I think it’s hilarious that amiable Huffpost guy Ricky Camilleri asked 12 Years A Slave star Chiwetel Ejiofor how he and his fellow cast members had fun on the set. Whee! “There was a lot of love on the set, a lot of focus, a very high level of engagement,” Ejiofor answers, “but the fun was not on the set.” At an earlier point Camilleri laments that “even critics says it’s a masterpiece but Fox Searchlight may have difficulty marketing this because of the brutality” and says that it’s unfortunate that they’re even saying this. By the same light one could complain that Oscar watchers like myself aren’t showing the proper respect for Steve McQueen‘s film by nothing that a significant pushback response has manifested among the Academy rank and file. It’s very unfortunate that this has happened. There is only one valid response to a masterpiece, and this is to kneel down and absorb and be grateful for that communion. The sad reality is that many people are too egocentric for this. They sit there and go “yeah, yeah but what about what I want?”

Here also is a Camilleri chat with Seduced and Abandoned director James Toback: