Twelve Years a Slave

Brad Pitt and his Plan B banner are tackling the subject of slavery with an adaptation of Twelve Years a Slave, an autobiography written in 1853 by Solomon Northup, a free black man who became enslaved.

Steve McQueen, who co-wrote and directed the acclaimed 2008 drama Hunger, is directing the adaptation while Chiwetel Ejiofor, the British actor who has appeared in movies such as Salt and Inside Man, is attached to the part of Northup. McQueen co-wrote the script with John Ridley.

Northup was a married and educated free black man living in New York when two men approached him with a job offer in Washington. When he showed up in D.C., he was kidnapped and put in a slave pen, paving the way to his grueling life under numerous owners.

The book is studied for everything from its details of the slave markets that existed in D.C. to the type of food served to slaves.

Read more/discuss. Thanks Gabriella.