Paul Giamatti Joins Steve McQueen’s Twelve Years A Slave

Is it possible for this film to be half as good as this cast would suggest?

Already featuring Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano and Adepero Oduye (along with Scoot McNairy, Ruth Negga and Taran Killam), Paul Giamatti has joined the cast of Steve McQueen’s upcoming film Twelve Years A Slave.

The film stars Ejiofor as a man who is freed, only to be tricked back into slavery, and is based on the story of Solomon Northrup. Giamatti is also joined by Sarah Paulson and Garret Dillahunt, all three being announced as part of the cast on Tuesday.

Personally, while I ultimately found McQueen’s last film, Shame, to be a step backward for the Hunger director, it was still a damn solid film. This is an interesting change of pace for McQueen, and the idea of him taking on this narrative with this cast is absolutely thrilling. The film shoots this month, so it won’t be too long (festival season next year?) until we lay our eyes upon this thing. Hopefully it can live up to the hype.

What do you think?

Source Variety / Deadline