After a summer season of blockbusters, the fall ushers in several thought-provoking and inspirational stories, case in point, the 2025 new movie, Sarah’s Oil.
Sarah’s Oil is based on the true story of Sarah Rector, a young girl who remarkably beat the odds and became one of the very few African-American millionaires in the US during the 1900s. Intrigued to learn more?
Here’s everything we know about Sarah’s Oil.
Sarah’s Oil release date
Sarah’s Oil premieres in movie theaters in the US on November 7. Its release date means it will go up against Glen Powell’s The Running Man and Russell Crowe’s Nuremberg.
We don’t have a confirmed release date for Sarah’s Oil in the UK at this time, but as we get more information, we’ll pass along the update.
Sarah’s Oil cast
Starring as the titular character Sarah is young actress, Naya Desir-Johnson. In her blooming career, she’s appeared in an episode of Pose and The Equalizer, among other things.
Desir-Johnson stars opposite Zachary Levi. The Shazam! actor is well-known to TV and movie audiences, because in addition to portraying a superhero, he’s starred in other things like Chuck, Tangled, Thor: The Dark World and Spy Kids: Armageddon.
Helping to round out the Sarah’s Oil cast are Sonequa Martin-Green (Star Trek: Discovery), Garret Dillahunt (High Potential), Mel Rodriguez (The Residence), Kenric Green (The Walking Dead) and Bridget Regan (The Rookie).
Sarah’s Oil plot
Sarah’s Oil was inspired by Tonya Bolden’s Searching for Sarah Rector: The Richest Black Girl in America. Here is a synopsis of the script penned by Betsy Giffen Nowrasteh & Cyrus Nowrasteh:
“Sarah’s Oil is the remarkable true story of Sarah Rector, an African-American girl born in Oklahoma Indian Territory in the early 1900s, who believes there is oil beneath the barren land she’s allotted and whose faith is proven right. As greedy oil sharks close in, Sarah turns to her family, friends, and some Texas wildcatters to maintain control of her oil-rich land, eventually becoming among the nation’s first female African-American millionaires — at eleven years old.”
Sarah’s Oil trailer
Check out the trailer for the inspirational film below.
Sarah’s Oil director
Cyrus Nowrasteh pulled double duty for Sarah’s Oil, both writing and directing. Here’s a list of his full-feature directing credits.
- Veiled Threat (1989)
- The Island (1998)
- The Stoning of Soraya M. (2008)
- The Young Messiah (2016)
- Infidel (2019)
Sarah’s Oil behind the scenes
In an interesting footnote, Sarah’s Oil is executive produced by superstar couple Russell Wilson and his wife, Ciara. Wilson is a Super-Bowl-winning quarterback while Ciara is a Grammy-winning musician. Tony Young, Katelyn Botsch, Robert Scott Fort and Sherry Kang also join Wilson and Ciara as executive producers.
