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| Chiwetel Ejiofor (right) with Michael Fassbender in 12 Years a Slave |
Will Chiwetel Ejiofor walk away with the Best Actor Oscar on March 2? The man who has wowed critics and cinegoers with his portrayal of a man sold into slavery in antebellum United States in 12 Years a Slave (nominated for nine Oscars) delves into the mind and mechanics of his Solomon Northup in the Friday film.
How has the experience of filming a story like 12 Years a Slave changed your life?
Well, it’s been the most extraordinary experience as an actor and probably just as a person. And to be in such close contact with Solomon Northup and his journey has been one of the most remarkable experiences I’ve ever gone through. I was so moved to meet his descendants when they came to see the film. It’s just been an extraordinary time.
Can you talk about the difficulty of playing this role?
In a way, it wasn’t hard to play the role. It was complex and there were a lot of elements to it but thinking of it as difficult in a sense is the wrong direction because it was a privilege... it was a real privilege to get inside this man, this time and to tell his story. And so the closer I could get in anything, in any way, to him... to his experience... was something I was very deeply passionate about. It felt good to go to those places.
How does it feel to be part of such an acclaimed movie? Do you think this kind of attention is beneficial — in that it brings attention to the movie — or does the awards talk threaten to obscure the movie’s real significance?
It’s been great... the warmth, the reception, it’s amazing. But still, it’s that funny thing about hype and buzz, about both of them, that your instinct is to say, ‘I don’t want people to really pay that much attention to it’. I think that we should go into these films with our own eyes. I don’t know if they’re ready to be swallowed up within the words and the terms of that side of the film industry yet, because they’re not open yet, they’re not out there. I would say to anybody watching it, just make up your own mind about it.
I think it’s all about a kind of balance, you know. It’s great that the film is receiving the attention that it’s receiving... I mean, the public attention it has received is remarkable, and I love it. I’m deeply proud of this film. But at the same time the heartbeat is a bit quieter and meditative... it’s about a man’s journey through this incredible time, these incredible 12 years, so in way, it’s a double-edged thing. People are being encouraged to see the film because there’s a kind of excitement around it, in a way, but they’ve got to try and come into it without that, to approach it with their own minds and own hearts... and I think that’s our attempt in telling the story.
Do you feel that you have more responsibility to do justice to the role when you’re given a character based on truth?
In terms of 12 Years a Slave, yeah. To try and tell Solomon’s story is a huge responsibility. It gave me pause, initially, to be honest with you, when Steve (McQueen, the director) asked me to do it. There was a 24-hour period where I wasn’t really sure to do it because I thought it was a huge thing to dive into, a huge responsibility to get involved with. I didn’t know if I was up to it, as well, up to the challenge of it as an actor, as an artiste. All of those things, all those voices in my head. And then you’ve got to squeeze the life out of those voices. They never go away completely, but you’ve go to try to shrink them if you can. I managed to do that and said: ‘I want to be in it. I’m going to try and do this’. From that point on, Steve and I were just 100 per cent off to the races.
What was the dynamic on the sets of the movie? Did you avoid talking to Michael Fassbender between takes to stay in character?
There was a lot we had to accomplish and we left it at ‘Cut’. You know, hopefully you leave everything there. You’ve given 100 per cent on that day and then you can walk away from it, and hang out and get to know people. And Michael’s a great guy and fun to hang out with. That was good to know, given the full knowledge that at 6am the next day we were gonna be back into what we were doing, and that became the rhythm of how we worked. I thought that was a good way to do it.
On some levels it feels like a very definitive American story. Do you think the story has a universal appeal?
By definition, there’s an international element even to American slavery, because the slaves weren’t from America. I learnt about slavery in terms of Africa, in terms of the West Indies, Britain, America. So I always have that in my head. I felt like it was a very American story, absolutely, but I felt there was something correct about it being international. Even though 97 per cent of the people involved in this movie are Americans, there was an element of something international about it which I felt really reflected something about the international nature of this event.
What impact did the movie leave on you?
When I first read the script and then the book, I found it devastating. It was heartbreaking to look behind the curtain of that period in history. I’d never read or seen anything like it in my life. Of course I knew about slavery but mostly in a general context. This story really does put you in Solomon’s mindset, so that you start to understand what he is going through and what he is witnessing. I really began to feel what this kind of emotional journey would mean to someone. After that, it was impossible to lose it. It penetrated me to the point that I still feel it. It’s quite a thing.
