Guy Pearce, Mary-Louise Parker, Rachel Griffiths & More Will Star In Gay Rights Miniseries When We Rise

A few weeks ago screenwriter Dustin Lance Black was talking about how much he was going to miss fiance Tom Daley while he was away helping make make the planned gay-right mini-series, When We Rise. However, while it seems shooting was imminent, no cast had been announced on the Gus Van Sant directed show.

Now that’s changed, as it’s been announced that the ABC backed even series will feature the likes of Guy Pearce, Mary-Louise Parker, Rachel Griffiths, Austin McKenzie, Emily Skeggs, Jonathan Majors, and Fiona Dourif.

Variety reports that the show, ‘chronicles the personal and political struggles, setbacks and triumphs of a diverse family of LGBT men and women who helped pioneer one of the last legs of the U.S. Civil Rights movement from its turbulent infancy in the 20th century to the once unfathomable successes of today. The period piece tells the history of the gay rights movement, starting with the Stonewall Riots in 1969.

Pearce will star as LGBT activist Cleve Jones, who joined the gay liberation movement in 1972 and was befriended by pioneer gay rights leader Harvey Milk. He founded the Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt and led the National March for Equality in 2009. Parker will play women’s rights leader Roma Guy, who co-founded the San Francisco Women’s Building, and as a public health commissioner worked with others to bring healthcare access to all San Franciscans. Griffiths will play her wife, social justice activist Diane, who joined the Women’s Movement in the 1970s in San Francisco, co-founded the Women’s Building and has worked as an HIV/AIDS nurse and social justice activist at San Francisco General Hospital for 33 years.’

The series reunites Gus Van Sant and Dustin Lance Black after the Oscar winning success of Milk. Van Sant will also direct the two-hour first episode, both will also produce the other seven episodes.

Black comments, “It’s been the honor of my life to research and craft these stories of family, diversity and equality over the past three years. To have collaborators of this caliber sign on to help bring these stories to life is a tremendous vote of confidence, and I hope a testament to the relevancy and necessity of our continued march toward justice for all.”