With his first two feature films (Shame and Hunger), Steve McQueen has already established a distinctive visual style, and that’s no mean feat. Most of the great directors have all taken at least double that amount to make their style completely distinguishable from others. Perhaps it’s because his style is so intense and visceral and doesn’t make any compromises. Whatever the reason, McQueen has broken the mould and is consistently working far outside the box to deliver harrowing but elegiac masterpieces, striving to make each scene perfect, making the audience take in every single minute detail.

After delivering a truly mindblowing experience with Shame (a film that was wrongfully ommitted from the Academy Award nominations), some might say he’s going to have a hard time following it up. Perhaps not wanting comparisons to be drawn, he is moving into different territory with his next project, Twelve Years A Slave, which centers on the odyssey of one slave in 19th century America, from his injust capture to his eventual freedom. Chiwetel Ejiofor has already signed on to play the slave, named Solomon Northrup. Michael Fassbender is also reteaming with McQueen for this feature, marking their 3rd successive collaboration together.

Another star all set to play a role in the film is Brad Pitt. Until recently, we had no idea of the scope of his role. Unfortunately, it turns out that it’s only going to be a cameo, with a confirmation from the man himself:

“I’m only doing a small cameo, but it stars Michael Fassbender and Chiwetel Ejiofor, and there’ve been very few movies about slavery, certainly that had the impact of ‘Roots.'” [ThePlaylist]

Despite the disappointment that he won’t be taking a major role, his excitement for the project is certainly encouraging and hopefully his part will help the film reach a wider audience than Hunger and Shame did. It is certainly disappointing, though. The idea of Pitt starring in a McQueen feature is almost unimaginably good, so here’s to hoping his cameo is at the very least memorable.

With a script by John Ridley (Three Kings) and McQueen himself, the film should hopefully see release sometime in 2013.

Are you looking forward to Twelve Years A Slave? Are you also disappointed that Pitt’s role is nothing more than a cameo?

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