--- title: 'Mandela' Scriptwriter Blames '12 Years a Slave' for Movie's Failure description: 'Mandela' writer William Nicholson says his film didn't win awards because '12 Years a Slave' "sucked up all the guilt about black people" canonical: https://time.com/2817442/mandela-writer-blames-12-years-a-slave/ author: Megan Gibson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-03T12:32:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T08:10:57.078Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Mandela Scriptwriter Blames 12 Years a Slave for His Movie’s Failure og:description: Says Steve McQueen film "sucked up all the guilt about black people that was available" og:url: https://time.com/2817442/mandela-writer-blames-12-years-a-slave/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc53f658c44342ed0/698695ee3bc999f9691a3e47/493821161.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5616 og:image:height: 3159 og:image:alt: William Nicholson og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mandela Scriptwriter Blames 12 Years a Slave for His Movie’s Failure twitter:description: Says Steve McQueen film "sucked up all the guilt about black people that was available" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc53f658c44342ed0/698695ee3bc999f9691a3e47/493821161.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # _Mandela_ Scriptwriter Blames _12 Years a Slave_ for His Movie's Failure > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. by [Megan Gibson](https://time.com/author/megan-gibson/) ## Megan Gibson Jun 3, 2014 12:32 PM UTC  British playwright, novelist and screenwriter William Nicholson at his home near Lewes, East Sussex, 13th December 2012. British playwright, novelist and screenwriter William Nicholson at his home near Lewes, East Sussex, 13th December 2012. Eamonn McCabe--Getty Images by [Megan Gibson](https://time.com/author/megan-gibson/) ## Megan Gibson Jun 3, 2014 12:32 PM UTC Well, this is [one way ](http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jun/03/mandela-12-years-a-slave-guilt-black-people)to spin defeat. At a literary festival in England over the weekend, _Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom_ scriptwriter William Nicholson told the audience that his film failed to make a splash and win awards because _12 Years a Slave_ “sucked up all the guilt about black people that was available.” Unlike _12 Years_ — which earned rave reviews and took home three Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay — _Mandela_ received mixed reviews and only one Oscar nod for Best Original Song. (“Let It Go” from _Frozen_ ultimately picked up the prize.) Yet Nicholson — who previously co-wrote the scripts for _Gladiator_ and _Elizabeth: The Golden Age —_ doesn’t think _Mandela_‘s lukewarm reception was warranted. “I think it worked superbly,” he said of his film. But “\[Americans\] 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 heartbreaking.” \[[_Guardian_](http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jun/03/mandela-12-years-a-slave-guilt-black-people)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2817442/mandela-writer-blames-12-years-a-slave/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2817442/mandela-writer-blames-12-years-a-slave/"},"headline":"Mandela Scriptwriter Blames 12 Years a Slave for His Movie's Failure","datePublished":"2014-06-03T12:32:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:10:57.078Z","description":"Screenwriter William Nicholson says that his film Mandela failed to win awards because Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave \"sucked up all the guilt about black people\"","url":"https://time.com/2817442/mandela-writer-blames-12-years-a-slave/","keywords":["movies","Nelson Mandela","12 Years a Slave","awards","Mandela"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc53f658c44342ed0/698695ee3bc999f9691a3e47/493821161.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan Gibson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/megan-gibson/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc53f658c44342ed0/698695ee3bc999f9691a3e47/493821161.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"William Nicholson","caption":"William Nicholson","creditText":"Eamonn McCabe--Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2817442/mandela-writer-blames-12-years-a-slave/","name":"Mandela Scriptwriter Blames 12 Years a Slave for His Movie's Failure"}}]}] ```