Steve McQueen’s 12 Years As A Slave Moved Up For October ReleaseBy Wilson Morales
June 27, 2013
Fox Searchlight Pictures has pushed up Steve McQueen’s upcoming drama, ‘12 Years As A Slave,‘ for an October 18th release date. It was initially slated to come out on December 27.
This new release puts the film at the forefront of Academy season when films are in contention. Coming out in December is always a risky move if enough voters from critics groups or Guild organizations don’t get a chance to see the film by the time their groups are voting. While Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Django Unchained’ received multiple Oscar nod after its December release last year, to some, it was too late to start a big buzz for Jamie Foxx for a Best Actor nomination.
The film, featuring a script by McQueen and John Ridley, stars Michael Fassbender, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Paul Dano, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Giamatti, Garret Dillahunt, Sarah Paulson, Quvenzhané Wallis, Scoot McNairy, Adepero Oduye, Ruth Negga, Lupita Nyong’o, Alfre Woodard and Michael Kenneth Williams.
Based on the 1853 autobiography of Solomon Northrup, Twelve Years a Slave tells of Northrup’s tragic kidnapping in Washington DC in 1841 where, despite being born a free man, he was forced into slavery at a Louisiana cotton plantation until his rescue 12 years later.
