Chiwetel Ejiofor's Moment of Self-Doubt To anyone who might think it odd that a British man played the role of a 19th-century free American black man forced, through kidnapping, into slavery, Chiwetel Ejiofor says this: slavery infected much of the world. "It's part of Europe as well," he said in an interview from London on Thursday. Britain was involved in it, and France in terms of the West Indies. Although this story was set in America, there's in fact an international aspect to it. Mr. Ejiofor dove deep into that world for his role as Solomon Northup in "12 Years a Slave," which has also garnered him a Golden Globe nomination for best performance by an actor in a drama (amid heaps of other best actor wins and nominations). To inhabit that role, Mr. Ejiofor drew from his roots - his family is from Nigeria, which for several hundred years served as a shipping point for tens of thousands of slaves. Mr. Ejiofor said he was at first terrified to play the role in the film, which is based on the memoir by the real Solomon Northup, who was born free in Saratoga, N.Y., but forced into slavery in the antebellum South. "I first was very intimidated and racked with self-doubt," Mr. Ejiofor said. The screenplay - I felt the weight of it. I've never seen a film like that, from inside the slave experience. It took a moment to get on board. The film, directed by a fellow Brit, Steve McQueen, who is up for a best director Golden Globe, unflinchingly depicts the brutality of slavery and the physical and mental violence rained upon its human prisoners. Yet Mr. Ejiofor said any physical discomfort he experienced during filming was, relatively speaking, insignificant. "You feel you have a fraction of an insight into what may have been occurring," he said. Mr. Ejiofor learned of his nomination after traveling from Paris to London and had been sitting in a hotel room waiting, with fingers crossed. In the end, "12 Years a Slave" drew seven nominations, including best picture. "It's been absolutely brilliant," he said. I couldn't be more thrilled.