--- description: The Oscar-contender stars David Oyelowo and Oprah Winfrey title: Watch the First Trailer for Martin Luther King Jr. Film 'Selma' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Watch the First Trailer for Martin Luther King Jr. Film _Selma_  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Nov 7, 2014 2:00 AM CUT  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Nov 7, 2014 2:00 AM CUT Here’s the first glimpse at the much-anticipated _Selma_, which follows Martin Luther King Jr. as he leads the long, harrowing march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965 to campaign for equal voting rights. Originally Lee Daniels was slated to direct the film but dropped out to focus on 2013’s _The Butler_. Brad Pitt’s Plan B production company, which produced _12 Years a Slave_, tapped Ava DuVernay, the director behind the 2012 Sundance indie _Middle of Nowhere_, to take his place. David Oyelowo plays Dr. King. In the high-intensity trailer, we also get glimpses of performances from Cuba Gooding Jr., Common, Wendell Pierce, Tim Roth as well as Oprah (who is also a producer on the film). _Selma_ will be released on Christmas Day, just in time to be considered for the Oscars. But it won’t get a wide release until 2015, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3570944/martin-luther-king-jr-film-selma-trailer/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3570944/martin-luther-king-jr-film-selma-trailer/"},"headline":"Watch the First Trailer for Martin Luther King Jr. Film Selma","datePublished":"2014-11-07T02:00:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:17:48.433Z","description":"The Oscar-contender stars David Oyelowo and Oprah Winfrey","url":"https://time.com/3570944/martin-luther-king-jr-film-selma-trailer/","keywords":["movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3570944/martin-luther-king-jr-film-selma-trailer/","name":"Watch the First Trailer for Martin Luther King Jr. Film Selma"}}]}] ```