The Business

Steve McQueen

Filmmaker Steve McQueen talks with The Business contributor John Horn about 12 Years a Slave . The movie has made nearly $110 million worldwide. McQueen talks about his hope that the movie, which was financed independently, can be an example to Hollywood studios that audiences want more than blockbusters.

By Kim Masters • May 12, 2014 • 1 min read

Filmmaker Steve McQueen talks with The Business contributor John Horn about 12 Years a Slave. The movie has made nearly $110 million worldwide. McQueen talks about his hope that the movie, which was financed independently, can be an example to Hollywood studios that audiences want more than blockbusters. Not only that, he hopes they see that "challenging" lower-budgeted films can be another form of revenue for them. At one point, Horn asks McQueen about the comparison of his film to Spielberg's Schindler’s List. The usually stoic filmmaker gets choked up at the memory of seeing the film when it opened on the upper East Side of New York City.