities using their fame to “talk too much when there should be more activity and less talk.”

Nat King Cole recorded more than 100 chart-topping songs in music history and sold more than 50 million records, while also being the first African-American host on TV, on a show that only aired for just over a year. because “national advertisers wouldn’t support a black person”, as he revealed at the time.

The star’s health, however, was never stable. Due to an acute ulcer, he needed urgent surgery and lost half of his stomach. A heavy smoker, he had lung cancer that would take his life at the age of 36.

Colman Domingo did not go into detail about how he will approach the singer’s story in his film, but he had already used the life of Nat King Cole in a play he co-wrote, Lights Out: Nat ‘King’ Cole, with Patricia McGregor. In this text, he tried to imagine the behind-the-scenes of the singer’s TV show, especially the recording of the 1957 Christmas special on “The Nat King Cole Show”, which marked his debut.

In any case, 2024 is already the year of the Walking Dead and Euphoria star. In addition to his praised performance in Rusty, he was executive producer of the horror film It’s What’s Inside, which is coming to Netflix, and is in the cast of the films Drive-Away Dolls, by Ethan Coen, and Sing Sing, by Greg Kewdar. Although his chances of winning the Oscar this year are remote (it is announced for Robert Downey Jr. in Oppenheimer), he will certainly be a constant figure at the Academy party. It’s just beginning!

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