After Steve McQueen‘s first two directorial efforts, Hunger and then Shame, it was obvious that the man would have some pulling power when it comes to casting stars for his next project. After luring Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Paul Dano and others to his new project 12 Years A Slave, Variety is reporting that Benedict Cumberbatch has also joined the star-studded cast.
12 Years A Slave follows “a free black man named Northup. Though he is promised a job playing violin in the circus, he ends up being drugged and dragged to Louisiana only to be sold into slavery.”
Cumberbatch has signed on to play “a plantation owner who buys Chiwetel Ejiofor‘s character and is won over by his engineering skills.”
The young actor has a couple of very big years ahead of him, with another season of the fantastic BBC series Sherlock in the works, as well as roles in the upcoming Star Trek sequel and Peter Jackson‘s The Hobbit: There And Back Again.
Being a big fan of both Cumberbatch and McQueen, this news is music to my ears and I cannot wait to see them work together.
The film is set to get underway in the next month so if McQueen plans on adding any additional cast members, we’ll know shortly.
12 Years A Slave stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano and Scott McNairy and will be released in 2013.
