cricket30 Review of 12 Years a Slave: A Historical Portrait

12 Years a Slave: A Historical Portrait (2014 Video)

Apparently, "the most famous" DVD "extras" producer . . .

[7/10 · 5 November 2014]

. . . is too busy to let this site in on his efforts, other than a random entry here and there. I've decided NOT to take the time myself any more to create new entries for movies or "extras" overlooked here, as I'm probably even busier than Laurent Bouzereau himself. However, I WILL review one of the extras on the original DVD release of 12 YEARS A SLAVE, entitled THE TEAM. This piece runs 7 minutes and 43.57 seconds, and includes interviews with SLAVE director Steve McQueen, star Chiwetel Ejiofor (Solomon), bit player Rob Steinberg (Mr. Parker), key costumer Aaron P. Mastin, production designer Adam Stockhausen, D.P. Sean Bobbitt, make-up department head Ma Kalaaderi Ananda, editor Joe Walker, as well as producers Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, and Bill Pohlad. Someone says this shoot took only 35 days to rack up all its Oscars. Someone else (probably Adam) says it's pretty easy to transform current day New Orleans into the way it looked in the 1840s. Mr. McQueen says (to paraphrase) that the three plantation locations look quite sumptuous on film, and no effort was made to make the slave quarters look anachronistically squalid, since their physical abuse produced enough of an eyesore on screen.