Chiwetel Ejiofor
Solomon Northup
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12 Years a Slave (2013) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more.
12 Years a Slave is a 2013 biographical drama film directed by Steve McQueen from a screenplay by John Ridley, based on the 1853 slave memoir Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup, an African American man who was kidnapped in Washington, D.C. by two conmen in 1841 and sold into slavery.
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.
- (747K)
- Biography, Drama, History
- Steve McQueen
- 2013-11-08
Oct 18, 2023 · In 1841, Northup was kidnapped and sold into slavery, suffering 12 years in bondage. McQueen and the powerful cast brought his jaw-dropping story to life. As we celebrate its 10-year...
- Overview
- Production notes and credits
- Cast
- 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
Learn more about the cast of 12 Years a Slave, a gripping drama about a free black man's journey into slavery. Stars include Chiwetel Ejiofor, Lupita Nyong'o, and Michael Fassbender. Don't miss this emotional and powerful film.
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Biographical drama, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender and Benedict Cumberbatch. In 1841, free-born African-American Solomon Northup travels to Washington DC for a job,...
