Steve McQueen: People didn't want Slave movie

Chiwetel Ejiofor stars in 12 Years a Slave. Photo / AP

British film-maker Steve McQueen has said "a lot of people" did not want his award-winning movie 12 Years A Slave to be made.

McQueen, who has said becoming the first black director to win a best picture Oscar was "of no consequence", said people "want to close their eyes" on certain matters.

His story of a free New Yorker, Solomon Northup, kidnapped and sold into slavery in the Deep South of the United States, also won Oscars for its screenplay and supporting actress Lupita Nyong'o.

In an interview with the FT Weekend Magazine, McQueen said: "A lot of people didn't want the movie made."

Filmmaker Steve McQueen. Photo / AP

Asked if he was able to understand that, he said: "Yes, because people want to close their eyes on some subjects. They want to keep on going, they don't want to look behind them."

The Londoner, who now lives and works in Amsterdam, also told the magazine that he would like to return to the subject matter of male sexuality which he explored in his film Shame.

"That is unfinished business. I really want to come back to that," he said.

"So many important decisions in the world are connected with the sexual appetites of important men. Whether it is JFK, or Clinton, or Martin Luther King. That is what we are. That is part of us. But sometimes people are embarrassed by their pleasures."

- PAA