12 YEARS A SLAVE Featurette “A Portrait of Solomon Northup”

In this new featurette from Fox Searchlight, the cast a crew of Steve McQueen’s 12 YEARS A SLAVE discuss Solomon Northup, the free man kidnapped and sold into slavery whose life serves as the inspiration for the movie.

“I wanted to tell a story about slavery, and it was just one of those subject matters where I thought to myself, well, how do I approach this? I liked the idea of it starting with someone who is a free man, a man who is much like everyone watching the movie in the cinema — just a regular family guy,” McQueen recalls, “who is then dragged into slavery through a kidnapping. I thought of him as someone who could take the audience through the ghastly conveyor belt of slavery’s history.”

Variety‘s review said,

“This radiant aesthetic, coupled with the rousing use of spiritual songs, provide a beacon of optimism amidst so much hate, once again proving cinema’s place as the ultimate human-rights medium. It’s a shame that such injustice was allowed to exist for so long — 12 years for Northup and nearly 250 for those less fortunate — and an even bigger disgrace that it takes a British director to stare the issue in its face.”

12 YEARS A SLAVE is based on an incredible true story of one man’s fight for survival and freedom. In the pre-Civil War United States, Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. Facing cruelty (personified by a malevolent slave owner, portrayed by Michael Fassbender) as well as unexpected kindnesses, Solomon struggles not only to stay alive, but to retain his dignity. In the twelfth year of his unforgettable odyssey, Solomon’s chance meeting with a Canadian abolitionist (Brad Pitt) forever alters his life.

The film will show at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6 and opens in limited release October 18.

12 YEARS A SLAVE stars Chiwetel Ejiofor (TALK TO ME), Michael Fassbender (SHAME), Benedict Cumberbatch (STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS), Paul Dano (LOOPER), Garret Dillahunt (NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN), Paul Giamatti (WIN WIN), Scoot McNairy (ARGO), Lupita Nyong’o, Adepero Oduye (PARIAH), Sarah Paulson (MUD), Brad Pitt (WORLD WAR Z), Michael Kenneth Williams (“Boardwalk Empire”), Alfre Woodard (“Steel Magnolias”), Chris Chalk (“Newsroom”), Taran Killam (THE HEAT), and Bill Camp (LINCOLN).

The filmmaking team includes Director of Photography Sean Bobbitt, BSC (HUNGER, SHAME); production designer Adam Stockhausen
(MOONRISE KINGDOM); editor Joe Walker (HUNGER, SHAME); Academy Award® nominated costume designer Patricia Norris (THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD) and Academy Award® winning composer Hans Zimmer (INCEPTION, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES).

Zimmer created a theme for Solomon that, like the character, keeps evolving throughout the film. “The theme runs all the way through the movie, and everything that happens in one way or the other is felt, seen, perceived by Solomon and his theme,” he says. “It takes on different colors and different moods, just as he does. And, like the story, the score has a cyclical nature.”

Most of all, Zimmer wanted to stay in tune with the film’s intimate humanity. “What I think Steve and all the actors managed to do in 12 YEARS A SLAVE is to figure out a way of telling a vast story in a humble way,” he concludes. “I use ‘humble’ as the greatest compliment I can give, because the humility of this film is what makes it so personal. The quieter the story gets, the more you lean in to be part of it.”

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/12yearsaslave/