Director Steve McQueen’s highly-anticipated period drama, Twelve Years A Slave, is on the move. The drama starring Chiwetel Ejiofor has now been slated for release in October.
Fox Searchlight Pictures announced that they have pushed up McQueen’s drama from December 27 to October 18. The move is probably based on separating the film from a suddenly crowded field of potential award candidates, plus the studio wanted more time to mount a credible campaign during the awards season.
Based on the 1853 autobiography of Solomon Northrup, Twelve Years a Slave tells of Northrup’s tragic kidnapping in Washington DC in 1841 where, despite being born a free man, he was forced into slavery at a Louisiana cotton plantation until his rescue 12 years later.
The film stars Michael Fassbender, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Paul Dano, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Giamatti, Garret Dillahunt, Sarah Paulson, Quvenzhané Wallis, Scoot McNairy, Adepero Oduye, Ruth Negga, Lupita Nyong’o, Alfre Woodard and Michael Kenneth Williams.