“It Sucked Up All The Guilt About Black People” Mandela Screenwriter Makes Controversial Comments About “12 Years A Slave”

Although it was certainly one of the most popular films at the Academy Awards earlier this year, it seems not everyone was a fan of 12 Years a Slave, particularly Mandela screenwriter William Nicholson. According to the Huffington Post, Nicholson attended Hay Festival in Wales and attempted to explain why Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom didn't do as well as expected. "I'm incredibly proud of this film. Unfortunately it didn't get the kind of acclaim that I wanted," he told the Daily Telegraph at the festival. "It didn't get Oscars. '12 Years a Slave' came out in America and that sucked up all the guilt about black people that was available." Nicholson didn't stop there: "They [the audience] were so exhausted feeling guilty about slavery that I don't think there was much left over to be nice about our film. So our film didn't do as well as we'd hoped, which was a bit heart-breaking," he said. "I really thought it was going to win lots of awards, partly because it's a good story but also because I thought I'd done a really good job and the director had done a really good job. So it has been very tough for me. Some things work and some things don't. You just have to soldier on." Nicholson also made some comments about the impact the death of Mandela had on the film: "Mandela died as I was in the royal premiere with Will and Kate. Suddenly the word came through that he died. We were deluged with Mandela stuff and after a week we all thought, please, take it away, we've heard enough about Mandela." The screenwriter also announced that he wrote most of the speeches from the film himself, according to the Independent: “I know it sounds outrageous to say a thing like that, but when he came out of prison he made a speech and, God, you fell asleep,” he said.