Steve McQueen Ecstatic About Oscar Nominations, Credits Cast For '12 Years' Success
With nine nominations, 12 Years A Slave is the obvious favorite at the Oscars this year. Among those nine nods are the big ones – Best Director and Best Picture. This could make McQueen the first black director to win the Best Director award, prompting the question: why did it take so long? Overdue or not, McQueen is ecstatic about the nominations and optimistic about 12 Years’ (generally great) chances.
Image caption The director is particularly proud of Ejiofor's stirring performance.
"She rang me in tears and she said 'Thank you, thank you, what have you done?' I said, 'Girl what have you done? Congratulations to you,' " he says.