‘Mandela’ screenwriter blames ‘12 Years a Slave’ for film flop: It ‘sucked up all the guilt about black people’

Francois Duhamel/ Fox Searchlight Screenwriter William Nicholson says the success of Steve McQueen’s ‘12 Years a Slave,’ above, tanked his own film. 

Well, that's one explanation.

Screenwriter William Nicholson, who penned the biopic "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom," told an audience at British literary convention the Hay festival that "12 Years a Slave" is the reason his film failed to rack up any awards, the Guardian reported.

Steve McQueen's film, Nicholson said, "sucked up all the guilt about black people that was available."

Eamonn McCabe/Getty Images Screenwriter William Nicholson says it was 'a bit heartbreaking' when his film was overlooked during award season. 

"I think it worked superbly," Nicholson said about 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."

Nicholson also said that Mandela's death detracted from the film.

"We were deluged with Mandela stuff and after a week we all thought, ‘Please take it away, we've heard enough about Mandela,’" he said.

He also called Mandela's speeches "boring."

Keith Bernstein Nicholson, who wrote ‘Mandela: The Long Walk to Freedom,’ also called the late South African leader’s speeches ‘boring.’

"All but one (of the speeches in the movie) were made up by me because his own are so boring," he added. "I know it sounds outrageous to say a thing like that, but when he came out of prison he made a speech and, God, you fell asleep."