Four more additions for ensemble cast.
Writer-director Steve McQueen (‘Shame,’ ‘Hunger’) has added the awesomely-named Benedict Cumberbatch (‘Sherlock’), Paul Giamatti (‘Rock of Ages’), Sarah Paulson (‘Martha Marcy May Marlene’) and Garret Dillahunt (‘Raising Hope’) to the cast of his upcoming drama ‘Twelve Years a Slave.’
Based on Solomon Northrup’s 1853 autobiography, the film stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomon, an educated and married black man kidnapped and sold into slavery. The supporting cast includes Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Scoot McNairy, Paul Dano, Ruth Negga and Taran Killam.
According to Variety, Cumberbatch will play a plantation owner who buys Ejiofor’s character and is won over by his engineering skills. Paulson is playing Fassbender’s jealous wife, while Giamatti will play Freeman, who takes possession of the slaves upon their arrival in New Orleans. Dillahunt is on board to portray Armsby, a fellow field hand who works alongside Northup.