- The film is is based on the true story of gay civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, who helped Martin Luther King Jr. and others organize the 1963 March on Washington.
- In February 2021, it was reported that George C. Wolfe would direct a film based on the life of Bayard Rustin from a script by Julian Breece and Dustin Lance Black.
- Rustin premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on August 31, 2023, and was for the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival on September 13, 2023. The film was released in select theaters on November 3, 2023, before its streaming release on November 17, 2023, by Netflix.
- The film will receive the Icon & Creator Tribute for Social Justice at the 2023 Gotham Awards.