Podcasts about best adapted screenplay oscar

Streaming viewership of "Conclave" surged 3,200 percent in the week after Pope Francis’ death. Viewers turned to that movie, which won the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, to help them understand one of the most secretive elections on the planet. The film is based on the novel by Robert Harris, who joined Geoff Bennett to break down the complicated process of electing the next pontiff. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

Streaming viewership of "Conclave" surged 3,200 percent in the week after Pope Francis’ death. Viewers turned to that movie, which won the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, to help them understand one of the most secretive elections on the planet. The film is based on the novel by Robert Harris, who joined Geoff Bennett to break down the complicated process of electing the next pontiff. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

We're toasting the twentieth anniversary of a film about wine, friendship, and love among the vineyards of the Santa Ynez Valley, California. Directed by Alexander Payne and based on the novel by Rex Pickett, this 2004 hangout/road comedy from Fox Searchlight became a critic's darling, sweeping the “Big Four” critics' awards and winning the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA, WGA, and Critic's Choice awards for Payne and co-writer Jim Taylor. The movie also marked breakthrough performances for its entire lead cast: Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen, and Sandra Oh. The corky, uh, quirky comedy even affected wine sales, causing a spike in pinot noir sales and a dip in merlot sales. But will praise of this film die on the vine with our three hosts, or will we find that it goes down easy despite its vintage? Join us as we give you the straight story on Sideways!   For more geeky podcasts visit GonnaGeek.com   You can find us on iTunes under ''Legends Podcast''. Please subscribe and give us a positive review. You can also follow us on Twitter @LegendsPodcast or even better, send us an e-mail: LegendsPodcastS@gmail.com   You can write to Rum Daddy directly: rumdaddylegends@gmail.com You can find all our contact information here on the Network page of GonnaGeek.com Our complete archive is always available at www.legendspodcast.com, www.legendspodcast.libsyn.com

Welcome to the Script Apart Storyteller Sessions – three days of career-spanning conversations with truly game-changing storytellers, talking about their relationship with the page. 100% of proceeds are going to the Entertainment Community Fund, a brilliant charity doing hugely important work – so if you enjoy this episode or any of the episodes across this weekend, please do consider hitting the link below and donating to that wonderful cause:Donate to our fundraiser here!Today, we're kicking off with what is basically the Catalina Wine Mixer of podcast interviews. Our guest today is a filmmaker responsible for some of the great comedies of our time, and someone whose storytelling has undergone a fascinating transformation as the world has slipped into climate emergency, economic emergency and political disrepair. Somehow, in a time with dwindling things to laugh about, this writer-director has found a way to engage with those crises in ludicrously entertaining ways. He's the filmmaker behind Anchorman, Step Brothers, Talladega Nights, The Other Guys, The Big Short, Vice and Don't Look Up – it's Adam McKay! Adam got his break on Saturday Night Live, becoming the show's head writer in 1996. His collaborations on SNL with another emerging comic, Will Ferrell, immediately caught the eye and simply could not be contained to the small screen for long. By the early ‘00s, the pair had turned their anarchic chemistry into a wave of outrageously quotable comedies that fast found themselves woven into our shared pop culture landscape. “It escalated quickly,” as Ron Burgundy might say. Then came a change of pace. In 2015, after his father lost his home as part of a devastating economic downturn, Adam released The Big Short – a white collar crime comedy about the 2007 financial crash. It won him and his co-writer Charles Randolph the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar at that year's Academy Awards, and signalled a sea change not just in the content of Adam's movies going forward, but also in the cinematic language he was using to tell his stories. His films since then – and to a lesser degree, titles he's worked on as a producer, such as the smash hit Succession –  have doubled down on that new storytelling style, full of frantic edits and experimental flourishes.Adam's monumental success has come in the face of a couple of challenging moments medically across his life. In 2000, he was diagnosed with a condition known as essential tremor, and in 2017, he suffered a heart attack on the set of Vice. In the conversation you're about to hear, we discuss how that heart attack sharpened his resolve to make 2021's bracing Don't Look Up. We get into why Step Brothers is a film that “tells you all you need to know about America” – a nation in which “consumer culture has turned us into children,” Adam insists. You'll hear why he decided to abandon the three-act structure of his old films in part as a response to the rise of Donald Trump and what he's learned about to fix the world from his recent string of movies grappling with its many problems.The Entertainment Community Fund do extraordinary work lifting up storytellers of all descriptions, and have been a vital support for entertainment industry workers affected by this summer's strike action. So if you enjoy this episode, please do consider donating below.Donate to our fundraiser here!Support the show

Fresh off of winning the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for Women Talking, Sarah Polley is posed to become a major voice in modern filmmaking. In this episode, we review Polley's short but impressive list of films. Warning: We also talk rickshaws. As always let us know what we got wrong on Facebook, on Twitter, @PopcornAuteur, or email us at popcornauteur@gmail.com.   Show Notes/Sources: https://www.indiewire.com/awards/consider-this/sarah-polley-women-talking-interview-oscars-1234811960/ https://www.vogue.com/article/women-talking-sarah-polley-interview https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/11/21/sarah-polleys-journey-from-child-star-to-feminist-auteur https://www.wgaeast.org/onwriting/episode-106-sarah-polley-women-talking/ http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-1403-sarah-polley https://movingimage.us/programs/sarah-polley/  

Professional screenwriters share their career journey, and provide valuable advice to aspiring writers, at the Big Apple Film Festival Screenwriters Conference. Hosted by Big Apple Film Festival moderator, Craig Price. JOSE RIVERA José Rivera's screenplay The Motorcycle Diaries was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar— making him the first Puerto Rican writer ever nominated for an Academy Award—as well as a BAFTA and Writers Guild Award and received top screenwriting awards in Argentina and Spain. Other films include On the Road, Trade and The 33. Rivera co-created and produced Eerie, Indiana, (NBC) and was a consultant and staff writer on Penny Dreadful: City of Angels (Showtime). He has written 18 episodes of the Netflix series based on One Hundred Years of Solitude. Rivera wrote and directed the short films The Fall of a Sparrow and The Civet, both of which were official selections of the Big Apple Film Festival. His latest screenplay is A Song for the Recycled Orchestra. He has served on the boards of TCG and the Sundance Institute and was a Creative Advisor at Sundance Screenwriting Labs in Utah, Jordan and India. Jose is a recipient of two Obie Awards for Marisol and References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot, both produced by the Public Theater. Plays seen at the Goodman include Cloud Tectonics, Boleros for the Disenchanted, Massacre (Sing to Your Children), Another Word for Beauty, Sueño and The Untranslatable Secrets of Nikki Corona, which appeared as part of New Stages. JAMIE NASH Jamie Nash optioned his first screenplay in 2004 to Haxan Films . That script then turned into his first produced film, the horror-feature Altered. distributed by Universal Home Entertainment and Rogue Pictures. It also started a decade-long collaboration with Eduardo Sanchez, co-director of famed found-footage flick The Blair Witch Project.

THIS IS A PREVIEW PODCAST. NOT THE FULL EPISODE. Please check out the full episode on our Patreon Page by subscribing over at - https://www.patreon.com/NextBestPicture Next Best Adaptation is back where we review the source material of the year's potential Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar contenders. Last time we were here we looked at "Rebecca" by Daphne Du Maurier and "Death On The Nile" by Agatha Christie. Now, we are looking at "Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir Of A Family And Culture In Crisis" by J.D. Vance. We recorded this podcast over the summer but the trailer for the film adaptation by Ron Howard and starring Amy Adams and Glenn Close was unveiled by Netflix today and we figured now was the right time to release this podcast. Joining me for this podcast discussion into the themes, characters and more controversial political viewpoints of this memoir, I have Michael Schwartz & Cody Dericks. Check out more on NextBestPicture.com Please subscribe on... SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/nextbestpicturepodcast iTunes Podcasts - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/negs-best-film-podcast/id1087678387?mt=2 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7IMIzpYehTqeUa1d9EC4jT And be sure to help support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month at https://www.patreon.com/NextBestPicture

THIS IS A PREVIEW PODCAST. NOT THE FULL REVIEW. Please check out the full review on our Patreon Page by subscribing over at - https://www.patreon.com/NextBestPicture Next Best Adaptation is back where we review the source material of the year's potential Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar contenders. Last time, we looked at "Rebecca" by Daphne Du Maurier, and this time we are taking a look at Agatha Christie's mystery novel "Death On The Nile" which will be released on October 21st by Netflix. Directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh as the returning Hercule Poirot, it serves as a sequel to his 2017 film "Murder On The Orient Express." It will surely not only be compared to the source material but to the 1978 film of the same name. We mostly focus on the book here but also touch on the 1978 adaptation and what we hope for with Branagh's latest. Joining me for this podcast I have Will Mavity and Dan Bayer. Check out more on NextBestPicture.com Please subscribe on... SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/nextbestpicturepodcast iTunes Podcasts - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/negs-best-film-podcast/id1087678387?mt=2 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7IMIzpYehTqeUa1d9EC4jT And be sure to help support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month at https://www.patreon.com/NextBestPicture

In which sci-fi fan Kylie Klein-Nixon and her somewhat willing protege Emily Brookes delight over Taika Waititi joining the Star Wars universe, talk about the high and low points of that and other franchises and - finally - rank the Chrises. * Can we make Taika Waititi New Zealander of the Year again? Fresh off winning the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for Jojo Rabbit, and with his second Thor film in the works, it's been announced that the Kiwi filmmaker will co-write and direct a Star Wars movie. There are already some who are grumbling about this decision, but Kylie and Emily are thrilled with it and think that particular Waititian blend of genre reverence, deadpan humour, self-referentialism and pathos might be exactly what this legendary, if not uneven, franchise needs. Of course you can't talk about Taika Waititi in franchises without discussing Thor: Ragnorok. We chat about that, too, and the ups and downs of Star Wars, Avengers and Star Trek. All of which leads us to a frankly long-overdue Ranking of the Chrises (that's Evans, Hemsworth, Pine, and Pratt, for those of you unfamiliar with the term), leading to some surprising conclusions. Plus, Kylie starts to ease Emily into Dune, Denis Villeneuve's upcoming two-part adaptation of the classic novel (the first of which is due out in December), which Emily will have to watch as a Timothee Chalamet completist, even if she doesn't consider herself a sci-fi fan. * Folks are super excited about Waititi's turn at the Star wars helm. Check out this killer Māori/lightsaber make-up look. Waititi isn't the first Māori filmmaker to make his mark on the Star Wars Universe. That honour goes to Temuera Morrison for his turn as Jango Fett in Attack of the Clones. Tem also performed the voice of Boba Fett in the zhooshed up 90s re-release of The Empire Strikes Back, a role it was announced on Saturday he'll be reprising in Kylie's favourite Star Wars instalment to date - The Mandalorian. This Is The Way! What We Do in the Shadows is currently in its second season. It airs on FX and Hulu in the US and Neon in New Zealand, and is probably available where you live. Here's the incomparable David Mitchell and Robert Webb asking: “Are we the bad guys?” Murray and Bret are not happy about Jemaine dating and Australian girl in Flight of the Conchords. As Kylie points out, it will probably be a while before we have a Dune trailer, but Vanity Fair has released the first stills and they are fittingly epic. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/off-script-nz/message

THIS IS A PREVIEW PODCAST. NOT THE FULL REVIEW. Please check out the full review on our Patreon Page by subscribing over at - https://www.patreon.com/NextBestPicture It's been two years but with renewed interest, we are finally bringing back Next Best Adaptation, where we review the source material of the year's potential Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar contenders. We hope that this podcast will be a good use of your time while we sit in quarantine with little to do. So join us, pick up a book, particularly "Rebecca" by Daphne Du Maurier and join our virtual bookclub here on the podcast! We not only discuss the novel but also our thoughts on any previous adaptations and our expectations for the upcoming film adaptation later this year (hopefully). Joining me for this podcast I have Will Mavity and Dan Bayer. Check out more on NextBestPicture.com Please subscribe on... SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/nextbestpicturepodcast iTunes Podcasts - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/negs-best-film-podcast/id1087678387?mt=2 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7IMIzpYehTqeUa1d9EC4jT And be sure to help support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month at https://www.patreon.com/NextBestPicture

Netflix NEWSUpdates on Netflix original content releasing this week and the announcements from last week.Netflix Originals Releasing This WeekBabylon Berlin Seasons 1 & 2 (January 30)Netflix Distributed German Language Series Based on the novels by Volker Kutscher, this Raymond Chandler-esque crime story from Tom Tykwer follows German detective Gereon Rath (Volker Bruch) who is sent to Berlin to investigate the Russian mafia. The story encmpasses sixteen parts over two seasons which were filmed concurrently. A third season is being planned.The 1929 period epic, the most expensive German-language TV series in history, is set against the social and political upheaval of Germany in 1929. The world's most modern and progressive society is threatened by rising right-wing extremism and a world economy teetering on the brink.The show follows police inspector Gereon Rath into a tangled web of crime and intrigue in the days of the Weimar Republic. Retribution Season 1 (January 30)Netflix Distributed  Series A dark web of secrets and lies emerges when a newlywed couple is killed and detectives question their feuding families.Altered Carbon Season 1 (February 2) Netflix Original Series - 10 episodesTakeshi Kovacs is put into a cop’s body as he’s hired to investigate a suicide purported to be a murder. Laurens Bancroft apparently committed suicide, destroying the stack that contains his consciousness, but with a 48 hour back up, he buys a new body and hires Kovacs to figure out what happened in those two days.Teaser videoTrailer teaser video  Watch the trailer Coach Snoop Season 1 (February 2) Netflix Documentary Series - 8 episodes Follows legendary rapper Snoop Dogg outside the studio and on the field, he coaches a team of teenagers in the Snoop Youth Football League, offering an intimate look at Snoop and the players as they chase a championship and deal with adversity off the field.Watch the trailerKavin Jay: Everyone Calm Down! (February 2)Netflix Comedy SpecialStarting his stand up career at the age of 19 on London’s urban comedy circuit, he has made TV & radio appearances on MTV and BBC Radio 1. Kevin is the recipient of the prestigious Black Tie Comedy Award for best newcomer in addition to his extensive stage work Luna Petunia Return to Amazia Season 1 (February 2) Netflix Kids SeriesThis animated series follows a girl who lives in our world but plays in a dream world.On Body and Soul (Feburary 2) - Limited AvailabilityNetflix Exclusive MovieHungary's entry for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar and International film festival winner, this is a love story set in a slaughterhouse in Budapest written by Ildiko Enyedi. A man and woman discover they have the same dream every night where they meet as deer in the forest.Netflix Trailers Seven Seconds trailer - February 23The Trader [Sovdagari] trailer  - February 9Fred Armisen: Standup for Drummers trailer - February 6 The Ritual trailer - February 9When We First Met trailer - February 9 Netflix Previews & VideosMy Next Guest Needs No Introduction - 6 Takeaways from Dave's Talk with ObamaBill Nye Saves the World - Mad Scientist New to Netflix US Highlight Video for February A Futile and Stupid Gesture video - January 26 A Futile and Stupid Gesture - Doug Kenney Digital Exclusive - January 26 Altered Carbon Fight for your Life video - February 2Edha date announcement video  - March 16Rapture Series Announcement video  - March 30The Rain teaser video - Spring 2018 Netflix News & AnnouncementsNetflix Orders 8 Episode Documentary Series UnbelievableSpike Lee Talks She's Gotta Have It Season 2 New & Leaving Netflix US Full List for FebruaryNetflix Release Series of 15 minute Comedy Specials in 2018Netflix Targeting Short Form Content Directed at Mobile UsersMudbound Director Dee Rees First Black Woman Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay OscarStranger Things Season 3 -  Will Gets a Break & a New Evil EmergesNetflix in Talks to Buy J.J. Abrams Cloverfield SequelGod Particle Charlie Kaufman Will Adapt I'm Thinking of Ending ThingsJoanne Whalley Cast in Daredevil Season 3, Potentially as Sister MaggieShe's Gotta Have It Season 2 - Chyna Lane Promoted to Series Regular Rapture Hip Hop Documentary Series Messiah Series Casts Mehdi Dehbi in Lead RoleAlexa and Katie To Debut on March 23 Norm MacDonald Negotiating Talk Show with Netflix Hype ListBlack Mirror Season 5 (2019, unconfirmed) Disenchantment Season 1 (2018)Dark Season 2 (2018, projected) Stranger Things Season 3 (2018, projected)Altered Carbon Season 2 (unconfirmed) The Witcher Season 1 (TBA) Ratched Season 1 (2019)Mindhunter Season 2 (2018) Arrested Development Season 5 (2018)The Umbrella Academy Season 1 (2018)

Lucasfilm made the safe choice by re-hiring Force Awakens director/co-writer J.J. Abrams to be the new director/co-writer for Episode IX. As opposed to Larry Kasdan, the newly announced co-writer with Abrams will be Chris Terrio, who won the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for Argo, and who also has his name attached to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Punch it! ***I'm listener supported! Go to http://Patreon.com/sw7x7 to donate to the Star Wars 7x7 podcast, and you’ll get some fabulous rewards for your pledge.***  Check out SW7x7.com for full Star Wars 7x7 show notes and links, and to comment on any of the content of this episode! If you like what you've heard, please leave me a rating or review on iTunes or Stitcher, which will also help more people discover this Star Wars podcast. Don't forget to join the Star Wars 7x7 fun on Facebook at Facebook.com/SW7x7, and follow the breaking news Twitter feed at Twitter.com/SW7x7Podcast. I'm also on Pinterest and Instagram as "SW7x7" too, and I'd love to connect with you there!

This week on StoryWeb: Solomon Northup’s book Twelve Years a Slave. Though slave narratives were widely read in the antebellum United States (and in fact were one of the most popular genres at that time), they are mostly read now primarily in American history and literature classes. My mother-in-law, Eileen Rebman, taught a variety of slave narratives for many years in her high school AP American history classes, and I regularly taught Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself as well as Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. In graduate school, I had the great fortune of taking a course on American autobiography taught by William L. Andrews, author of To Tell a Free Story: The First Century of Afro-American Autobiography, 1760-1865. In his class and in his book, Andrews provided outstanding insights into this genre unique to American letters. Slave narratives – written solely to end the practice of slavery – were not just polemical, says Andrews, but were also human, compelling, gripping. The best slave narratives made the reader sit up and take notice, care about the people whose stories were being told, and recognize their humanity. “Am I not a man and a brother?” asked one well-known abolitionist emblem. The ultimate goal of virtually every slave narrative was to inspire the reader to join the abolitionist cause. One such slave narrative was Solomon Northup’s 1853 volume, Twelve Years a Slave. Northup, a free black man living in Saratoga Springs, New York, was kidnapped by slave catchers and sold into a particularly brutal slave system in Louisiana. Though Northup was not as wealthy as the 2013 film adaptation suggests, the contrast between his life as a free man and his life as a slave was stark indeed. His book – ghostwritten by David Wilson, a white abolitionist – depicts the horror of being captured and sold into slavery and the utter degradation of slavery as Northup experienced it. Twelve Years a Slave was hugely popular in its day, selling 30,000 copies in three years. It followed quickly on the heels of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. In fact, Twelve Years a Slave is dedicated to Stowe. Northup was a slave on a plantation near the one owned by Stowe’s fictional Simon Legree. When Stowe followed up with a second volume, The Key to Uncle’s Tom Cabin, she cited Northup’s narrative as proof that slavery was indeed as bad as she had portrayed in her novel. But in the years after his book was published, Northup disappeared from view, and nothing is known of how his life ended. After the Civil War, his book, like so many slave narratives, fell out of circulation. It was not until 1968 that the book resurfaced, in a scholarly version co-edited by Sue Eakin and Joseph Logsdon. Through their expert sleuthing, Eakin and Logsdon were able to verify the accuracy of Northup’s account. Scholars and teachers of American history and literature, like my mother-in-law, took note of Northup’s slave narrative and incorporated it in their classes. But it was not until director Steve McQueen stumbled across the book that it would become well known to the general public. McQueen said: “I read this book, and I was totally stunned. At the same time I was pretty upset with myself that I didn't know this book. I live in Amsterdam where Anne Frank is a national hero, and for me this book read like Anne Frank's diary but written 97 years before – a firsthand account of slavery. I basically made it my passion to make this book into a film.” In the film, Chiwetel Ejiofor, an English actor, plays Solomon Northup, bringing to life this man’s unusual story. Lupita Nyong’o, who hails from Kenya, won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Patsey, a slave on the plantation. Perhaps her most memorable scene is the one in which she risks everything to obtain and smuggle onto the plantation a small piece of soap. When she is caught, she pleads with her owner, saying, “I stink so much I make myself gag!” The punishment that is meted out to her is brutal indeed, brought to the screen powerfully by black British director Steve McQueen and cinematographer Sean Bobbitt. This is a hard movie to watch, and I don’t recommend it lightly. But if you can stomach the graphic violence (which is always essential to the story, never gratuitous), I think you will find that the film does an outstanding job of portraying the bitter realities of slavery. Indeed, the film was shot on location at four Louisiana plantations, including Magnolia, which is located near the actual plantation where Northup was enslaved. Aisha Harris’s Slate article “The Tricky Questions Raised by a Complicated Genre: The Slave Narrative” puts Twelve Years a Slave in a rich context. An outstanding article in Vanity Fair, “’What’ll Become of Me?’ Finding the Real Patsey of 12 Years a Slave,” traces author Katie Calautti’s journey to find out what ultimately happened to Patsey, whose story Northup tells with such depth in his book. Many additional resources on the slave narrative and the resulting film can be found at the Reel American History website; see the bottom of the page on “filmic context” for particularly useful links. The National Endowment for the Humanities’ EDSITEment website offers a detailed series of lesson plans on Twelve Years a Slave and the genre of slave narratives. Even if you’re not a teacher, you’ll find these lesson plans and the related resources very helpful in understanding Northup’s book. Of special note is Andrews’s essay “Solomon Northup’s ‘Twelve Years a Slave’ and the Slave Narrative Tradition.” Andrews writes, The autobiographies of people of African descent who were subjected to the peculiar injustices of American slavery testify to the best and the worst of which the United States of America as a nation is capable. Reading the great slave narratives of U.S. history, we discover unimaginable depravity in the institution and in many who perpetrated it—but we also find inspiration from the fortitude and faith of those who endured enslavement, overcame it, and wrote about it. The most powerful stories in the slave narrative tradition are invariably the ones that have been proven to be verifiably true. The fact that they reflect our nation’s history in a unique and compelling way makes these narratives essential reading for anyone who wants to know who we as Americans truly are. He adds, “Although often dismissed as mere antislavery propaganda, the widespread consumption of slave narratives in the nineteenth-century U.S. and Great Britain and their continuing prominence today testify to the power of these texts to provoke reflection and debate.” You can hear more from Andrews by listening to Robert Siegel’s interview with him on All Things Considered, in which Andrews discusses the differences between Northup’s 1853 slave narrative and McQueen’s 2013 film. If you’re ready to explore Twelve Years a Slave, you can read the entire narrative at the University of North Carolina’s Documenting the American South website, or you can buy Eakin and Logsdon’s excellent edition. And of course, McQueen’s film richly deserved the Best Picture and the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar awards it received. The legacy of slavery – and the lingering wounds of racism – remain with us today. Perhaps this is a large part of why the film was both commercially successfully and critically acclaimed. It is a story we still don’t understand, still can’t bear to watch with eyes and hearts wide open. Visit thestoryweb.com/northup for links to all these resources and to watch Lupita Nyong’o as the slave Patsey reveal that she has gone to another plantation to obtain soap to wash herself. Listen now as I read the second chapter of Solomon Northup’s Twelve Years a Slave, in which he describes being kidnapped by slave catchers.   One morning, towards the latter part of the month of March, 1841, having at that time no particular business to engage my attention, I was walking about the village of Saratoga Springs, thinking to myself where I might obtain some present employment, until the busy season should arrive. Anne, as was her usual custom, had gone over to Sandy Hill, a distance of some twenty miles, to take charge of the Culinary department at Sherrill's Coffee House, during the session of the court. Elizabeth, I think, had accompanied her. Margaret and Alonzo were with their aunt at Saratoga. On the corner of Congress street and Broadway near the tavern, then, and for aught I know to the contrary, still kept by Mr. Moon, I was met by two gentlemen of respectable appearance, both of whom were entirely unknown to me. I have the impression that they were introduced to me by some one of my acquaintances, but who, I have in vain endeavored to recall, with the remark that I was an expert player on the violin. At any rate, they immediately entered into conversation on that subject, making numerous inquiries touching my proficiency in that respect. My responses being to all appearances satisfactory, they proposed to engage my services for a short period, stating, at the same time, I was just such a person as their business required. Their names, as they afterwards gave them to me, were Merrill Brown and Abram Hamilton, though whether these were their true appellations, I have strong reasons to doubt. The former was a man apparently forty years of age, somewhat short and thick-set, with a countenance indicating shrewdness and intelligence. He wore a black frock coat and black hat, and said he resided either at Rochester or at Syracuse. The latter was a young man of fair complexion and light eyes, and, I should judge, had not passed the age of twenty-five. He was tall and slender, dressed in a snuff-colored coat, with glossy hat, and vest of elegant pattern. His whole apparel was in the extreme of fashion. His appearance was somewhat effeminate, but prepossessing and there was about him an easy air, that showed he had mingled with the world. They were connected, as they informed me, with a circus company, then in the city of Washington; that they were on their way thither to rejoin it, having left it for a short time to make an excursion northward, for the purpose of seeing the country, and were paying their expenses by an occasional exhibition. They also remarked that they had found much difficulty in procuring music for their entertainments, and that if I would accompany them as far as New-York, they would give me one dollar for each day's services, and three dollars in addition for every night I played at their performances, besides sufficient to pay the expenses of my return from New-York to Saratoga. I at once accepted the tempting offer, both for the reward it promised, and from a desire to visit the metropolis. They were anxious to leave immediately. Thinking my absence would be brief, I did not deem it necessary to write to Anne whither I had gone; in fact supposing that my return, perhaps, would be as soon as hers. So taking a change of linen and my violin, I was ready to depart. The carriage was brought round—a covered one, drawn by a pair of noble bays, altogether forming an elegant establishment. Their baggage, consisting of three large trunks, was fastened on the rack, and mounting to the driver's seat, while they took their places in the rear, I drove away from Saratoga on the road to Albany, elated with my new position, and happy as I had ever been, on any day in all my life. We passed through Ballston, and striking the ridge road, as it is called, if my memory correctly serves me, followed it direct to Albany. We reached that city before dark, and stopped at a hotel southward from the Museum. This night I had an opportunity of witnessing one of their performances—the only one, during the whole period I was with them. Hamilton was stationed at the door; I formed the orchestra, while Brown provided the entertainment. It consisted in throwing balls, dancing on the rope, frying pancakes in a hat, causing invisible pigs to squeal, and other like feats of ventriloquism and legerdemain. The audience was extraordinarily sparse, and not of the selectest character at that, and Hamilton's report of the proceeds but a "beggarly account of empty boxes." Early next morning we renewed our journey. The burden of their conversation now was the expression of an anxiety to reach the circus without delay. They hurried forward, without again stopping to exhibit, and in due course of time, we reached New-York, taking lodgings at a house on the west side of the city, in a street running from Broadway to the river. I supposed my journey was at an end, and expected in a day or two at least, to return to my friends and family at Saratoga. Brown and Hamilton, however, began to importune me to continue with them to Washington. They alleged that immediately on their arrival, now that the summer season was approaching, the circus would set out for the north. They promised me a situation and high wages if I would accompany them. Largely did they expatiate on the advantages that would result to me, and such were the flattering representations they made, that I finally concluded to accept the offer. The next morning they suggested that, inasmuch as we were about entering a slave State, it would be well, before leaving New-York, to procure free papers. The idea struck me as a prudent one, though I think it would scarcely have occurred to me, had they not proposed it. We proceeded at once to what I understood to be the Custom House. They made oath to certain facts showing I was a free man. A paper was drawn up and handed us, with the direction to take it to the clerk's office. We did so, and the clerk having added something to it, for which he was paid six shillings, we returned again to the Custom House. Some further formalities were gone through with before it was completed, when, paying the officer two dollars, I placed the papers in my pocket, and started with my two friends to our hotel. I thought at the time I must confess, that the papers were scarcely worth the cost of obtaining them—the apprehension of danger to my personal safety never having suggested itself to me in the remotest manner. The clerk, to whom we were directed, I remember, made a memorandum in a large book, which, I presume, is in the office yet. A reference to the entries during the latter part of March, or first of April, 1841, I have no doubt will satisfy the incredulous, at least so far as this particular transaction is concerned. With the evidence of freedom in my possession, the next day after our arrival in New-York, we crossed the ferry to Jersey City, and took the road to Philadelphia. Here we remained one night, continuing our journey towards Baltimore early in the morning. In due time, we arrived in the latter city, and stopped at a hotel near the railroad depot, either kept by a Mr. Rathbone, or known as the Rathbone House. All the way from New-York, their anxiety to reach the circus seemed to grow more and more intense. We left the carriage at Baltimore, and entering the cars, proceeded to Washington, at which place we arrived just at nightfall, the evening previous to the funeral of General Harrison, and stopped at Gadsby's Hotel, on Pennsylvania Avenue. After supper they called me to their apartments, and paid me forty-three dollars, a sum greater than my wages amounted to, Which act of generosity was in consequence, they said, of their not having exhibited as often as they had given me to anticipate, during our trip from Saratoga. They moreover informed me that it had been the intention of the circus company to leave Washington the next morning, but that on account of the funeral, they had concluded to remain another day. They were then, as they had been from the time of our first meeting, extremely kind. No opportunity was omitted of addressing me in the language of approbation; while, on the other hand, I was certainly much prepossessed in their favor. I gave them my confidence without reserve, and would freely have trusted them to almost any extent. Their constant conversation and manner towards me—their foresight in suggesting the idea of free papers, and a hundred other little acts, unnecessary to be repeated— all indicated that they were friends indeed, sincerely solicitous for my welfare. I know not but they were. I know not but they were innocent of the great wickedness of which I now believe them guilty. Whether they were accessory to my misfortunes—subtle and inhuman monsters in the shape of men—designedly luring me away from home and family, and liberty, for the sake of gold—those these read these pages will have the same means of determining as myself If they were innocent, my sudden disappearance must have been unaccountable indeed; but revolving in my mind all the attending circumstances, I never yet could indulge, towards them, so charitable a supposition. After receiving the money from them, of which they appeared to have an abundance, they advised me not to go into the streets that night, inasmuch as I was unacquainted with the customs of the city. Promising to remember their advice, I left them together, and soon after was shown by a colored servant to a sleeping room in the back part of the hotel, on the ground floor. I laid down to rest, thinking of home and wife, and children, and the long distance that stretched between us, until I fell asleep. But no good angel of pity came to my bedside, bidding me to fly—no voice of mercy forewarned me in my dreams of the trials that were just at hand. The next day there was a great pageant in Washington. The roar of cannon and the tolling of bells filled the air, while many houses were shrouded with crape, and the streets were black with people. As the day advanced, the procession made its appearance, coming slowly through the Avenue, carriage after carriage, in long succession, while thousands upon thousands followed on foot—all moving to the sound of melancholy music. They were bearing the dead body of Harrison to the grave. From early in the morning, I was constantly in the company of Hamilton and Brown. They were the only persons I knew in Washington. We stood together as the funeral pomp passed by. I remember distinctly how the window glass would break and rattle to the ground, after each report of the cannon they were firing in the burial ground. We went to the Capitol, and walked a long time about the grounds. In the afternoon, they strolled towards the President's House, all the time keeping me near to them, and pointing out various places of interest. As yet, I had seen nothing of the circus. In fact, I had thought of it but little, if at all, amidst the excitement of the day. My friends, several times during the afternoon, entered drinking saloons, and called for liquor. They were by no means in the habit, however, so far as I knew them, of indulging to excess. On these occasions, after serving themselves, they would pour out a glass and hand it to me. I did not become intoxicated, as may be inferred from what subsequently occurred. Towards evening, and soon after partaking of one of these potations, I began to experience most unpleasant sensations. I felt extremely ill. My head commenced aching—a dull, heavy pain, inexpressibly disagreeable. At the supper table, I was without appetite; the sight and flavor of food was nauseous. About dark the same servant conducted me to the room I had occupied the previous night. Brown and Hamilton advised me to retire, commiserating me kindly, and expressing hopes that I would be better in the morning. Divesting myself of coat and boots merely, I threw myself upon the bed. It was impossible to sleep. The pain in my head continued to increase, until it became almost unbearable. In a short time I became thirsty. My lips were parched. I could think of nothing but water—of lakes and flowing rivers, of brooks where I had stooped to drink, and of the dripping bucket, rising with its cool and overflowing nectar, from the bottom of the well. Towards midnight, as near as I could judge, I arose, unable longer to bear such intensity of thirst. I was a stranger in the house, and knew nothing of its apartments. There was no one up, as I could observe. Groping about at random, I knew not where, I found the way at last to a kitchen in the basement. Two or three colored servants were moving through it, one of whom, a woman, gave me two glasses of water. It afforded momentary relief, but by the time I had reached my room again, the same burning desire of drink, the same tormenting thirst, had again returned. It was even more torturing than before, as was also the wild pain in my head, if such a thing could be. I was in sore distress—in most excruciating agony! I seemed to stand on the brink of madness! The memory of that night of horrible suffering will follow me to the grave. In the course of an hour or more after my return from the kitchen, I was conscious of some one entering my room. There seemed to be several—a mingling of various voices,—but how many, or who they were, I cannot tell. Whether Brown and Hamilton were among them, is a mere matter of conjecture. I only remember with any degree of distinctness, that I was told it was necessary to go to a physician and procure medicine, and that pulling on my boots, without coat or hat, I followed them through a long passage-way, or alley, into the open street. It ran out at right angles from Pennsylvania Avenue. On the opposite side there was a light burning in a window. My impression is there were then three persons with me, but it is altogether indefinite and vague, and like the memory of a painful dream. Going towards the light, which I imagined proceeded from a physician's office, and which seemed to recede as I advanced, is the last glimmering recollection I can now recall. From that moment I was insensible. How long I remained in that condition— whether only that night, or many days and nights— I do not know; but when consciousness returned I found myself alone, in utter darkness, and in chains. The pain in my head had subsided in a measure, but I was very faint and weak. I was sitting upon a low bench, made of rough boards, and without coat or hat. I was hand cuffed. Around my ankles also were a pair of heavy fetters. One end of a chain was fastened to a large ring in the floor, the other to the fetters on my ankles. I tried in vain to stand upon my feet. Waking from such a painful trance, it was some time before I could collect my thoughts. Where was I? What was the meaning of these chains? Where were Brown and Hamilton? What had I done to deserve imprisonment in such a dungeon? I could not comprehend. There was a blank of some indefinite period, preceding my awakening in that lonely place, the events of which the utmost stretch of memory was unable to recall. I listened intently for some sign or sound of life, but nothing broke the oppressive silence, save the clinking of my chains, whenever I chanced to move. I spoke aloud, but the sound of my voice startled me. I felt of my pockets, so far as the fetters would allow—far enough, indeed, to ascertain that I had not only been robbed of liberty, but that my money and free papers were also gone! Then did the idea begin to break upon my mind, at first dim and confused, that I had been kidnapped. But that I thought was incredible. There must have been some misapprehension—some unfortunate mistake. It could not be that a free citizen of New-York, who had wronged no man, nor violated any law, should be dealt with thus inhumanly. The more I contemplated my situation, however, the more I became confirmed in my suspicions. It was a desolate thought, indeed. I felt there was no trust or mercy in unfeeling man; and commending myself to the God of the oppressed, bowed my head upon my fettered hands, and wept most bitterly.