The film was directed by Steve McQueen, and the screenplay was written by John Ridley. Chiwetel Ejiofor stars as Solomon Northup. Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Lupita Nyong'o, Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt, and Alfre Woodard feature in supporting roles. Principal photography took place in New Orleans, Louisiana, from June 27 to August 13, 2012. The locations used were four historic antebellum plantations; Felicity, Bocage, Destrehan, and Magnolia. Of the four, Magnolia is nearest to the actual plantation where Northup was held. "12 Years a Slave" was named the best film of 2013 by several media outlets and critics, and it earned over $187 million on a production budget of $22 million.
Introduction
12 Years a Slave (film)
12 Years a Slave (film) | Introduction
Principal photography took place in New Orleans, Louisiana State of Louisiana Four historic antebellum plantations; Felicity, Bocage, Destrehan, and Magnolia Felicity, Bocage, Destrehan, and Magnolia.
where did 12 years a slave take place
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An additional viewing option for the film in the media format of Video on demand has been made available as well.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Home media
12 Years a Slave is a 2013 biographical period-drama film and an adaptation of the 1853 slave memoir "Twelve Years a Slave" by Solomon Northup, a New York State-born free African-American man who was kidnapped in Washington, D.C., by two conmen in 1841 and sold into slavery. Northup was put to work on plantations in the state of Louisiana for 12 years before being released. The first scholarly edition of Northup's memoir, co-edited in 1968 by Sue Eakin and Joseph Logsdon, carefully retraced and validated the account and concluded it to be accurate. Other characters in the film were also real people, including Edwin and Mary Epps, and Patsey.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Introduction
I beg all of you to take your kids, everybody to see it. ... You have to see this so you can understand, so you can just start to understand."
12 Years a Slave (film) | Marketing
However, instead of paying for the distribution rights, Fox Searchlight made a deal in which it would share box-office proceeds with the financiers of the independently financed film. "12 Years a Slave" was commercially released on , 2013 in the United States for a limited release of 19 theaters, with a wide release in subsequent weeks. The film was initially scheduled to be released in late December 2013, but "some exuberant test screenings" led to the decision to move up the release date. The film was distributed by Entertainment One in the United Kingdom.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Initial screenings
"12 Years a Slave" is a 2013 historical drama film directed and produced by Steve McQueen. It is an adaptation of the 1853 autobiographical slave narrative memoir of the same name by Solomon Northup, a New York State-born free negro who was kidnapped in Washington, D.C. in 1841 and sold into slavery. The film stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as the protagonist, Northup. Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Lupita Nyong'o, Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt (also a producer of the film), and Alfre Woodard feature in supporting roles. The screenplay based on the aforementioned memoir was written by John Ridley.
List of accolades received by 12 Years a Slave (film) | Introduction
Shortly after Northup's kidnapping, he is sent on a slave ship. One of the sailors attempts to rape a female slave, but is stopped by a male slave. "The sailor unhesitatingly stabs and kills [the male slave]," he wrote, stating that "this seems unlikely on its face—slaves are valuable, and the sailor is not the owner. And, sure enough, the scene is not in the book."
12 Years a Slave (film) | Historical accuracy
The film was directed by Steve McQueen, and the screenplay was written by John Ridley. Chiwetel Ejiofor stars as Solomon Northup. Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Lupita Nyong'o, Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt, and Alfre Woodard feature in supporting roles. Principal photography took place in New Orleans, Louisiana, from June 27 to August 13, 2012. The locations used were four historic antebellum plantations; Felicity, Bocage, Destrehan, and Magnolia. Of the four, Magnolia is nearest to the actual plantation where Northup was held. "12 Years a Slave" was named the best film of 2013 by several media outlets and critics, and it earned over $187 million on a production budget of $22 million.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Introduction
The film's release was gradually widened in subsequent weeks, similarly to how the studio had successfully done in years prior with films such as "Black Swan" and "The Descendants". International release dates for "12 Years a Slave" were largely delayed to early 2014 in order to take advantage of the attention created by awards seasons. During its marketing campaign, "12 Years a Slave" received unpaid endorsements by celebrities such as Kanye West and P. Diddy. In a video posted by Revolt, Combs urged viewers to see "12 Years a Slave" by stating: "This movie is very painful but very honest, and is a part of the healing process.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Marketing
Solomon Northup is a free African-American man in 1841, working as a violinist and living with his wife and two children in Saratoga Springs, New York. Two white men, Brown and Hamilton, offer him short-term employment as a musician if he will travel with them to Washington, D.C.; however, once they have arrived, they drug Northup and deliver him to a slave pen run by a man named Burch. Northup proclaims that he is a free man, only to be savagely beaten with a wooden paddle and then a leather strap. Northup is shipped to New Orleans along with other captive African-Americans.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Plot
He is told by the others that if he wants to survive in the South, he must adapt to being a slave and not tell anyone he is a free man. A slave trader named Theophilus Freeman gives Northup the identity of "Platt", a runaway slave from Georgia, and sells him to plantation owner William Ford. Ford takes a liking to Northup and gives him a violin. A growing tension between Northup and plantation carpenter John Tibeats finally breaks as Tibeats tries to beat Northup. Northup snaps and beats Tibeats with his hands before beating him with his own whip.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Plot
Deliberately drawing visual comparisons in the filming to the works of Spanish painter Francisco Goya, McQueen explained:
12 Years a Slave (film) | Filming
"12 Years a Slave" premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on August 30, 2013; it was later screened at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, the New York Film Festival on October 8, the New Orleans Film Festival on October 10, and the Philadelphia Film Festival on October 19. On November 15, 2011, Summit Entertainment announced it had secured a deal to distribute "12 Years a Slave" to international markets. In April 2012, a few weeks before principal photography, New Regency Productions agreed to co-finance the film. Because of a distribution pact between 20th Century Fox and New Regency, Fox Searchlight Pictures acquired the film's United States distribution rights.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Initial screenings
"That feeling of dancing with ghosts – it's palpable." Filming also took place at the Columns Hotel and Madame John's Legacy in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Cinematographer Sean Bobbitt, the film's primary camera operator, shot "12 Years a Slave" on 35 mm film with a 2.35:1 widescreen aspect ratio using both an Arricam LT and ST. "Particularly for a period piece, film gives the audience a definite sense of period and quality," said Bobbitt. "And because of the story's epic nature, widescreen clearly made the most sense. Widescreen means a big film, an epic tale – in this case an epic tale of human endurance." The filmmakers avoided the desaturated visual style that is typical of a more gritty documentary aesthetic.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Filming
Paul MacInnes of "The Guardian" scored the film five out of five stars, writing, "Stark, visceral and unrelenting, "12 Years a Slave" is not just a great film but a necessary one." Owen Gleiberman of "Entertainment Weekly" praised it as "a new movie landmark of cruelty and transcendence" and as "a movie about a life that gets taken away, and that's why it lets us touch what life is". He also commented very positively about Ejiofor's performance, while further stating, ""12 Years a Slave" lets us stare at the primal sin of America with open eyes, and at moments it is hard to watch, yet it's a movie of such humanity and grace that at every moment, you feel you're seeing something essential.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Critical response
With a production budget of , principal photography began in New Orleans, Louisiana, on , 2012. After seven weeks, filming concluded on , 2012. As a way to keep down production costs, a bulk of the filming took place around the greater New Orleans area – mostly south of the Red River country in the north of the state, where the historic Northup was enslaved. Among locations used were four historic antebellum plantations: Felicity, Bocage, Destrehan, and Magnolia. Magnolia, a plantation in Schriever, Louisiana, is just a few miles from one of the historic sites where Northup was held. "To know that we were right there in the place where these things occurred was so powerful and emotional," said actor Chiwetel Ejiofor.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Filming
McQueen has not commented on the alleged feud.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Development
So the slave owners dilute the energy of their slaves by whipping them for sadistic sport and, as Epps does, waking them at night to dance for his wife's cruel pleasure." Gregory Ellwood of HitFix gave the film an "A-" rating, stating, ""12 Years" is a powerful drama driven by McQueen's bold direction and the finest performance of Chiwetel Ejiofor's career." He continued by praising the performances of Fassbender and Nyong'o, citing Nyong'o as "the film's breakthrough performance [that] may find Nyong'o making her way to the Dolby Theater next March". He also admired the film's "gorgeous" cinematography and the musical score, as "one of Hans Zimmer's more moving scores in some time".
12 Years a Slave (film) | Critical response
Part of "12 Years a Slave" was also filmed at the house.
Madame John's Legacy | Description and history
The focus of the track is about an enslaved person reaching "quittin' time" while also trying to please the overseer to avoid getting beaten. After we watched "12 Years a Slave" in our hometown of Athens, Alabama, we stumbled across this song a week later. It is a very simple song which is why we chose it to contribute to the soundtrack. The two works, for a moment, take the audience into another time and place where you can imagine being denied your freedom: after which, one's own freedom can be better appreciated. "12 Years" is one of the most important films we have ever seen and it is important to us to give back some of what the movie has given to us.
12 Years a Slave (soundtrack) | Commentary
Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 95% of critics gave the film a positive rating, based on 365 reviews with an average score of 8.91/10, with the site's consensus stating, "It's far from comfortable viewing, but "12 Years a Slave"s unflinchingly brutal look at American slavery is also brilliant – and quite possibly essential – cinema." Metacritic, another review aggregator, assigned the film a weighted average score of 96 out of 100 based on 57 reviews from mainstream critics, considered to be "universal acclaim". It is currently one of the site's highest-rated films, as well as the best-reviewed film of 2013.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Critical response
12 Years a Slave
Florida Film Critics Circle Awards 2013 | Best Picture
Following its cinematic release in theaters, the Region 1 Code widescreen edition of the film was released on DVD in the United States on March 4, 2014. Special features for the DVD include; a Closed Caption option, The Team – Meet the Creative Minds Assembled by Director Steve McQueen and Bring Solomon Northup's Journey to Life bonus selection, and The Score – Follow Film Composer Hans Zimmer Creating His Dramatic Score feature. In supplemental fashion, a widescreen hi-definition Blu-ray Disc version of the film was also released on the same day. Special features include; a historical portrait from Director Steve McQueen's documentary feature, cast and crew interviews, The Team special feature, and The Score selection.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Home media
12 Years a Slave is the original soundtrack album to the 2013 film "12 Years a Slave" starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, and Lupita Nyong'o. The record contains twenty-one tracks from the original film score written and composed by Hans Zimmer. Despite its limited release, critical acclaim has been given to the score from the film industry. The score was nominated for the 2013 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score, and won the 2013 Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association award for Best Score.
12 Years a Slave (score) | Introduction
12 Years a Slave
Online Film Critics Society Awards 2013 | Best Picture
The film earned seven nominations at the 71st Golden Globe Awards, winning for Best Motion Picture – Drama. At the 67th British Academy Film Awards, the film garnered ten nominations and went on to win two awards: Best Film and Best Actor for Ejiofor.
List of accolades received by 12 Years a Slave (film) | Introduction
"12 Years a Slave" has received numerous awards and nominations. It earned three Academy Awards, including Best Picture. It won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama. The film also won the BAFTA Award for Best Film, while Ejiofor received the Best Actor award. In addition, the motion picture has been named as one of the best films of 2013 by various ongoing critics, appearing on 100 critics' top-ten lists in which 25 had the film in their number-one spot. This is both the most of any film released in its production year.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Accolades
Legend's cover of "Roll, Jordan, Roll" debuted online three weeks prior to the soundtrack's release.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Music
12 Years a Slave
London Film Critics Circle Awards 2013 | Film of the Year
The score was widely admired and thought of as a contender for the Academy Award for Best Original Score at the 86th Academy Awards. Yet, the score failed to receive a nomination for the 86th Academy Awards. However, the film did receive a nomination for the 2013 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score, as well as a win for the 2013 Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Best Score.
12 Years a Slave (score) | Immediate reception
The film received nine Academy Award nominations, winning three: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress for Nyong'o. The Best Picture win made McQueen the first black British producer to ever receive the award and the first black British director of a Best Picture winner. The film was awarded the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama, and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts recognized it with the Best Film and the Best Actor award for Ejiofor. "12 Years a Slave" was later named the 44th greatest film since 2000 in a BBC poll of 177 critics.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Introduction
To accurately depict the time period of the film, the filmmakers conducted extensive research that included studying artwork from the era. With eight weeks to create the wardrobe, costume designer Patricia Norris collaborated with Western Costume to compile costumes that would illustrate the passage of time while also being historically accurate. Using an earth tone color palette, Norris created nearly 1,000 costumes for the film. "She [Norris] took earth samples from all three of the plantations to match the clothes," McQueen said, "and she had the conversation with Sean [Bobbitt] to deal with the character temperature on each plantation, there was a lot of that minute detail." The filmmakers also used some pieces of clothing discovered on set that were worn by slaves.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Design
The film was officially announced in August 2011 with McQueen to direct and Chiwetel Ejiofor to star as Solomon Northup, a free African-American who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the Deep South. McQueen compared Ejiofor's conduct "of class and dignity" to that of Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte. In October 2011, Michael Fassbender (who starred in McQueen's previous films "Hunger" and "Shame") joined the cast. In early 2012, the rest of the roles were cast, and filming was scheduled to begin at the end of June 2012. To capture the language and dialects of the era and regions in which the film takes place, dialect coach Michael Buster assisted the cast in altering their speech.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Development
—Brittany Howard of the Alabama Shakes I was moved by this film and the story in a way that transcends any film experience I have ever had. I was inspired to write a hundred different songs, but finally landed on one based on what I believe is an extremely important message I took from this man's journey. Compassion, basic human rights and love must be our priorities above race, religion or commerce. Every generation needs a reminder of that simple idea. —Chris Cornell
12 Years a Slave (soundtrack) | Commentary
After meeting screenwriter John Ridley at a Creative Artists Agency screening of "Hunger" in 2008, director Steve McQueen got in touch with Ridley about his interest in making a film about "the slave era in America" with "a character that was not obvious in terms of their trade in slavery." Developing the idea back and forth, the two did not strike a chord until McQueen's partner, Bianca Stigter, found Solomon Northup's 1853 memoir "Twelve Years a Slave". McQueen later told an interviewer: After a lengthy development process, during which Brad Pitt's production company Plan B Entertainment backed the project, which eventually helped get financing from various other film studios.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Development
The Joseph Logsdon Archives are available at the University of New Orleans.
Twelve Years a Slave | Reissue
Twelve Years a Slave is an 1853 memoir by Solomon Northup. Twelve Years a Slave may also refer to:
Twelve Years a Slave (disambiguation) | Introduction
Twelve Years a Slave is an 1853 memoir and slave narrative by American Solomon Northup as told to and edited by David Wilson. Northup, a black man who was born free in New York state, details his being tricked to go to Washington, D.C., where he was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the Deep South. He was in bondage for 12 years in Louisiana before he was able to secretly get information to friends and family in New York, who in turn secured his release with the aid of the state. Northup's account provides extensive details on the slave markets in Washington, D.C.
Twelve Years a Slave | Introduction
African-American history and culture scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. was a consultant on the film, and researcher David Fiske, co-author of "Solomon Northup: The Complete Story of the Author of Twelve Years a Slave," provided some material used to market the film. Nevertheless, news and magazine articles around the time of the film's release described a scholar alleging some license that Northup could have taken with his book, and liberties that McQueen definitely took with Northup's original, for dramatic, modernizing, or other reasons. Scott Feinberg wrote in "The Hollywood Reporter" about a September 22 article in "The New York Times" that "dredged up and highlighted a 1985 essay by another scholar, James Olney, that questioned the 'literal truth' of specific incidents in Northup's account and suggested that David Wilson, the white amanuensis to whom Northup had dictated his story, had taken the liberty of sprucing it up to make it even more effective at rallying public opinion against slavery." According to Olney, when abolitionists invited an ex-slave to share his experience in slavery at an antislavery convention, and when they subsequently funded the appearance of that story in print, "they had certain clear expectations, well understood by themselves and well understood by the ex-slave, too." Noah Berlatsky wrote in "The Atlantic" about a scene in McQueen's adaptation.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Historical accuracy
Baker served as set decorator on the film "12 Years a Slave", Steve McQueen's 2013 adaptation of Solomon Northup's 1853 memoir. As the historical drama was shot in New Orleans, but took place in Saratoga Springs, New York and on a ship as well as in Louisiana, Baker and Stockhausen used stereoscopic images and other historical documents to guide their development of sets that resembled the Northeast and steamships in the 1830s, in addition to using Louisiana plantations with some original buildings still in place. Faced with a limited budget as well as recently released films dealing with the same historical era that had just used many of the available sets (for example, "Django Unchained" and ""), Baker and Stockenhausen were challenged to develop an aesthetic authentic to the period, but visually distinct from the other films.
Alice Baker (set decorator) | "12 Years a Slave"
Following successful screenings at the Telluride Film Festival and New York Film Festival, the film held its public premiere at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the People's Choice Award. Fox Searchlight Pictures initially gave the film a limited release at nineteen theaters on October 18, aimed primarily towards art house and African American patrons. The film was later given a wide release at over 1,100 theaters in the United States and Canada on November 8. "12 Years a Slave" has grossed a worldwide total of over $187 million on a production budget of $20 million. As of 2019, it is McQueen's highest grossing film.
List of accolades received by 12 Years a Slave (film) | Introduction
It won the Caméra d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Joining again the team of McQueen, Fassbender and cinematographer Sean Bobbitt, Walker cut "Shame" (2011). This told the story of a successful Manhattanite navigating the terrain of sexual obsession on a path towards self-destruction. Their third collaboration was "12 Years a Slave" (2013), the true story of Solomon Northup, a free man kidnapped and sold into slavery, set in 1840s Louisiana. It stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender, Lupita Nyong'o, Sarah Paulson, Paul Dano, and Paul Giamatti. "12 Years a Slave" (2013) won three Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress for Nyong'o, and Best Adapted Screenplay for John Ridley.
Joe Walker (editor) | Life and career
[...] It took a bit of persuading from [McQueen] to give me the confidence to do it". On April 30, 2013, it was officially announced that Zimmer was scoring the film.
12 Years a Slave (score) | Composition
"12 Years a Slave" – John Ridley
Florida Film Critics Circle Awards 2013 | Best Adapted Screenplay
"12 Years a Slave" earned $187.7 million, including $56.7 million in the United States. During its opening limited release in the United States, "12 Years a Slave" debuted with a weekend total of $923,715 on 19 screens for a $48,617 per-screen average. The following weekend, the film entered the top ten after expanding to 123 theatres and grossing an additional $2.1 million. It continued to improve into its third weekend, grossing $4.6 million at 410 locations. The film release was expanded to over 1,100 locations on November 8, 2013. In 2014, "12 Years a Slave" was the 10th most-illegally downloaded movie, with 23.653 million such downloads, according to "Variety".
12 Years a Slave (film) | Box office
"12 Years a Slave" – John Ridley
Online Film Critics Society Awards 2013 | Best Adapted Screenplay
In the middle of the night, a drunken Epps wakes Northup and questions him menacingly about the letter while holding a knife to Northup's stomach. Northup is narrowly able to convince Epps that Armsby is lying and Epps relents. Afterwards, Northup mournfully burns the letter to prevent Epps from finding it. Some time later, Patsey is caught by Epps going to a neighboring plantation in order to acquire soap, as Mrs. Epps won't let her have any. In retaliation, Epps orders Northup to whip Patsey. Patsey is then whipped brutally by Epps, to the point of near death. After the incident, Northup destroys his violin in a rage.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Plot
Northup's account confirms Stowe's fictional portrayal of conditions in Louisiana, as the area where Northup was enslaved was close to the fictional setting of Simon Legree's plantation on the Red River. Northup expresses other arguments against slavery. For instance, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" focuses on how the legal system prevents even kind owners from treating slaves well and how it releases cruel owners from liabilities for their treatment of slaves.
Twelve Years a Slave | Reception and historical value
Chiwetel Ejiofor – "12 Years a Slave"
Florida Film Critics Circle Awards 2013 | Best Actor
Epps regularly rapes Patsey while his wife abuses and humiliates her out of jealousy. Some time later, cotton worms destroy Epps's crops. Unable to work his fields, Epps leases his slaves to a neighboring plantation for the season. While there, Northup gains the favor of the plantation's owner, Judge Turner, who allows him to play the fiddle at a neighbor's wedding anniversary celebration and to keep his earnings. When Northup returns to Epps, he uses the money to pay a white field hand and former overseer, Armsby, to mail a letter to his friends in New York. Armsby agrees and accepts Northup's saved money, but immediately betrays him to Epps.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Plot
Having been interested in each other's work for some time, director Steve McQueen approached composer Hans Zimmer to write the score to "12 Years a Slave" after filming had completed, explaining, "We had a mysterious conversation a couple of years back where [McQueen] told me he was working on something and asked me if I was even remotely interested in working with him," says Zimmer. Zimmer, however, expressed reluctance to accept the offer feeling he wasn't the right person for the job. Zimmer explained, "I felt I wasn't the guy, in a way. It was such an important, heavy, incredible subject.
12 Years a Slave (score) | Composition
Due to both the film's explicit nature and award contender status, "12 Years a Slave"'s financial success was being watched closely. Many analysts compared the film's content to other drama films of a similar vein such as "Schindler's List" (1993) and "The Passion of the Christ" (2004), which became box office successes despite their respective subject matters. "It may be a tough subject matter, but when handled well ... films that are tough to sit through can still be commercially successful," said Phil Contrino of "Boxoffice Magazine". Despite its content, the film's critical success has assisted its domestic distribution by Fox Searchlight that began with a limited release aimed primarily towards art house and African-American patrons.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Marketing
CinemaScore reported that audiences gave the film an "A" grade. Richard Corliss of "TIME" wrote: "McQueen's film is closer in its storytelling particulars to such 1970s exploitation-exposés of slavery as "Mandingo" and "Goodbye, Uncle Tom". Except that McQueen is not a schlockmeister sensationalist but a remorseless artist". Corliss draws parallels with Nazi Germany, saying, "McQueen shows that racism, aside from its barbarous inhumanity, is insanely inefficient. It can be argued that Nazi Germany lost the war both because it diverted so much manpower to the killing of Jews and because it did not exploit the brilliance of Jewish scientists in building smarter weapons.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Critical response
Director Steve McQueen liked the mood of Zimmer's music from "The Thin Red Line", which itself became a starting point for discussion and development regarding the mood for "12 Years a Slave". McQueen explained, "He was my refuge when I was in L.A. The first two meetings were about five hours each. Then I think we had three two-hour conversations on the phone. And not a musical note was played. After that, [Zimmer] said, 'I think I've got something.' Somehow, through the talking, he captured the atmosphere of the film." Much of the movie is scored with the same four-note theme, which Zimmer adapted according to the scene's mood and emotion.
12 Years a Slave (score) | Development
I took the option." Ridley's screenplay for "12 Years a Slave" was thus ineligible for a Writers Guild of America Award.
John Ridley | Controversy
Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, surveyed 358 reviews and judged 95% to be positive. "12 Years a Slave" garnered awards and nominations in a variety of categories with particular praise for its direction, screenplay and the acting of its cast. At the 86th Academy Awards, the film received nine nominations including Best Picture, Best Director for McQueen and went on to win three awards: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay for Ridley, and Best Supporting Actress for Nyong'o. McQueen was the first black director to direct a Best Picture winning film as well as the first black producer to win Best Picture.
List of accolades received by 12 Years a Slave (film) | Introduction
Yet Parks's film is beautiful in its own right, lacking the ferocious immediacy of McQueen's work, but containing a somber lyricism that's hard to shake. The outrage is still there, just more muted and given more historical context." By 2013, when "12 Years a Slave" was released, "Vulture" said of the 1984 film, "Out-of-print videos of it sell for a lot of money nowadays," and that the film was available for streaming online.
Solomon Northup's Odyssey | Legacy
Music from and Inspired by 12 Years a Slave is the soundtrack album to "12 Years a Slave". It contains two tracks from the film score composed by Hans Zimmer, three tracks co-arranged by violinist Tim Fain and Nicholas Britell, and original spiritual songs written and arranged for the film by Nicholas Britell, as well as performances by Alabama Shakes, Cody ChesnuTT, Gary Clark, Jr., Alicia Keys, Tim Fain, Laura Mvula, Chris Cornell, Joy Williams, John Legend, and spiritual song performances from the film. The album was released digitally on November 5 and in physical formats on November 11, 2013 by Columbia Records in the United States.
12 Years a Slave (soundtrack) | Introduction
Glenn Kay of "CinemaStance" wrote positively by stating, "the score by Hans Zimmer is sparse and repetitive, but incredibly effective at invoking an emotional response when it's used." Drew McWeeny of "HitFix" highly praised the score and said, "The score by Hans Zimmer is just as heart-breaking as the script or the performances."
12 Years a Slave (score) | Critical reception
It is Chiwetel Ejiofor's extraordinary performance that holds the movie together, and that allows us to watch it without blinking. He plays Solomon with a powerful inner strength, yet he never soft-pedals the silent nightmare that is Solomon's daily existence." Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone", gave the film a four-star rating and said: "you won't be able to tuck this powder keg in the corner of your mind and forget it. What we have here is a blistering, brilliant, straight-up classic." He later named the film the best movie of 2013.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Critical response
Chiwetel Ejiofor – "12 Years a Slave"
Online Film Critics Society Awards 2013 | Best Actor
Christopher Orr of "The Atlantic" praised the score most highly stating, "the score by Hans Zimmer represents his best work in years, an eerie, discomfiting soundscape that buzzes like angry locusts and drums like approaching thunder." Mark Kermode of "The Observer" highlights the significance of music in the piece writing, "More significant still is the role of music (composer Hans Zimmer earned one of the film's 10 Bafta nominations this week), with McQueen building upon the experiments of "Shame" to explore further the dramatic depths of song" Ed Gonzalez of "Slant Magazine" praised the score and said "The film's immaculate score, by Hans Zimmer, and sound design, so thick with thunder, wind, the chirping of crickets, hammers beating nails into wood, whips tearing black bodies to shreds, work in tandem to strongly convey the bucolic, sinister atmosphere of the antebellum South." Gregory Ellwood of "HitFix" called it "one of Hans Zimmer's more moving scores in some time" Brad Brevet of "Rope of Silicon" also praised the score in stating, "The best score in a movie I have heard this year has been Hans Zimmer's for 12 Years a Slave." and further stating "It's lovely and threatening at the same time." A.A.
12 Years a Slave (score) | Critical reception
It was re-discovered on separate occasions by two Louisiana historians, Sue Eakin (Louisiana State University at Alexandria) and Joseph Logsdon (University of New Orleans). In the early 1960s, they researched and retraced Solomon Northup's journey and co-edited a historically annotated version that was published by Louisiana State University Press (1968).
Twelve Years a Slave | Introduction
The musical score to "12 Years a Slave" was composed by Hans Zimmer, with original on-screen violin music written and arranged by Nicholas Britell and performed by Tim Fain. The film also features a few pieces of western classical and American folk music such as Franz Schubert's "Trio in B-flat, D471" and John and Alan Lomax's arrangement of "Run, Nigger, Run". A soundtrack album, "Music from and Inspired by 12 Years a Slave", was released digitally on November 5 and received a physical format release on November 11, 2013, by Columbia Records. In addition to Zimmer's score, the album features music inspired by the film by artists such as John Legend, Laura Mvula, Alicia Keys, Chris Cornell, and Alabama Shakes.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Music
Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave
London Film Critics Circle Awards 2013 | Actor of the Year
Tibeats and his group try to hang Northup, but they are not successful. Northup is left on tiptoes with the noose around his neck for hours before Ford arrives and cuts Northup down. To save Northup's life, Ford sells him to another slave owner named Edwin Epps. In the process, Northup attempts to explain that he is actually a free man, but Ford tells him he is too afraid and owes a debt for Northup's purchase, so he will not help him. Epps, unlike Ford, is ruthless and sadistic. Northup meets Patsey, a favored slave who can pick over 500 pounds of cotton a day, twice the usual quota.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Plot
For the score of "12 Years a Slave", Zimmer conceded, "It's basically a cello and violin score. I wanted to be the secret little bridge that would take the story from the past and move it into the present." Cellist Tristan Schulze and violinist Ann Marie Calhoun performed on the score in addition to more strings and occasional percussion involved throughout the process. "It was not just getting inside the characters," Zimmer said, "it was getting outside the characters and finding a bridge to the audience." Much of the 38-minute score "creates a stillness, or a tension through the stillness, using very minimal means," he added, although the riverboat ride offers a briefly avant-garde musical contrast, including woodwinds and an unusual use of piano.
12 Years a Slave (score) | Development
In his home town of Saratoga, New York, Solomon Northup, a free negro who was a skilled carpenter and violinist, was approached by two circus promoters. They offered him a brief, high-paying job as a musician with their traveling circus. Without informing his wife, who was away at work in a nearby town, he traveled with the strangers to downstate New York and Washington, D.C. Soon after arriving in the capital, he awoke to find himself drugged, bound, and in the cell of a slave pen. When Northup asserted his rights as a free man, he was beaten and warned never again to mention his free life in New York.
Twelve Years a Slave | Synopsis
The film first aired on PBS on , 1984 and as part of PBS's "American Playhouse" anthology television series in the following year. It was released on video under the title "Half Slave, Half Free". "Solomon Northup's Odyssey" was the first film adaptation of "Twelve Years a Slave". A second film adaptation, "12 Years a Slave", directed by Steve McQueen, was released in 2013.
Solomon Northup's Odyssey | Introduction
Having been interested in each other's work for some time, director Steve McQueen approached composer Hans Zimmer to write the score to "12 Years a Slave" after filming had completed. Zimmer was, however, reluctant to accept the offer feeling he wasn't right for the job. Zimmer explained, "I felt I wasn't the guy, in a way. It was such an important, heavy, incredible subject. [...] It took a bit of persuading from [McQueen] to give me the confidence to do it". On April 30, 2013, it was officially announced that Zimmer was scoring the film.
12 Years a Slave (soundtrack) | Development
Steve McQueen – "12 Years a Slave"
Florida Film Critics Circle Awards 2013 | Best Director
Destrehan Plantation was used as a set in the film "12 Years a Slave" (2013).
Destrehan, Louisiana | In popular culture
Michael Fassbender – "12 Years a Slave"
Online Film Critics Society Awards 2013 | Best Supporting Actor
"12 Years a Slave" is a stunningly powerful film. I was so moved when I saw it. I felt every minute of it and was so inspired to contribute to the music of the soundtrack. This album brings together some incredible artists from different places and different genres who have all been touched by the film. When artists are inspired by great art, it makes us want to create. This album is the result of that inspiration. —John Legend We chose a song called "Driva Man". It is a sparse, brooding, slow-swinging jazz number. There is no lightness in the music of "Driva' Man" because there is no mention of freedom in this song.
12 Years a Slave (soundtrack) | Commentary
They collected original items from antique shops, museums, and personal homes, in Mississippi and Louisiana, to decorate the sets. In addition to the Academy Award nomination, Baker and Stockhausen were also nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Production Design, a Critics' Choice Movie Award Best Art Direction, and the Art Directors Guild Award for Excellence in Production Design for a Period Film, among other awards.
Alice Baker (set decorator) | "12 Years a Slave"
It is used in "12 Years a Slave (film)" in the opening scenes, played by the character Solomon Northup during a small gathering of white individuals dancing. It was played by ""Tim Fain", an accomplished violinist who co-arranged the soundtrack for the movie.
The Devil's Dream | Pop culture
Lupita Nyong'o – "12 Years a Slave"
Florida Film Critics Circle Awards 2013 | Pauline Kael Breakout Award
After additional printings in the 19th century, the book went out of print until 1968, when historians Joseph Logsdon and Sue Eakin restored it to prominence. Eakin discovered the story as a child growing up in Louisiana plantation country—the owner of a first edition showed her the book, after finding it in a former plantation home. Years later, Logsdon had a student from an old Louisiana family who brought a copy of the original 1853 book to class; her family had owned it for more than a century. Together Logsdon and Eakin studied Northup's account, documenting it through the slave sales records of Washington, D.C.
Twelve Years a Slave | Reissue
and New Orleans, by retracing his journey and bondage in Bayou Boeuf plantation country in central Louisiana and through its records, and documenting his New York State origins. They found his father's freeman's decree, and the case files for the legal work that restored Northup's freedom and prosecuted his abductors. In 1968, Eakin and Logsdon's thoroughly annotated edition of the original book was published by Louisiana State University Press, shedding new light on Northup's account and establishing its historic significance. That book has been widely used by scholars and in classrooms for more than 40 years, and is still in print.
Twelve Years a Slave | Reissue
The National Endowment for the Humanities said, "The [1984] film helped push one of the darkest periods from America’s past into public consciousness, paving the way for such later movies as "Amistad" [in 1997], "Django Unchained" [in 2012], and the most recent adaptation of Northup's memoir... "12 Years a Slave" [in 2013], which was lauded for its realistic portrayal of the horror of slavery." When Steve McQueen's adaptation "12 Years a Slave" was released, "Colorlines" noted the obscurity of "Solomon Northup's Odyssey", "With limited funding, and predating social media, the film came and went with little fanfare." The blog "Vulture" under the magazine "New York" compared the film to "12 Years a Slave", "As a made-for-TV movie from the mid-eighties, ["Solomon Northup's Odyssey"] had a very modest budget and could never come close to the brutality of McQueen's film.
Solomon Northup's Odyssey | Legacy
In the 2013 feature film "12 Years a Slave", Ford was portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch. Some of Ford's descendants have objected to the portrayal in the film as rendering Ford as a "pompous hypocrite; a weak-willed man unable to protect Northup and his fellow slaves from sadistic overseers in the cotton fields," in contrast to Northup's own description of Ford as a humane man: "There never was a more kind, noble, candid Christian man than William Ford."
William Prince Ford | Popular culture
Lupita Nyong'o – "12 Years a Slave"
Florida Film Critics Circle Awards 2013 | Best Supporting Actress
The former won Best Picture, Best Screenplay (John Ridley), and Best Supporting Actress (Lupita Nyong'o), while the latter won Best Director (Alfonso Cuarón), Best Cinematography (Emmanuel Lubezki), and Best Musical Score (Steven Price). The Best Picture win for "12 Years a Slave" continued a trend of critics groups across the United States giving their top prizes to the film adaptation of the autobiography by Solomon Northup, a free negro who was kidnapped and sold into slavery. Only one other film, "Dallas Buyers Club", earned multiple 2013 honors from the DFWFCA. Set in mid-1980s Dallas, the drama received top honors for Best Actor (Matthew McConaughey) and Best Supporting Actor (Jared Leto).
Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards 2013 | Introduction
Lupita Nyong'o – "12 Years a Slave"
Online Film Critics Society Awards 2013 | Best Supporting Actress
The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture in March 2014, becoming the first Best Picture winner to have a black director or producer. The film also won a supporting actress Oscar for Lupita Nyongo. On the process of making "12 Years a Slave", actor and producer Brad Pitt stated:
Steve McQueen (director) | 2009–present: Further success and acclaim
and New Orleans, and describes at length cotton and sugar cultivation and slave treatment on major plantations in Louisiana. The work was published eight years before the Civil War by Derby & Miller of Auburn, New York, soon after Harriet Beecher Stowe's best-selling novel about slavery, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (1852), to which it lent factual support. Northup's book, dedicated to Stowe, sold 30,000 copies, making it a bestseller in its own right. After being published in several editions in the 19th century and later cited by specialist scholarly works on slavery in the United States, the memoir fell into public obscurity for nearly 100 years.
Twelve Years a Slave | Introduction
The language has a literary quality related to the style of writing of the day and the strong influence of the King James Bible. Buster explained: After both won Oscars at the 86th Academy Awards, it was reported that McQueen and Ridley had been in an ongoing feud over screenplay credit. McQueen reportedly had asked Ridley for shared credit, which he declined. McQueen appealed to Fox Searchlight, which sided with Ridley. Neither thanked the other during their respective acceptance speeches at the event. Since the event, Ridley has noted his regret for not mentioning McQueen and denied the feud. He spoke favorably of working with McQueen, and explained that his sole screenplay credit was due to the rules of the Writers Guild of America.
12 Years a Slave (film) | Development
1. Inside Llewyn Davis 2. "American Hustle" 3. "12 Years a Slave" 3. "Her"
2013 National Society of Film Critics Awards | Best Picture
Lupita Nyong'o – 12 Years a Slave
London Film Critics Circle Awards 2013 | Supporting Actress of the Year
Producers included actress Anna Marie Horsford, later known for her roles in "That's My Mama" and The Wayans Brothers television series. Occasional host Loretta Greene later appeared in the movies "Black Girl" and "Solomon Northup's Odyssey" in 1984, the original version of "12 Years a Slave."
Soul! | Cultural impact
The film was shot between Rome and Cairo. The film was the last sword-and-sandal film for actor Steve Reeves.
The Slave (1962 film) | Production
Bocage Plantation was used as a setting for "Shaw Farm" in the 2013 film "12 Years a Slave".
Bocage Plantation | Filming location
"Solomon Northup's Odyssey" is directed by Gordon Parks, who also composed the film score with Kermit Moore. The television film is based on the autobiography "Twelve Years a Slave" by Solomon Northup. Lou Potter and Samm-Art Williams wrote the teleplay for the film. The film was produced by The Fremantle Corporation and Past America Inc. The National Endowment for the Humanities provided funding for a series of programs related to American history. Producer Shep Morgan received a planning grant from the NEH in 1976 and sought input from historians including Robert B. Toplin who suggested the topic of American slavery.
Solomon Northup's Odyssey | Production
The film discusses the prominence of African decedents and women in British society in the late 1700s. In 2013, the authorship of the film was in dispute. The director of the film, Amma Asante, contested that she dismissed Sagay's writing and instead wrote her own adaptation of the story, seeking writing credit. Asante's claim caused the Writers Guild of America to automatically investigate per their regulations. The guild took the case through arbitration and ruled in favour of Sagay as the sole writer. Asante appealed but lost. In 2016, Sagay was a co-writer on the six-part limited TV series "Guerrilla" from award-winning writer and producer John Ridley, known as the screenwriter of "12 years A Slave".
Misan Sagay | Career
"12 Years a Slave" won Best Film and Best Actor in a Leading Role for Chiwetel Ejiofor. Cate Blanchett won Best Actress in a Leading Role for "Blue Jasmine", Barkhad Abdi won Best Actor in a Supporting Role for "Captain Phillips", and Jennifer Lawrence won Best Actress in a Supporting Role for "American Hustle". The ceremony was broadcast on BBC One and BBC Three. It was hosted by Stephen Fry, the ninth time he's hosted the ceremony. The ceremony opened with a duet call "Heroes" from Tinie Tempah and singer Laura Mvula. Viewing figures were the lowest since 2010, with 4.73 million watching the ceremony.
67th British Academy Film Awards | Introduction
On two occasions, he was attacked by John Tibeats, a white man he was leased to, and defended himself, for which he suffered severe reprisals. After about two years of enslavement, Northup was sold to Edwin Epps, a notoriously cruel cotton planter. Epps held Northup enslaved for 10 years, during which time he assigned the New Yorker to various roles from cotton picker, to hauler to driver, which required Northup to oversee the work of fellow slaves and punish them for undesirable behavior. While on Epps' plantation, Northup became friends with a slave girl named Patsey, whom he writes about briefly in the book.
Twelve Years a Slave | Synopsis
1. Oscar Isaac – "Inside Llewyn Davis" 2. Chiwetel Ejiofor – "12 Years a Slave" 3. Robert Redford – "All Is Lost"
2013 National Society of Film Critics Awards | Best Actor
Questions were often raised about accuracy or authenticity of books about slavery, including slave narratives. Similarities between Northup's book and Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin" have been noted by critics. Stowe's book was published a year before Northup's memoir but by the time she published her rebuttal to critics about accuracy in her "A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin", she referred to his story, which had been publicized in newspaper accounts. Stowe wrote, It is a singular coincidence that this man was carried to a plantation in the Red River country, that same region where the scene of Tom's captivity was laid; and his account of this plantation, his mode of life there, and some incidents which he describes, form a striking parallel to that history.
Twelve Years a Slave | Reception and historical value
Planters typically bought slaves from the markets in New Orleans, where they had been taken via the Mississippi River or by the coastal slave trade at sea. Solomon Northup, a free black from Saratoga Springs, New York, was kidnapped and sold into slavery in Louisiana. After being held for nearly 12 years on plantations in Avoyelles Parish, he was freed in 1853 with the help of Marksville and New York officials. Northup's memoir, which he published after returning to New York, was the basis of the 2013 movie "12 Years A Slave", of the same name.
Marksville, Louisiana | History
"Old Music and the Slave Women" takes place three years after an uprising of slaves takes place. Le Guin stated that the story was inspired by a visit to a large plantation in Charleston, South Carolina, that had used slave labor. The garden, house, and haunted ground in the story were inspired by what Le Guin referred to as a "beautiful, terrible place."
Old Music and the Slave Women | Setting
Solomon Northup's "Twelve Years a Slave" is a more traditional travel narrative, and he too overcomes the restrictions of law and tradition in the south to escape after he is kidnapped and enslaved. Harriet Ann Jacobs' "Incidents" includes significant travel that covers a small distance, as she escapes one living situation for a slightly better one, but also later includes her escape from slavery to freedom in the north.
Travel literature | Slave travel narratives