Benedict Cumberbatch Joins Film Cast of 12 Years a Slave
(© Hartswood Films/BBC for MASTERPIECE)
Olivier Award winner Benedict Cumberbatch has joined the cast of the upcoming film, 12 Years a Slave, according to Variety.
This adaptation of Solomon Northup’s non-fiction book will star the previously reported Chiwetel Ejiofor, along with Paul Dano, Michael Fassbender and Brad Pitt. The film centers on a free black man who becomes enslaved. Steve McQueen will direct the project.
Cumberbatch, who will play a plantation owner who buys Ejiofor’s character, won an Olivier for his performance Frankenstein and received an Olivier nomination for the Almeida Theatre’s 2005 revival of Hedda GablerM. His film credits include Atonement, Amazing Grace, and The Other Boleyn Girl and War Horse, and he is also well known for playing the title role of the Sherlock television series.
