After director Steve McQueen made a splash hit with his debut film, Hunger, about the Irish hunger striker Bobby Sands; he follows with another true-to-life story entitled 12 Years a Slave. The drama will star Chiwetel Ejiofor (Children of Men, Redbelt) as Solomon Northup, a mixed-race New Yorker who spent more than a decade on a Louisiana cotton plantation after being kidnapped, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
In 1841, Northup was lured to Washington, which was then a southern slave state, with the promise of a job and a change of pace. He found himself drugged and awoke to find himself in a slave pen in the belly of the South. The real-life Northup's experiences were detailed in a book, also titled Twelves Years a Slave, which helped historians chronicle the slave experience at the time.
Ejiofor, who has an insanely compelling screen presence, will no doubt bring a dignified intensity to the role. 12 Years a Slave is being produced by Brad Pitt through his Plan B production company. John Ridley, writer of Undercover Brother, has co-written the screenplay with McQueen.
[via THR]
Nicholas August 17th, 2011 at 01:12 PM
Nice article, but as per the Hollywood Reporter article you cite, Northup was a black man and not a "mixed-race" man.
Hassan Fuckry August 17th, 2011 at 01:51 PM
Solomon's father, Mintus Northup, was an African American slave who spent the early part of his life in service to the Northup family. Originally from Rhode Island, he later relocated to Hoosick in Rensselaer County, New York. Upon the death of Mr. Northup, Mintus Northup was manumitted in the will, and he moved to Minerva, where his son Solomon was born a free-born African-American mulatto. Mintus' wife was of mixed ancestry, and was considered a quadroon since she was one-forth black. Sounds like mixed-race to me...