Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomon Northup in Steve McQueen's new film.
Courtesy Fox Searchlight.  Artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen
will release his third feature film, 12 Years a Slave (Fox
Searchlight), this fall, featuring stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Brad
Pitt, Michael Fassbender, Paul Dano and Alfre Woodard, among
others.  Based on Solomon Northup's 1853 autobiography, the film
tells the story of a free-born black man who is kidnapped and
sold into slavery in pre-Civil War America. Ejiofor plays the
title role, with Fassbender in the role of a slave owner, Pitt a
Canadian abolitionist, Cumberbatch a Baptist preacher and
Paulson the slave owner's wife; Wallis plays Solomon's daughter.
Fassbender has starred in both McQueen's previous feature films,
Hunger (2008) and Shame (2011).  In addition to being an
acclaimed filmmaker, McQueen is still a practicing studio
artist. The exhibition "Steve McQueen," co-organized by The Art
Institute of Chicago and the Schaulager, Basel, is currently at
the Schaulager (through Sept