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Steve McQueen’s Twelve Years a Slave And It’s Epic Cast

by on July 22, 2012
 



Many movie goers are anticipating this year’s upcoming Civil War era slave story, Django Unchained. The film has picked up buzz and the marketing deserves credit. However, there’s another American slave story that’s flying under the Hollywood radar. It’s scheduled for release 2013, and looks just as worth of anticipation as Django Unchained. What’s so exciting about 12 Years As a Slave? For starters, the cast, the director, and the story.

12 Years As a Slave is based on the writings of an 1853 slave narrative detailing the experiences of Solomon Northrup.  According to Wikipedia the book was “Published soon after Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Northup’s book sold 30,000 copies and was considered a bestseller. It went through several editions in the nineteenth century.”

The article reveals that in the book ” Solomon Northrup, a free carpenter and fiddler, was deceived by two men who originally offered him work as a musician in New York state and Washington, DC; then drugged him, and kidnapped and sold him into slavery while in the nation’s capital.”

The film is hemled by Steve Mcqueen (left), a Black, London born success story. He has directed two  major films, Hunger and Shame.  Both received  immense critical acclaim. Interestingly, neither of these were “Black” films.  Based on the success he’s had, this  lets us know he’s capable of both impressing, and capturing the attention of a diverse crowd and critic base.

The highly accomplished Chiwetel Ejiofor will play the lead, Solomon Northrup, while Michael Fassbender plays one of his slave masters.

Scroll through the cast gallery below:

[custom_gallery style=”1″ source=”post” link=”image” description=”1″ size=”270×290″ limit=”12″]

Not impressed yet? If the actors above are unfamiliar to you, you can check out their resumes from the fim’s IMDB page. This cast is class!

 



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