Perhaps no film emerged from the Telluride and Toronto International Film Festivals with as much unqualified success as Steve McQueen’s upcoming slavery drama 12 Years A Slave, which follows the journey of a freed black man (Chiwetel Ejiofor) in 1841 Washington D.C. who is kidnapped and sold into slavery by ruthless traders.
The historical drama, which is based on the autobiography of Solomon Northup, made a huge splash during its premiere at Telluride and subsequent showing at TIFF, earning overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics. Many have predicted that 12 Years A Slave will be a huge player at this year’s Oscars and may receive nominations for its acting, direction, cinematography, screenplay and score.
Our own Darren Ruecker gave the film a perfect five-star review, summarizing that:
12 Years A Slave provides a new, deeply emotional subject for director Steve McQueen to apply his skills to, and it’s a beautiful and devastating fit.
Aside from Ejiofor, the film boasts a terrific supporting cast in the form of Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti and Brad Pitt, as well as lesser-known names like Lupita Nyong’o, Sarah Paulson and Dwight Henry. Ejiofor is widely tipped to receive a nomination for Best Actor, while Fassbender and Nyong’o have so far received the most praise out of the supporting actors.
Today, we’ve got a new crop of pictures from 12 Years A Slave for you. The images particularly focus on Ejiofor (no surprise there), but we also get glimpses of many supporting cast members, most prominently Fassbender and Nyong’o.
You can check out all of those pictures below:
I’m very excited for 12 Years A Slave – early reviews of the film have indicated that McQueen has found a way to deliver an emotional wallop of a story, get incredible performances out of his actors and remain painstakingly faithful to Northup’s tremendously moving autobiography, all the while applying the same distinctive directorial styles he used to great effect in his two previous films, Hunger and Shame.
Fox Searchlight will open the film in limited release on October 18th. Are you eager to see 12 Years A Slave? Based on what you’ve seen so far from the film, do you think it will dominate this year’s awards circuit as much as many have predicted? Let us know in the comment section!