Steve McQueen's Twelve Years A Slave

[Sgt.Pepper]

Steve McQueen is prepping his next feature film Twelve Years A Slave with Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael Fassbender on-board the project.

Plot:

Northup was a married and educated free black man living in New York when two men approached him with a job offer in Washington. When he showed up in D.C., he was kidnapped and put in a slave pen, paving the way to his grueling life under numerous owners.

It's great that now McQueen and Ejiofor will work together, as they were trying to collaborate before. What more should I say except that I'm excited for this project.

[Ultra Lantern]

This movie looks interesting.I'll see it when it comes out.

[Sgt.Pepper]

Brad Pitt Joins Twelve Years of Slave
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplayli...ichael_fassben

This is an interesting pairing. Adding Pitt to the cast increases my anticipation for the film.

[Crockett]

Just by these three actors onboard my anticipation is sky high. McQueen is a director to always keep your eye on after Hunger and now Shame, he's destined to be an even greater director than he is currently.

[ttotheusher]

McQueen, Fassbender, Ejiofor and Pitt in the same movie? Count me in. Ticket's already bought in my mind.

[Duke]

Great casting & good movie plot, count me in!!

[Octoberist]

This is why I love Pitt especially now. He's in his indie stage as of late, something that I wish Depp would do more often.

[Crockett]

Full synopsis and promo poster.

Based on a true story, 12 YEARS A SLAVE is a riveting account of a free black man kidnapped from New York and sold into brutal slavery in mid-1850s Louisiana, and the inspiring story of his desperate struggle to return home to his family.

SOLOMON NORTHUP (Chiwtel Ejiofor), an educated black man with a gift for music, lives with his wife and children in Saratoga, New York. One day, when his family is out of town, he is approached by two men claiming to be circus promoters. Solomon agrees to travel with them briefly, playing the fiddle while they perform. But after sharing a drink with the men, he awakens to find he has been drugged and bound and faces a horrifying reality: he is being shipped to the South as a slave.

No one listens to Solomon’s claim that he has papers proving his status as a free man. Despairing, he plots his escape, only to be foiled at every turn. He is sold to WILLIAM FORD, a kindly mill owner who appreciates Solomon’s thoughtful nature. But Ford is forced to sell him to a cruel master who subjects him and other slaves to unspeakable brutality. For years, Solomon nurtures his dreams of returning home. He stashes slips of stolen paper in his fiddle and develops a natural ink with which to write a letter. But when his greatest efforts come to nothing, he realizes just how trapped he is. Even if he could write the letter without being caught, where would he send it? Whom could he trust to deliver it? And will he even survive long enough to be rescued?

Refusing to abandon hope, Solomon watches helplessly as those around him succumb to violence, crushing emotional abuse and hopelessness. He realizes that he will have to take incredible risks, and depend on the most unlikely people, if he is ever to regain his freedom and be reunited with his family.

http://collider.com/12-years-a-slave...nopsis/124115/

[Golgo-13]

^Great synopsis. Great cast. I'm in.

[Asgard]

Damn. Sounds brutal.

[MessiahDecoy123]

You know what this movie needs... Some Jamie Foxx.

[Sgt.Pepper]

Awesome that it's set to release next year. I'm overly excited for this film.

[Blackman]

Sounds amazing

[protocida]

Sounds great.

[Sgt.Pepper]

Pariah Star Adepero Oduye In-Talks For Twelve Years A Slave

The Playlist has learned that the "Pariah" star is now in negotiations for the female lead in Steve McQueen's "Twelve Years A Slave." Financing for the pic is firming up and it will be yet another bold drama from the British filmmaker. Based on a true story, the plot follows Solomon Northup (Ejiofor), a free black man tricked into slavery by a pair of men posing as circus promoters, then transported south to Louisiana, where he's forced to live out his predicament alongside a plantation owner (Fassbender). After Northup is able to send word of his condition home to his wife (Oduye's role we presume), she hires a Northern lawyer (Pitt) to fight for her husband's freedom.

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplayli...ender-20120416

I haven't seen Pariah yet but I've heard nothing but great things about the film and especially Oduye's performance. And since the film impressed McQueen, I might have to watch it soon.

[Wolfwood]

I'm still not used to seeing Steve McQueen's name pop up. My first thought is never of the director lol. Anyways, sounds like a great film. Probably going to be pretty hard and brutal to watch.

[I SEE SPIDEY]

Originally Posted by Wolfwood

I'm still not used to seeing Steve McQueen's name pop up. My first thought is never of the director lol.

Agreed.

[darkseid26]

Excited.

[Jheri Curl]

McQueen's a skilled craftsman, but he needs to make sure the story/narrative development is as riveting as any acting or shot composition, lest the film become some stately and elegant but somewhat narratively inert evocation of conditions during slavery (I already see how he could effectively show the squalor and suffering using Hunger's approach). I found Shame a complete step back from Hunger, and if he continues in that direction, Django Unchained will completely embarrass this film.

[tzarinna]

I don't think I can watch this. I'm all f'd up just from reading the synopsis.

[EML420]

I like Fassbender an McQueen team but man this does sound like its going to be tough.

[Sgt.Pepper]

Paul Dano Joins Steve McQueen's Twelve Years A Slave

EXCLUSIVE: Paul Dano has joined the cast of Twelve Years A Slave, the Steve McQueen-directed adaptation of Solomon Northup’s novel about a free black man who, promised a job playing violin in the circus, is drugged and dragged to Louisiana and sold into slavery. Dano will play one of the slave owners who brutalize him. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender and Brad Pitt also star for New Regency.

http://www.deadline.com/2012/05/paul...years-a-slave/

[MessiahDecoy123]

This cast is really shaping up for something great.

I'm hoping it will be thought provoking and powerful like Schindler's List.

.

[darkseid26]

Yeah, pretty nice cast.

[The Morningstar]

Originally Posted by Octoberist

This is why I love Pitt especially now. He's in his indie stage as of late, something that I wish Depp would do more often.

He does need to. I really loved that film he did with Jim Jarmusch a few years back, Dead Man. He should do more films like that.

Anyway anything McQueen does and i'll be there. Phenominal director, it's no surprise more and more stars are lining up to work with him.