The cast and filmmakers behind Steve McQueen‘s “12 Years a Slave” settled into the Directors Guild Oct. 14 to present the story of Solomon Northup, whose harrowing autobiography — a bestseller during the 19th Century — was the basis of the film. But Chiwetel Ejiofor, who deftly portrays Northup’s journey through bondage, hesitated before accepting the role. “[Steve] called me up and he said he was going to send me the script and I was excited because I had been a fan of his for ages,” Ejiofor said. “After I read the script I had to take a bit of pause because there was a lot of responsibility.” “You have these feelings as an actor, you hope for a great part and when it comes sometimes, it is a strange reaction, and you think, ‘Can I do this?’ I don’t want to go out there and make a mess of it.” For many involved in the film, the trick was to remove their subjectivity as much as possible so as to make room for Northup’s original text to guide their work.
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