Saturday, September 7, 2013










WSJ
  • September 7, 2013, 7:30 AM

Brad Pitt Answers ‘The Big Question’ in ’12 Years a Slave’

By Barbara Chai

Getty Images
Brad Pitt arrives at the ’12 Years A Slave’ Canadian premiere during the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival.
The Toronto International Film Festival presented Steve McQueen’s “12 Years a Slave” Friday night, and after the screening, the director, producers and cast members, including co-star Brad Pitt, came on stage to a standing ovation to participate in a brief Q&A.
McQueen was asked why he pursued the film based on the true story of Solomon Northup, a free black man who was tricked into accepting a musician job in Washington, D.C., where he was then kidnapped, smuggled down South and sold into slavery. “I just wanted to see that history, that story on film,” Mr. McQueen said. “It’s that simple.”
Pitt both produced and played a supporting role in the film. As Bass, his character offers a measure of kindness to Northup. In one of the few moments of levity during the screening, Pitt’s character tells Northup that he’s originally from Canada, and asks him to guess where Canada is in the world. The Toronto audience cheered and applauded.
During the Q&A, Pitt spoke about working with McQueen. “Steve was the first to ask the big question: Why has there not been more films on American history of slavery? It was the big question and it took a Brit to ask it,” he said.
“I just have to say, if I never get to participate in a film again, this is it for me,” Pitt said.
Getty Images
Actor Michael Fassbender (left) and director Steve McQueen.
“12 Years a Slave” gives an unflinching look at Northup’s struggle to survive and the horrific conditions under which he was forced to work. In discussing the physical demands of portraying Northup’s life as a slave, actor Chiwetel Ejiofor said “it was very intense to go to these places…with Steve there to guide that, I think we were free to go to those harder places with a great director at the helm.
Lupita Nyong’o plays Patsey, a young female slave who works alongside Northup on the plantation run by Edwin Epps, played by Michael Fassbender. Together, the three actors perform some of the film’s most harrowing, violent scenes.
“Yes, it was hard to go there, but it was necessary,” Nyong’o said. Fassbender added that the cast and crew was very close on set. “Without one another we wouldn’t have gone to the heights or the places that we’ve gone to,” he said.
Follow @barbarachai for more from the Toronto International Film Festival.
Posted by at
Labels: