Origin film 2024: cast of Ava Duvernay’s biographical drama movie, release date, is it based on a book?

Origin is a biopic about American Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author Isabel Wilkerson as she embarks on a huge investigation into racism in America and internationally in the process of writing her landmark non-fiction book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.

Following the shooting of Trayvon Martin in 2012, Wilkerson delves into the concept of race and caste - she explores the caste system in India and the racial laws of Germany in the 1930s which subjugated the Jews before the Holocaust.

During her time working on her book, Wilkerson loses many people close to her, but perseveres with her task, eventually publishing the book ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

Is there a trailer for Origin?

Yes, watch it here:

Who is in the cast of Origin?

• Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor as Isabel Wilkerson
• Jon Bernthal as Brett Hamilton
• Niecy Nash as Marion Wilkerson
• Emily Yancy as Ruby Wilkerson
• Finn Wittrock as August Landmesser
• Victoria Pedretti as Irma Eckler
• Jasmine Cephas Jones as Elizabeth Davis
• Isha Blaaker as Allison Davis
• Vera Farmiga as Kate
• Audra McDonald as Miss Hale
• Connie Nielsen as Sabine
• Blair Underwood as Amari Selvan
• Stephanie March as Binky
• Myles Frost as Trayvon Martin
• Donna Mills as Mrs. Copeland
• Franz Hartwig as Erich Kastner
• Daniel Lommatzsch as Joseph Goebbels
• Gaurav J. Pathania as B. R. Ambedkar

Is Origin based on a book?

Rather than being based on a book, Origin tells the story of the creation of one - it follows Isabel Wilkerson as she researches and writes Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. 

The book spent more than a year on the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list, and reached number one on the list in November 2020, the month of the US Presidential Election in which Joe Biden defeated incumbent Donald Trump.

Caste was nominated for several awards, winning the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in the Current Interest category, and the Goodreads Choice Award in the category of History and Biography.

When is the release date of Origin in the UK?

Origin premiered at the Venice Film Festival last year and was nominated for the Golden Lion, the festival’s highest prize. The film will be released in UK cinemas on Friday March 8.

Origin is not currently available to stream in the UK and is arriving exclusively in cinemas. A streaming release date has not been confirmed.