On this week’s Green Room, Orla Barry speaks with director Steve McQueen about his new film 12 Years a Slave, and the incredible effect Michael Fassbender - McQueen's regular collaborator and who stars in the film - has on the people working on set.

12 Years a Slave is attracting a lot of attention, with the tale of a free Black man living in New York, who is kidnapped and enslaved in the southern United States for 12 years, entering the conversation on contenders for the big Oscars.

The film stars Michael Fassbender, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Brad Pitt, and has been garnering rave reviews in the United States. Ejiofor’s performance in particular has been attracting praise, with increasingly frequent talk of a Best Actor Oscar nomination due for the British actor.

The film marks the third collaboration between Fassbender and McQueen and Orla Barry spoke with the director about his ongoing work with the Irish actor and their relationship on and off the set.

McQueen spoke of Fassbender with effusive praise and discussed the effect he has on a set and the people he works with, and the incredible reaction his departure gets from an emotional crew.

Fassbender has recently said he won’t play “the Oscars game” this year, and Oral spoke with McQueen about that too.

You can listen to Oral Barry’s interview with Steve McQueen from 9 pm this evening on The Green Room.