Brad Pitt and Steve McQueen on why audiences were ready for ’12 Years a Slave’

Stars! They're just like us. Just ask Brad Pitt.

“I had to clean up dog poop today…in my bedroom,” said the actor and producer backstage at the Oscars after his Best Picture win for “12 Years a Slave” (the question had been about how he'd prepared for the big day).

As for director Steve McQueen, he was much calmer than he'd been onstage, where he unleashed into a series of jumps after completing his acceptance speech.

“I'm as cool as a cucumber right now,” he said. “You saw the jump, of course.  I mean everyone's talking about the jump, but it's just really truly ?? I was just so ecstatic, so happy for us all.  And, you know, it's one of those moments in life where, you know, is he ?? it might not ever happen again, and you're living it, and you're there.  It's not a dream.  It's a reality.  So emotions, physicality just takes over.  So, you know, Van Halen:  Jump.”

Of course, at the end of the day it's all about the movie, and Pitt took a moment to sum up why the physically and emotionally grueling film is so important.

“At the end of the day we just hope that this film remains a gentle reminder that we're all equal,” he said. ” We're ?? we're all ?? we all want the same.  We want dignity and opportunity for ourselves and our family, and that another's freedom is every bit as important as our own; and that's it, and that's everything.”

“I think people are ready for this narrative,” echoed McQueen. “I think possibly before, obviously it was, of course, quite painful; and I think people now want to look at that history, want to embrace it, want to accept it in order to sort of, as Brad said, to move forward.  You know, if we don't know our past, we'll never know our future.”

Check out the full press conference by clicking on the video above.

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