Fassbender the Ginger
Coming off the heels of both an official December 27th release date and a Hollywood Reporter article suggesting it won’t be done in time for Cannes, Steve McQueen’s “Twelve Years a Slave” has been given an “R” rating by the MPAA roughly nine months in advance of its release date. Wouldn’t that mean the film is indeed ready for Cannes? Read the rest HERE
“I’ll give a shout-out to Stephen Graham [Al Capone in Boardwalk Empire], Michael Fassbender [Edwin Epps in Twelve Years A Slave], Dominic West [Jimmy McNulty in The Wire], Steve McQueen [director of Twelve Years] and James Purefoy [Teddy Rist in 2009 TV series The Philanthropist]. I am the black man in the Brit pack and they are my Brit brothers.”- Michael K Williams via The Guardian
Joining the cast of 12 Years a Slave is Lupita Nyong’o. *SPOILERS*
Also joining the cast is newcomer Lupita Nyong’o, who will reportedly play “a slave who is the object of both the affections and cruelty of Master Epps (Fassbender),” says The Hollywood Reporter. And I believe that answers another major question we’ve had about the project - and that is, who will play the role of Patsey.
Why do I think this character as described is indeed Patsey? Well, as I said in my book-to-film report, Patsey’s story is a sad, sad one. She’s considered the best cotton picker of Epps’ slaves, and is also his mistress, although certainly not because she wants to be. Epps is married, and his wife is aware of his infidelities with Patsey, and for that reason, she routinely orders Patsey whipped. She hates Patsey, and of course blames her for Epps’ indiscretions, even though she doesn’t exactly have any say in the matter. So Patsey is forced to sleep with Epps, facing his wrath if she doesn’t; but if she does sleep with him, she faces Epps’ wife’s wrath. There’s a scene in which Patsey is whipped by Epps so cruelly that I felt it just from reading Northup’s words as he described the scene. I don’t know how McQueen will shoot that particular sequence, but it’ll be incredibly painful to watch. If you don’t already hate Epps by then (and really, given everything else he does prior, you should), this will most certainly do it.
So, with a description that reads “a slave who is the object of both the affections and cruelty of Master Epps,” Patsey is really the only slave woman who fits that description.
Looking over Lupita’s IMDB page (she’s originally from Kenya by the way), she’s actually primarily a filmmaker, and has done some crew work on other projects. But little in the acting department. Although on her Twitter page, which I found via Google search, she lists herself as an actor first, and says that she is a Yale School of Drama graduate!
Alfre Woodard will join the cast of Twelve Years a Slave, the New Regency film being produced by Plan B and River Road.
The film is being directed by Steve McQueen (Shame, Hunger) and stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Brad Pitt and Michael Fassbender.
Based on an autobiography written in 1853 by Solomon Northup, a free black man who became enslaved, the script tells how Northup (Ejiofor) was kidnapped and put in a slave pen, paving the way for a grueling life under numerous owners.
Woodard will play Mistress Shaw, a former slave who has risen in the Southern caste system.
Lupita Nyong’o also is joining the cast and will play a slave who is the object of both the affections and cruelty of Master Epps (Fassbender).
The Twelve Years cast also includes Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock), Paul Giamatti, Paul Dano and Sarah Paulson.
An Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated actress, Woodard recently co-starred on TV’s Memphis Beat and Three Rivers. Her stint on True Blood last year earned her 16th Emmy nomination. She is repped by ICM Partners, D/F Management and Stankevich/Gochman.
God Help Me.
![My, talk about a nice piece of big, late-in-the-game casting. Although I got the (obviously erroneous) impression that Steve McQueen‘s Twelve Years a Slave had grabbed all of its big actors by now — blame it on the increasinglysmall names who signed on as of late — it turns out one of the most exciting additions was yet to come.
Variety reports that Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock, Star Trek 2, The Hobbit) is next in line for Slave, having just signed on to play “a plantation owner who buys [Chiwetel] Ejiofor‘s character and is won over by his engineering skills.” (The role, in some ways, is complimentary to that of Michael Fassbender‘s slave owner.) By this point, you no doubt know that Twelve Years a Slave adapts the memoirs of Solomon Northup, a free black man who, in 1841, was captured by men that sold him into slavery, and was only freed after earning the attention of a Canadian carpenter.
Now, about this casting: I’ve seen Cumberbatch in a pretty fair share of stuff these past few months, and those who have a similar experience will, more likely than not, also attest that he’s one of this generation’s more interesting and dynamic actors. The fact that he’s just the next name to come aboard Slave speaks so much to the strenght of McQueen‘s cast — one that also features Brad Pitt, Paul Dano, Scott McNairy, Taran Killam, Ruth Negga, and Adepero Oduye, the acclaimed star of Pariah. By now, it’s painfully evident that we’re talking about one of 2013′s most promising films.
Source](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4x3xooQES1qlssazo1_500.jpg)
My, talk about a nice piece of big, late-in-the-game casting. Although I got the (obviously erroneous) impression that Steve McQueen‘s Twelve Years a Slave had grabbed all of its big actors by now — blame it on the increasinglysmall names who signed on as of late — it turns out one of the most exciting additions was yet to come.
Variety reports that Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock, Star Trek 2, The Hobbit) is next in line for Slave, having just signed on to play “a plantation owner who buys [Chiwetel] Ejiofor‘s character and is won over by his engineering skills.” (The role, in some ways, is complimentary to that of Michael Fassbender‘s slave owner.) By this point, you no doubt know that Twelve Years a Slave adapts the memoirs of Solomon Northup, a free black man who, in 1841, was captured by men that sold him into slavery, and was only freed after earning the attention of a Canadian carpenter.
Now, about this casting: I’ve seen Cumberbatch in a pretty fair share of stuff these past few months, and those who have a similar experience will, more likely than not, also attest that he’s one of this generation’s more interesting and dynamic actors. The fact that he’s just the next name to come aboard Slave speaks so much to the strenght of McQueen‘s cast — one that also features Brad Pitt, Paul Dano, Scott McNairy, Taran Killam, Ruth Negga, and Adepero Oduye, the acclaimed star of Pariah. By now, it’s painfully evident that we’re talking about one of 2013′s most promising films.
Brad Pitt is coming back to New Orleans, and he’s bringing his Steve McQueen-directed adaptation of the Solomon Northup memoir “Twelve Years a Slave” with him. Filming is set to begin in late June.
Based on Northup’s experiences as a free black man who was kidnapped in New York in 1841 and sold into slavery in Louisiana, the project had been rumored for several weeks as considering Louisiana as a shooting site. That was confirmed today (May 4) with its inclusion on the latest state-issued listing of film and TV projects shooting, or preparing to shoot, in-state. (See the full list below, along with contact information for prospective crew members.)
It is scheduled to shoot in New Orleans for 7 weeks, beginning June 27.
In “Twelve Years a Slave,” first published in 1853, Northup describes how he was kidnapped by two men, then drugged, bound and sold in a slave auction on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
For the next 12 years, Northup was forced to work as a slave in the Red River area of northern Louisiana. His book outlines the horrifying conditions.
Thee-time Golden Globe nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor (“Children of Men,” “American Gangster”) is lined up to play Northup in the film, to be co-produced by New Regency Pictures, River Road Entertainment and Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment.
Pitt will co-star in the film, as will Michael Fassbender (“Shame”), although it hasn’t been announced what roles they will play.
It marks the first time local homeowner Pitt has returned to the city for a film project since shooting director Andrew Dominik’s “Killing Them Softly” (previously “Cogan’s Trade”) in early 2011. Other New Orleans-shot projects on his resume include 2008’s Oscar-nominated “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and 1994’s “Interview with the Vampire.”
viaMike Scott, The Times-Picayune
Adepero Oduye, who starred in the 2011 indie/drama hit “Pariah” is circling ‘12 YEARS A SLAVE,’ the third, and arguably biggest directing effort from British helmer Steve McQueen (Shame). When she signs the dotted line, Oduye will co-star alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender and Brad Pitt.
Based on a true story, the Civil War-era piece centers on Solomon Northrup, a New York citizen who was kidnapped in Washington in 1841 and rescued from a cotton plantation in Louisiana in 1853. Oduye would play the female lead in the film. McQueen wrote the script with John Ridley.
The pic will serve as Oduye’s follow-up to her critically acclaimed performance in “Pariah,” where she played a 17-year-old girl living in Brooklyn, as she quietly embraced her identity as a young lesbian woman.
New Line will distribute “12 Years A Slave” with Plan B and River Road to produce.
Via The Tracking Board
I’ve heard great things about Adepero Oduye. My friends who have seen “Pariah” say she’s amazing. Good casting is good.
New Regency is in talks to co-finance and distribute (through its output deal with 20th Century Fox) the Steve McQueen-directed Twelve Years A Slave, an adaptation of the Solomon Northup memoir originally published in 1853. Chiwetel Ejiofor will play Northup, and Michael Fassbender will reunite with Shame director McQueen. Fassbender will play a plantation owner. Brad Pitt will play a Northern lawyer who helps free Northup and he and his Plan B banner will produce the film.
Northup was born free but after signing on with two men claiming to be circus promoters who wanted him for his violin skills, Northup was drugged and awoke in a slave pen in DC. He was forced to claim he had been born a slave in Georgia and was transported to Louisiana where he suffered the indignity of slavey and was often beaten brutally. After confiding in a white carpenter from Canada who came to the property to do a job, and who believed Northup’s story, Northup was able to get word to his wife back in New York, who was finally able to start the legal process that allowed Northup to regain the freedom that had been stolen from him.
The cast has been circling the $20 million movie since McQueen decided to direct it when his film Shame began garnering critical acclaim late last year. It was then a matter of CAA finding a way to fund it. River Road’s Bill Pohlad came on to provide a substantial piece of the financing and Summit sold international territories. Now, if the deal with New Regency closes–I hear it’s close to done–the pic becomes a reality with Regency joining Plan B and Pohlad as producers. Shooting starts late June in Louisiana.
It broadens Regency’s relationship with Plan B; New Regency recently came aboard to finance True Story, the Rupert Goold-directed adaptation of a memoir by Michael Finkel, a disgraced New York Times journalist who discovered that an accused murderer had stolen his identity. Once caught, the fugitive would only talk to the journalist. Jonah Hill is playing Finkel and James Franco is set to play Christian Longo, who was captured in Mexico after rising near the top of the FBI Ten Most Wanted List for allegedly killing his family. Production will begin in July and Fox will distribute. Dave Kajganich wrote the script.
Regency and Plan B are also teamed on The Gray Man, a star vehicle for Pitt based on the Mark Greaney novel that was scripted by Adam Cozad, with Plan B and Shine Pictures producing.
I love Michael Fassbender. I almost love him more than Ryan Gosling. I love him so much I never want to meet/see him for fear of him doing something to wreck my crush. I love him, shark smile and all. There’s no point to this, I just wanted to confess my extreme and unreasonable Fass-love.
Remember that five minutes in Inglorious Basterds when The Fassbender and Brad Pitt were in the same scene? Remember how awesome it was? Well now we’re going to get two hours of that. Pitt’s production company, Plan B, is on board to produce director Steve McQueen’s third film, Twelve Years a Slave. Based on Solomon Northrup’s autobiography, it’s about Northrup’s kidnapping in the 1840’s and how he, a free black man, was subjected to over a decade of slavery. This is a true story, too, which is just…yikes.
McQueen’s muse, The Fassbender, is already set to star in an unnamed role and one of my favorite actors, Chiwetel Ejiofor, is on as Northrup. Now Screen Daily is reporting that Pitt will join the cast, too, though there are no details on his part. So that’s The Fassbender, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Brad Pitt in a movie together. Let that sink in.
Can we handle this? Can we handle this much hotness in one movie? And it’s not normal hotness either. These are three insanely attractive men who are also crazily charismatic and legit intelligent set to star together in what is sure to be a really good, intense movie - McQueen doesn’t have a setting other than “really good and intense”. Though the story is a major bummer, those three might make it too much to handle. The Ejiofor and Fassbender combination was bad enough, but with Pitt added into the mix my head hurts just thinking about it—Moneyball completely reignited my Pitt-crush, didn’t it for you?
You know what would be even better? Let this be Ejiofor’s break in the US. He’s so beautiful and such a fantastic actor and the UK has been hogging him for years. McQueen propelled The Fassbender onto the world stage in 2008 with Hunger. Can he do the same for Ejiofor? (Lainey: let’s hope yes, if only as a f-ck you to every Hollywood agent who told him to change his name.)