Cumberbatch Buys A Slave For 12 Years

"Sherlock" and "Star Trek 2" star Benedict Cumberbatch is set to join the cast of "Shame" and "Hunger" director Steve McQueen's Twelve Years A Slave biopic says The Guardian.

Set in the mid-19th century, the film tells the true story of New Yorker Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who was kidnapped and shipped off into forced labor. Eventually he was rescued from a Louisiana cotton plantation in 1853.

Cumberbatch will play a Louisiana cotton plantation owner who buys Ejiofor's character and is won over by his engineering skills.

McQueen and John Ridley (”Bobby,” “Three Kings”) wrote the script.

Michael Fassbender, the lead star in McQueen's two previous films, Paul Dano and Brad Pitt also star.