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Posts tagged as ““12 Years A Slave””

"12 Years a Slave" Leads Golden Globes Nominations; Idris Elba and Kerry Washington also Among Honored

By goodblacknews on December 13, 2013

ejiofor-12years
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association yesterday announced the nominees for the 71st annual Golden Globes. Fox Searchlight’s 12 Years A Slave garnered seven nominations (tied with American Hustle), including Best Actor (Chiwetel Ejiofor), Best Director (Steve McQueen), Best Screenplay (John Ridley), Best Supporting Actress (Lupita Nyong’o) and Best Motion Picture – Drama.  Ejiofor also picked up a nod for his performance in the miniseries Dancing on the Edge, competing in that category with this year’s other double nominee, Idris Elba, who was recognized for his work in Mandela: A Long Walk to Freedom as well as his television series Luther.
Other television nods went out to Kerry Washington for her work on ABC’s Scandal, and Don Cheadle for his leading role on Showtime’s House of Lies.  The 2014 ceremony will again be hosted by “Parks and Recreation’s” Amy Poehler and “30 Rock’s” Tina Fey and held January 12, 2014.  The full list of nominees follows:

"12 Years a Slave" and "Lee Daniels’ The Butler" Among Top SAG Awards Nominees

By goodblacknews on December 11, 2013

Chiwetel Ejiofor in '12 Years a Slave'
Chiwetel Ejiofor in ’12 Years a Slave’ (Fox Searchlight)

The Screen Actors Guild released their list of award nominees this morning — one day before the Golden Globes announces their selections of the year’s best television shows and motion pictures.  Among the top nominees for the 20th annual SAG awards were 12 Years a Slave and Lee Daniels’ The Butler – which solidified their status as front-runners for the Oscars.
12 Years a Slave led the pack with four nominations: outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture, outstanding performance by a male actor in a leading role (Chiwetel Ejifor), outstanding performance by a male actor in a supporting role (Michael Fassbender) and outstanding performance by a female actor in a supporting role (Lupita Nyong’o).  The film also scored big among other awards ceremonies after the Boston Society of Film Critics awarded the film its top prize while the New York Film Critics Online named it best picture of the year.
Lee Daniels’ The Butler was also a top contender with three nominations. Oprah Winfrey was nominated for outstanding performance by a female actor in a supporting role and Forest Whitaker was among the nominees for outstanding performance by male actor in a leading role. The film was also nominated for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture.
Meanwhile, in television Kerry Washington and Angela Bassett and Don Cheadle all earned nominations for their work this year, Washington for lead actress in the ABC drama Scandal, Bassett for her turn as Coretta Scott King in the Lifetime television movie Betty and Coretta, and Cheadle for his Showtime comedy series House of Lies.

‘12 Years A Slave’ Director Steve McQueen Sets Provocative Drama Project At HBO

By goodblacknews on October 29, 2013

steve mcqueenSteve McQueen, director of the Oscar-worthy slavery feature 12 Years A Slave, is making his first foray into television with another project featuring a black protagonist. McQueen has teamed with World War Z co-writer Matthew Michael Carnahan, hip-hop mogul/producer Russell Simmons and Oscar-winning producers Iain Canning and Emile Sherman (The King’s Speech) on the drama project, which is in development at HBO.
Co-written by McQueen and Carnahan and to be directed by McQueen, the untitled drama is carrying McQueen’s signature style of provocative filmmaking and is described as an exploration of a young African-American man’s experience entering New York high society, with a past that may not be what it seems. We hear the project, described by some as “Six Degrees Of Separation meets Shame“, Russell Simmons Harriet Tubmanis being fast-tracked, with casting choices already being explored for a potential shoot before McQueen starts his next movie. McQueen, Carnahan and Simmons executive produce with Canning and Sherman. Canning and Sherman produced McQueen’s second feature, Shame, with Canning also serving as an executive producer on McQueen’s feature debut, Hunger, which won the Camera d’Or in Cannes. McQueen’s third feature, 12 Years A Slave, got off to a strong box office start and is considered a prime Oscar contender. Simmons has been stepping up producing efforts through his recently launched RSTV, which has a first-look deal with HBO. 12 Years A Slave writer John Ridley also just set up a drama series project, a racially-charged murder drama at ABC.
article by Nellie Andreeva and Mike Fleming Jr. via Deadline.com

OPINION: Director Steve McQueen's '12 Years a Slave' Seems Like A Game-Changer

By goodblacknews on September 9, 2013

Steve McQueen, Michael Fassbender
Actor Michael Fassbender, left, and director Steve McQueen on the red carpet at the Toronto International Film Festival. (Nathan Denette / Associated Press / September 6, 2013)

Brad Pitt didn’t say much during the question-and-answer session that followed the Toronto International Film Festival premiere of “12 Years a Slave” on Friday night, just a short comment on why he produced and co-starred in the Steve McQueen period drama.

But, like his turn as an abolitionist-minded maverick amid a group of brutal slaveowners, Pitt spoke volumes as he stood on the stage with cast and filmmakers. “If I never get to participate in a film again,” he said, his voice trailing off as if to imply this would be enough, “this is it for me,” he finally finished.
It’s a sentiment you could imagine the lead cast members — Michael Fassbender, Lupita Nyong’o and of course Chiwetel Eijiofor, standing out amid the standouts — sharing with Pitt. And it’s a sentiment you could imagine the audience feeling. Festivals come and go; movies rise and fade. But once in a great while there’s a film that feels almost instantly, in the room, like it’s going to endure, and change plenty of things along the way. And “12 Years” offers that feeling.
Most narrowly, that’s true on Oscar level. By 9 p.m. Friday night, just six days into September, the film had already become a top contender for various acting, writing and directing prizes, as well as the big prize. You could say that’s premature. But you probably wouldn’t if you sat in the room. (Vulture’s Kyle Buchanan certainly didn’t hold back.)
It’s equally true on a social level. “12 Years” tells the fact-based story of Solomon Northup (Eijiofor), a free man who in 1841 was kidnapped and sold into slavery, and his travails — at once horrifying and surprising, no matter how much you think you’re ready for them — when he is trafficked to a series of Southern plantations for more than a decade.