12 Years a Slave Trivia
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47 free 12 Years a Slave trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
This 12 Years a Slave trivia quiz covers Steve McQueen's 2013 Best Picture winner and the 1853 memoir behind it. It follows Solomon Northup from Saratoga Springs to Washington, the slave pen, the name Platt, William Ford's plantation and the noose, Edwin Epps and Patsey, the letter that is burned, the Canadian carpenter Samuel Bass and the ride home. Behind the scenes it covers how McQueen's partner found the book, Brad Pitt's Plan B backing the film, the four Louisiana plantations used as locations, the seven-week shoot, Sean Bobbitt's 35mm anamorphic photography and the Goya comparison, Patricia Norris's thousand costumes, Hans Zimmer's score, and the credit dispute between McQueen and screenwriter John Ridley. A separate round covers the real Northup and his memoir, its rediscovery in 1968, and the 86th Academy Awards, where the film's win made McQueen the first Black director of a Best Picture winner and Lupita Nyong'o won for her debut. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries before publishing.
30 of 47 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In 12 Years a Slave, Northup is lured away from his family home in which New York town?
Saratoga Springs
Saratoga Springs. He and his wife Anne worked in the resort's hotels each visiting season, and she was away cooking when two strangers offered him a job with their circus.
Q 02Who plays Solomon Northup in 12 Years a Slave?
Chiwetel Ejiofor
Chiwetel Ejiofor first said no, unsure he could carry the part. The director had no backup plan and simply gave him time to come round.
Q 03What is Northup's profession in 12 Years a Slave before he is kidnapped?
Violinist
Violinist. His playing is the bait: two strangers offer him good wages to perform with their circus, then drug him and sell him.
Q 04In which city is Northup drugged and delivered to a slave pen?
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C. Northup wrote that the pen stood 'within the very shadow of the Capitol', close enough for speeches about freedom to mingle with the rattle of chains.
Q 05In 12 Years a Slave, what slave name is Northup given by the trader Theophilus Freeman?
Platt
Platt. When Northup protests that it isn't his name, Freeman strikes him and promises to teach him it so that he never forgets.
Q 06Who plays the slave trader Theophilus Freeman in 12 Years a Slave?
Paul Giamatti
Paul Giamatti. His trader sells Eliza away from both her children despite her pleading, a parting Northup's memoir describes at Freeman's slave pen.
Q 07Who plays William Ford, Northup's first owner, in 12 Years a Slave?
Benedict Cumberbatch
Benedict Cumberbatch. The film undercuts Ford, though Northup's memoir insists there 'never was a more kind, noble, candid, Christian man'.
Q 08In 12 Years a Slave, which scheme of Northup's wins praise from his first owner, William Ford?
Floating timber by water
Floating timber by water. Northup had worked on New York's Champlain Canal, and his rafts down the creek saved the cost of hauling lumber overland.
Q 09In 12 Years a Slave, which carpenter tries to lynch Northup after Northup beats him?
John Tibeats
John Tibeats. The overseer drives him off at gunpoint, but Northup is left on tiptoe with the noose round his neck for hours until Ford cuts him down.
Q 10Who plays the sadistic plantation owner Edwin Epps in 12 Years a Slave?
Michael Fassbender
Michael Fassbender. By Northup's account the real Epps was crueller still, falling into 'whipping moods' whenever he was drunk.
Q 11Who plays Patsey in 12 Years a Slave?
Lupita Nyong'o
Lupita Nyong'o was cast three weeks before graduating from the Yale School of Drama, and the part won her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
Q 12In 12 Years a Slave, what has Patsey done to bring on her near-fatal whipping?
She left to fetch soap
She left to fetch soap. Mistress Epps would not allow her any, so Patsey walked to the Shaw plantation for a piece and pulled it from her pocket as proof.
Q 13Who plays Mary Epps, the planter's jealous wife, in 12 Years a Slave?
Sarah Paulson
Sarah Paulson. Her Mistress Epps takes out her husband's obsession on Patsey; Northup's memoir says nothing delighted her so much as to see the girl suffer.
Q 21Who wrote the screenplay for 12 Years a Slave?
John Ridley
John Ridley kept sole credit, reportedly after refusing the director's request to share it, and neither man thanked the other in his Oscar speech.
Q 22Who found the memoir behind 12 Years a Slave and handed it to the director?
His partner
His partner, the Dutch writer Bianca Stigter. He and his screenwriter were stuck for a story, and he was upset with himself for never having heard of the book.
Q 23In which state, where the real Northup was enslaved, was 12 Years a Slave filmed?
Louisiana
Louisiana. The crew spent seven weeks around New Orleans in the summer of 2012, well south of the Red River country where Northup was actually held.
Q 14In 12 Years a Slave, what destroys Epps's crop, forcing him to lease out his slaves?
Cotton worms
Cotton worms. Epps calls it a biblical plague, blames his 'heathen' slaves for bringing God's scorn on him, and hires them out to a judge's sugar plantation.
Q 15In 12 Years a Slave, which white field hand betrays Northup after taking his money to mail a letter?
Armsby
Armsby. Northup saves himself by persuading Epps that the man is lying to win an overseer's job, then burns the letter himself.
Q 16In 12 Years a Slave, which Canadian labourer finally helps Northup get word to New York?
Samuel Bass
Samuel Bass. In Northup's memoir he wrote several letters and, when months passed with no answer, vowed to travel north himself.
Q 17Who plays the Canadian carpenter who helps free Northup in 12 Years a Slave?
Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt. His character's argument with Epps over the wrongs of slavery is lifted almost word for word from Northup's memoir.
Q 18In 12 Years a Slave, what is Northup helping a Canadian carpenter build when he confides his story?
A gazebo
A gazebo. In Northup's memoir the job was a new house for Epps, and the two men met in secret at midnight on the bayou bank to plan their letters.
Q 19Who arrives with the sheriff to identify Northup at the end of 12 Years a Slave?
Parker, a shopkeeper
Parker, a shopkeeper from home. In reality the man who came south was Henry Northup, a lawyer whose family had once owned Solomon's father.
Q 20What does Northup offer his family as he walks in at the end of 12 Years a Slave?
An apology
An apology: he says he is sorry for his appearance after 'a difficult time'. In the memoir his daughter Margaret, seven when he vanished, did not recognise him at first.
Q 24In 12 Years a Slave, what does Epps force his exhausted slaves to do at night for his amusement?
Dance
Dance. Northup's memoir calls these Epps's 'dancing moods': he would rouse the slaves after a day in the fields and whip anyone who tried to rest.
Q 25How does 12 Years a Slave stage Patsey's whipping?
In one take
In one take. Its cinematographer said a cut would remind viewers they were watching a film and let them 'off the hook', so the camera never looks away.
Q 26Which Spanish painter of war's horrors did the director of 12 Years a Slave cite when explaining how he filmed violence?
Francisco Goya
Francisco Goya. McQueen said those pictures of torture are exquisite because they tell you to 'Look, look at this', and that painting them badly would only distract from what they show.
Q 27What did 12 Years a Slave's costume designer collect to match the clothes?
Earth samples
Earth samples. She matched the colours of the costumes to the very soil the characters worked, site by site, and planned the look with the cinematographer.
Q 28Who composed the score for 12 Years a Slave?
Hans Zimmer
Hans Zimmer at first felt he 'wasn't the guy' for so weighty a subject, and it took some persuading from the director before he signed on.
Q 29Which spiritual did John Legend cover for the 12 Years a Slave soundtrack album?
Roll, Jordan, Roll
Roll, Jordan, Roll. In the film the slaves sing it at the graveside of a fellow field hand, and Northup's voice slowly joins theirs.
Q 30Who hosted the 2014 Oscars at which 12 Years a Slave won Best Picture?
Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen DeGeneres, hosting for the second time, took a star-packed selfie from the audience that broke Twitter's retweet record.