News: David Oyelowo on playing Martin Luther King Jr. in the Oscar bait film "Selma," Ebola hysteria & racism in Hollywood

The talented British actor discusses playing a complex terrorist in the new film Default, his awards bait turn as Martin Luther King (MLK) in the upcoming biopic Selma, and his long road to the top.

No disrespect to Ben Affleck, but 2014 is the year of David Oyelowo. After years of cutting his teeth on the British stage and small screen, the 38-year-old actor has reached the Hollywood summit, starring in five films released during the packed awards season months.

There’s his secretive role as an astronaut in Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi blockbuster Interstellar; his turn in J.C. Chandor’s New York crime drama A Most Violent Year; as Nina Simone’s manager, Clifton Henderson, in the biopic Nina; and, of course, his portrayal of the late, great Martin Luther King, Jr. in Ava DuVernay’s MLK biopic Selma, which traces the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches led by Dr. King.

The first film to feature Oyelowo is Simon Brand’s thriller Default, in theaters Oct. 17. He stars as Atlas, the purported leader of a group of Somali terrorists who hijack a plane and take the news crew onboard hostage as it departs from the Seychelles. What follows is a battle of wits between the so-called “pirates” and journalists onboard, and we soon learn that Atlas isn’t at all what he seems. The movie is shot found-footage-style, a la The Blair Witch Project, was filmed in just three weeks in a studio-warehouse outside of L.A., and tackles the very relevant theme of the convoluted relationship between terrorists and the media.

In a wide-ranging conversation, The Daily Beast spoke to Oyelowo about his myriad projects, the media’s perception of terrorists, preparing for the role of his life in Dr. King, and why black actors are rewarded for playing the victim.

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Culled from Daily Beast