Paul Giamatti Joins ‘Twelve Years a Slave’

Paul Giamatti might just be not only the busiest man in Hollywood, but the busiest man in the entire world. Not only is the upcoming musical “Rock of Ages” his third film already this year, he has no fewer than seven more films in one stage or another of production.

Despite this, however, Variety is reporting that Giamatti has just signed on to co-star in director Steve McQueen’s latest effort, “Twelve Years a Slave.”

Twelve years? Given Giamatti’s amazingly efficient scheduling, we’re guessing he can do it in five.

Based on an 1853 memoir by Solomon Northrop, “Twelve Years a Slave” stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as a free man who is kidnapped and sold into slavery; Giamatti will be playing the ironically named Freeman, who “takes possession of the slaves upon their arrival in New Orleans.”

And Giamatii isn’t the only new addition to a cast that already boasts such luminaries as Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt and Benedict Cumberbatch; “American Horror Story’s” Sarah Paulson has also signed on in the enviable role as Fassbender’s wife, while “Raising Hope’s” Garret Dillahunt will play a field hand.

“Twelve Years a Slave,” which is tentatively scheduled for release in 2013, is set to begin filming later this summer on location in Lousiana. The film is McQueen’s follow-up to last year’s controversial collaboration with Fassbender, “Shame.”

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