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Chiwetel Ejiofor stars as Solomon Northup. Supporting roles are portrayed by Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Garret Dillahunt, Paul Giamatti, Scoot McNairy, Lupita Nyong'o, Adepero Oduye, Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt, Michael Kenneth Williams, and Alfre Woodard.
- Twelve Years a Slave
Twelve Years a Slave is an 1853 memoir and slave narrative...
- Samuel Bass
Samuel Bass (1807–1853) was a white Canadian abolitionist...
- Cotton Worms
Alabama argillacea, the cotton leafworm or cotton worm, is a...
- Christopher Berry
Christopher Shane Berry is an American character actor best...
- Patsey
Patsey (c. 1830–after 1863) was an African-American enslaved...
- Twelve Years a Slave
12 Years a Slave (2013) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more.
Nov 8, 2013 · 12 Years a Slave: Directed by Steve McQueen. With Chiwetel Ejiofor, Dwight Henry, Dickie Gravois, Bryan Batt. In the antebellum United States, Solomon Northup, a free Black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery.
- (742K)
- Biography, Drama, History
- Steve McQueen
- 2013-11-08
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- Overview
- Production notes and credits
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- Academy Award nominations (* denotes win)
12 Years a Slave, American dramatic film, released in 2013, that impressed critics and audiences with its harrowing depiction of slavery in the antebellum South. The movie won the BAFTA Award and the Academy Award for best picture as well as the Golden Globe Award for best drama. Based on the autobiographical narrative (1853) of Solomon Northup, the film chronicles the grueling experiences of slavery and the dehumanizing effects of human bondage on everyone involved.
The film opens with the enslaved Solomon Northup (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor) in a sugarcane field with other slaves and then tells Northup’s story in an extended flashback. Northup was born a freeman in New York. He is married with two children and is an accomplished violinist. Two men (Scoot McNairy, Taran Killam) entice him to Washington, D.C., with the promise of a high-paid job playing music in a circus of sorts. They drug him and deliver him to a slave pen, from which he is shipped to New Orleans and sold by a slave trader (Paul Giamatti) as a runaway slave named Platt to a relatively kind plantation owner, Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch). Northup incurs the enmity of Ford’s slave handler, Tibeats (Paul Dano). Tibeats arranges to have Northup lynched, but Ford’s overseer, Chapin (J.D. Evermore), stops the lynching moments before Northup is actually hanged. Because of Tibeats’s hostility, Ford sells Northup to Epps (Michael Fassbender), a particularly vicious and alcoholic plantation owner.
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On Epps’s plantation, Northup becomes friends with another slave, Patsey (Lupita Nyong’o). Epps pays particular attention to Patsey, often expressing his obsession by raping her, and his jealous wife (Sarah Paulson) frequently attacks her. At one point, Epps decides that Patsey has earned punishment, and he forces Northup to whip her. Northup’s repeated attempts to regain his freedom finally yield success when Bass (Brad Pitt), a Canadian abolitionist working as a hired hand for Epps, is convinced that Northup’s story is true and alerts the authorities in Northup’s hometown of Saratoga Springs, New York. A sheriff arrives with a neighbour of Northup’s from Saratoga, and he is released.
Northup’s memoir was researched and verified by American researchers Sue Eakin and Joseph Logsdon, and they published an annotated edition of the book in 1968. Director Steve McQueen had already expressed interest in making a film about slavery in the United States when Northup’s book was brought to his attention. McQueen was the first black producer and the first black director of a movie that won the Oscar for best picture. Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong’o made her feature film debut in 12 Years a Slave, and she won the Oscar for best supporting actress for her portrayal of Patsey.
•Studios: Regency Enterprises, River Road Entertainment, Plan B Entertainment, and New Regency Pictures
•Director: Steve McQueen
•Writers: John Ridley (screenplay), Solomon Northup (memoir)
•Music: Hans Zimmer
•Chiwetel Ejiofor (Solomon Northup)
•Scoot McNairey (Brown)
•Taran Killam (Hamilton)
•Paul Giamatti (Freeman, the slave trader)
•Benedict Cumberbatch (Ford)
•Paul Dano (Tibeats)
•Picture*
•Lead actor (Chiwetel Ejiofor)
•Supporting actor (Michael Fassbender)
•Supporting actress* (Lupita Nyong’o)
•Costume design
•Directing
- Pat Bauer
Eliza. Scoot McNairy. Brown. Paul Giamatti. Theophilus Freeman. Brad Pitt. Samuel Bass. Michael Kenneth Williams. Robert. Alfre Woodard. Mistress Shaw. Chris Chalk. Clemens. Taran Killam. Hamilton. Bill Camp. Radburn. Kelsey Scott. Anne Northup. Bryan Batt. Judge Turner. Quvenzhané Wallis. Margaret Northup. Garret Dillahunt.
12 Years a Slave garnered awards and nominations in a variety of categories with particular praise for its direction, screenplay and the acting of its cast. At the 86th Academy Awards , the film received nine nominations including Best Picture and Best Director for McQueen; it went on to win three awards: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay ...
A young female slave named Patsey (Lupita Nyong'o) daily picks over 500 pounds and is praised lavishly by Epps, who also repeatedly sexually assaults her. Epps' wife (Sarah Paulson) is envious of her and frequently humiliates and attacks her. Patsey's abuse worsens as Epps continues to sexually assault her.
