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Fox Searchlight Dates ‘Twelve Years A Slave’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday April 2, 2013 @ 11:01am PDTTags: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Fox Searchlight, Steve McQueen, Twelve Years A Slave

The Steve McQueen-directed Twelve Years A Slave is set for a limited platform release beginning December 27, Fox Searchlight announced today. Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Brad Pitt star in the film from Regency Enterprises and River Road that’s based on the true story of one man’s fight for survival and freedom in the pre-Civil War America. It centers on Solomon Northup (Ejiofor), a free black man from upstate New York who is abducted and sold into slavery. Solomon faces cruelty (personified by a malevolent slave owner played by Fassbender) as well as unexpected kindness. In the 12th year of his unforgettable odyssey, Solomon’s chance meeting with a Canadian abolitionist (Pitt) will forever alter his life. The all-star cast also includes Oscar-nominee Quvenzhané Wallis, Paul Dano, Sarah Paulson, Alfre Woodard, Paul Giamatti, and Lupita Nyong’o. John Ridley penned the screenplay that’s based on the book by Northrup. McQueen and Pitt also produce along with DeDe Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Bill Pohlad, Arnon Milchan, and Anthony Katagas.

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Encore In Talks For BBC Jazz Age Drama ‘Dancing On The Edge’

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE AND NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday January 30, 2013 @ 10:09am PSTTags: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Dancing On The Edge, Encore

BBC Two’s star-studded five-part period drama Dancing On The Edge centers on a black jazz band in early 1930s London and debuts Monday in the UK. We’ve learned that Encore is in negotiations for the U.S. … Read More »

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CAA Signs Chiwetel Ejiofor

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday January 9, 2013 @ 6:03pm PSTTags: CAA, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Twelve Years A Slave
Mike Fleming

Chiwetel EjioforEXCLUSIVE: CAA has signed Chiwetel Ejiofor, shortly after the British actor starred as the principal character in the Steve McQueen-directed Twelve Years A Slave, opposite Michael Fassbender and Brad Pitt.

Ejiofor, for my money one of the … Read More »

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FILM ROUNDUP: Steve McQueen & Chiwetel Ejiofor Join ‘Twelve Years A Slave’, Film Movement Buys ‘Corpo Celeste’, ‘Straight A’s Lands Leads

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday August 16, 2011 @ 1:27pm PDTTags: Anna Paquin, Brad Pitt, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Film Acquisition, Film Movement, Plan B, Steve McQueen

Steve McQueen and Chiwetel Ejiofor are going to be seeing a lot of each other. McQueen has come aboard to direct Twelve Years a Slave, which will star Ejiofor in a true story about a New York man who was kidnapped in the mid-1800s and forced to become a slave on a Louisiana cotton plantation. Brad Pitt’s Plan B is producing. The news comes more than a year after Deadline told you that McQueen and Ejiofor are teaming on a Focus Features film based on the Broadway musical Fela!, about African musician-activist Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Ejiofor has learned to play piano and saxophone for that role. It’s unclear which of these movies will be made first. McQueen — who made waves with his debut film Hunger, about the Irish hunger strike that starred Michael Fassbender and earned the helmer the Camera d’Or at Cannes in 2008 — will premiere his latest feature, Shame, this fall in Venice. …

Film Movement has acquired North American rights to the Cannes Film Festival drama Corpo Celeste, the Italian-language feature that played in the Directors Fortnight sidebar. Alice Rohrwacher’s debut feature follows a 13-year-old girl’s coming-of-age in the poor southern Italian province of Calabria. The company plans a first-quarter 2012 theatrical launch day and date with VOD, with a national rollout to follow. Read More »

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CinemaNX Fund Backs Its First TV Project

By TIM ADLER in London | Monday July 5, 2010 @ 8:59am PDTTags: BBC, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Christopher Eccleston, Stephen Rea, UK TV Finance, Vue

CinemaNXThe Isle of Man-based equity investor has announced its first TV drama, a six-part thriller for the BBC. Until now CinemaNX has invested in features, covering up to 100% of the budget. Company Pictures (Skins) is making The Shadow Line, starring … Read More »

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