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]
