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First Look: Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch & Chiwetel Ejiofor In '12 Years A Slave'

  • By Edward Davis
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  • June 18, 2013 8:43 PM
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  • 38 Comments
12 Years A Slave
News
A movie by U.K. helmer Steve McQueen is always cause for celebration, but this one sounds like it's going to be his most brutal. And it's not like "Hunger" or "Shame" were easy walks in the park either. Based in a true story,  McQueen's latest, "12 Years A Slave," is just what it sounds like, a harsh slave drama set in the South. In fact, someone on Twitter the other day says a friend saw it and described it as "Django Unchained" without the comedy. Sounds like a bundle of laughs, right? Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, the actor plays Solomon Northup, a free man tricked, captured and sold into slavery in the film based off of Northup's autobiography. The rest of the cast is rather stellar too and features Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Paul Giamatti, Paul Dano, Sarah Paulson and Alfre Woodard.
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More: 12 Years A Slave, Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Steve McQueen

Amanda Seyfried, Chiwetel Ejiofor & Chris Pine To Star In 'Z For Zachariah' For 'Compliance' Helmer Craig Zobel

  • By Oliver Lyttelton
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  • May 15, 2013 9:00 PM
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  • 0 Comments
News
The apocalypse is terrifying at the best of times, but when the concept of oblivion hits you through young adult literature -- as the teens of today are finding out through "The Hunger Games," "Divergent," "The Knife Of Never Letting Go" et al -- it's almost guaranteed to lead to some sleepless nights. For a certain generation, that fear of radiation poisoning came from "Z For Zachariah," the 1974 novel by Robert C. O'Brien (who died before the book was completed).
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More: Z For Zachariah, Craig Zobel, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Chris Pine, Amanda Seyfried

Watch: First Clip From 'Half Of A Yellow Sun' Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor & Thandie Newton

  • By Kieran McMahon
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  • April 13, 2013 10:01 AM
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  • 29 Comments
News
Timed to coincide with the forthcoming release of "Americanah," the third novel from heavy-hitting Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the first look at the adaptation of her prize-winning second novel "Half of a Yellow Sun" has arrived, and a handsome fellow it is too.
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More: Half of a Yellow Sun, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Premature Predictions: The 2014 Best Actor Nominees

  • By Oliver Lyttelton
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  • February 27, 2013 2:45 PM
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  • 33 Comments
Awards
As part of our steady quest to go cold turkey from the Oscar season over the next few days, we've been running down some of our possibilities for the films that will be elbowing each other for awards in 2014. Yesterday, we looked at Best Picture, and today, we turn to Best Actor, won this year by Daniel Day-Lewis.
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More: Premature Predictions, Steve Carell, Benedict Cumberbatch, Bruce Dern, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio, Oscars, Awards, The Amazing Race, Academy Awards

Watch: Trailer For Chiwetel Ejiofor's Jazz Age BBC Miniseries 'Dancing On The Edge'

  • By Joe Cunningham
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  • January 29, 2013 6:27 PM
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  • 1 Comment
Television
Chiwetel Ejiofor has been turning in great performances since Steven Spielberg spotted him and cast him in “Amistad” back in 1996, but it wasn’t until almost a decade later he started to make himself known to wider audiences in the likes of “Children of Men,” “Inside Man,” and, of course, “Serenity.” We’re particularly looking forward to a couple of his upcoming movies, “Half of a Yellow Sun” and Steve McQueen’s “Twelve Years a Slave,” but he’s also got an interesting looking project coming soon to the small screen.
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More: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Television, TV News, Film Trailers

Young 'Beasts Of The Southern Wild' Star Quvenzhané Wallis Joins Steve McQueen's 'Twelve Years A Slave'

  • By Oliver Lyttelton
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  • August 1, 2012 11:18 AM
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  • 6 Comments
News
Given the quality of "Hunger" and "Shame," it's no surprise that there's a long queue to work with director Steve McQueen, but even considering that, the cast he's put together for period epic "Twelve Years A Slave" is quite extraordinary. The film's led by one of the most exciting actors working today, Chiwetel Ejifor, who plays Solomon Northrup, a free man in the 1840s who was kidnapped and kept for the titular dozen years as a slave before escaping.
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More: Quvenzhané Wallis, Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years A Slave, Steve McQueen

First Look At Chiwetel Ejiofor & Thandie Newton In 'Half Of A Yellow Sun'

  • By Joe Cunningham
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  • July 30, 2012 1:23 PM
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  • 1 Comment
News
You don’t hear of many British-Nigerian co-productions, but judging by the talent involved in the one that’s currently making its way to screens then we’d argue the two filmmaking nations should join forces more often. The British Film Institute and a Nigerian private equity firm have combined to bring the bestselling (and Orange Prize for Fiction-winning) novel “Half of a Yellow Sun” to the screen and assembled a pretty impressive cast in doing so. Dominic Cooper, Thandie Newton, Chiwetel Ejiofor, “Game of Thrones” star Joseph Mawle and “Attack the Block” breakout actor John Boyega are all involved, and they even snagged themselves a Disney Princess in the form of Anika Noni Rose (“The Princess and the Frog”).
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More: Thandie Newton, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Half of a Yellow Sun

5 Actors Who Could Play Marvel's 'Black Panther'

  • By Oliver Lyttelton
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  • June 6, 2012 11:19 AM
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  • 76 Comments
Features
For all their success so far, the Marvel movies have, aside from a few smallish parts, been a pretty lilywhite affair to date: only Samuel L Jackson was a significant minority presence in "The Avengers." But signs are that the studio aren't going to keep that up for too long: yesterday, it was reported that the company are actively moving ahead with a movie about "Black Panther," the African prince-turned-crimefighter, and are targeting a release in 2014 or 2015.
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More: Features, Marvel, Black Panther, Chiwetel Ejiofor, John Boyega, Anthony Mackie, David Oyelowo, Chadwick Boseman

The Wait Grows Shorter For 'Twelve Years a Slave' As Steve McQueen Project Negotiates Final Financier

  • By Charlie Schmidlin
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  • April 10, 2012 11:42 AM
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  • 8 Comments
News
Two distinguished directors have both been hard at work putting together their Louisiana-based period films about slavery, and now the one least likely to have an Ennio Morricone sample, Steve McQueen's “Twelve Years a Slave,” appears to finally be ready to roll.
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More: 12 Years A Slave, Michael Fassbender, Steve McQueen, Brad Pitt, Chiwetel Ejiofor

Chiwetel Ejiofor, Dominic Cooper & Thandie Newton To Star In Adaptation Of Bestseller 'Half Of A Yellow Sun'

  • By Oliver Lyttelton
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  • January 25, 2012 9:22 AM
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  • 25 Comments
News
It's not been documented much abroad, but Nigeria has one of the most vibrant, active film scenes in the world; over the last couple of decades, it's overtaken the United States to become the nation that produces the second largest quantities of film per year, behind only India. And while the films and stars of "Nollywood," as it's nicknamed, haven't yet crossed over to the Western mainstream, it's surely only a matter of time before their influence becomes felt. And now, it's been announced that Nigerian backers are teaming with British producers for a star-laden adaptation of a novel that tells a key part of the nation's history.
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More: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Dominic Cooper, Thandie Newton, Half of a Yellow Sun, Biyi Bandele

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