David Oyelowo talks about what drew him to Lawmen: Bass Reeves

Taylor Sheridan – But star David Oyelowo wishes people had done more to promote the real Bass Reeves and hopes this show makes up for that a little bit. The series is based on a real-life law officer who went from being a slave to being one of the first black U.S. deputy marshals after the Civil War (not to mention his lush mustache). But since history classes are like that (and when it comes to who he supports), there’s a good chance you’ve never actually heard of him. Don’t expect “Barbie 2: Plastic Boogaloo” or any of Margot Robbie’s other pun-based sequels. Oyelowo certainly didn’t know about Bass Reeves until around 2014, when he first became aware of the idea for a TV show or movie. He said this in a recent conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, saying that one of the things that fascinated him about this man’s story was that “he’s still unknown.” Oyelowo certainly didn’t, at least not until 2014 or so when the idea of a Bass Reeves TV show or movie first came to his attention. That’s what he told The Hollywood Reporter in a recent chat, saying that one of the things that drew him to this man’s story was that “he wasn’t more widely known.” Oyelowo said he hadn’t seen a movie or a show about Reeves, so he developed an “obsession with rectifying that in some way.” If Reeves had been white, Oyelowo argues, “there would be monuments, there would be multiple movies, there would be graphic novels, everyone would be dressed up as hime for Halloween.”