VOD Spotlight: 12 Years A Slave

The Oscar-winning Best Picture 12 Years a Slave earned critical acclaim when it was released, and was also named best film of the year by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and won the Best Motion Picture Golden Globe. Several of the principal actors were also lauded for their work on the film, which offers an unflinching, and sometimes brutal, look at slavery in the American South. Want to know more about the making of 12 Years a Slave? Keep reading …

• The film is based on the true story of Solomon Northup, a free-born African American from New York who was kidnapped in 1841 and enslaved in Louisiana for 12 years. His memoir, 12 Years a Slave, was published in 1853. The book was also the source for a 1984 made-for-TV movie, airing as part of American Playhouse, Solomon Northup’s Odyssey.

• Michael Fassbender briefly passed out after filming the rape scene.

• Michael K. Williams also struggled emotionally after filming a scene that was eventually deleted from the movie. The stress of re-creating extremely painful material caused him to collapse after a take; he screamed and cried for an extended period of time, with one of the stunt coordinators attempting to comfort him.

• To play his alcoholic character, Fassbender had his makeup artist paint his mustache with alcohol so that other actors would react to the smell as they would to a man who had been drinking heavily.

• Chiwetel Ejiofer learned how to use and play a violin for his role.

• The tree where Solomon Northup sees several men being lynched was in real life used for that task; it is surrounded by the graves of murdered slaves.

• Location shooting in Louisiana took a mere 35 days with only one camera — significantly shorter than most productions.

• Director Steve McQueen’s daughter told him to hire Sarah Paulson after viewing her audition tape because she found her scary.

• Dwight Henry and Quvenzhané Wallis, both from Louisiana, come to their roles in this film having recently won acclaim in their first acting jobs, the film Beasts of the Southern Wild. They do not share any scenes in 12 Years a Slave.

• Brad Pitt’s production company, Plan B, produced the film and Pitt has a small role in it. Taran Killam, who has impersonated Brad Pitt on Saturday Night Live also appears in the film, though the two did not meet and did not work together.

• Costume designer Patricia Norris used dirt from each of the plantations used as filming locations to dirty the hems of dresses worn at those locations.

• 2013, when 12 Years a Slave was released, marks the 160th anniversary of Solomon Northup’s freedom.

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12 Years A Slave is available starting March 18 on Video On Demand. Check your cable system for availability.

© Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc.  Credit: Jaap Buitendijk