In a movie that might as well be called Ladies and A Lot of Gentlemen, Get Ready to Feel Weird When You Think a Slave Owner Is Sexy (working title), Benedict Cumberbatch will star in Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, joining previously cast actors Brad Pitt, Michael F. Assbender, Taran Killam, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and something named Scoot McNairy. According to Variety:
Based on Solomon Northrup’s 1853 nonfiction tome, New Regency pic stars Ejiofor as the author, a free man kidnapped and sold into slavery. Cumberbatch will play a plantation owner who buys Ejiofor’s character and is won over by his engineering skills. (Via)
You know something’s good (and this does sound good) when it’s described as a “tome.” For those not in the know, that’s the term people used to say instead of “slideshow blog posts.” Anyway, the screenplay for 12 Years was written by McQueen (Shame) and John Ridley, who once penned an episode of “Team Knight Rider,” which was really a modern-day allegory about slavery when you think about it. Note: don’t think about it.
Vince’s Note: How dare you not use my Benedict Cumberbatch Photoshop: