Steve McQueen says people 'pulled out' of '12 Years a Slave' because they didn't think it would make money. It went on to make $187 million.

• British artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen told Insider that both "Moonlight" and "Selma" were made as a direct result of "12 Years a Slave's" financial success.
• McQueen said that he was told by people within the industry that "movies with Black leads do not travel" and therefore his movie would be "impossible" to make.
• "12 Years a Slave," starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Lupita Nyong'o, went on to earn more than $187 million at the global box office.
• "From a direct result of that, "Moonlight" was made and "Selma" was made because it was made by the same producers. And the only reason they were able to make it was because of "12 Years a Slave."

Steve McQueen's name is carved into cinematic history. In 2014, he became the first Black director of an Oscar-winning best picture with the historical drama "12 Years a Slave."

And during a recent wide-ranging interview with Insider, the award-winning artist and filmmaker reflected on the making of the movie, the impact it has had in reprioritizing Hollywood, and how it's financial success opened up new opportunities for Black filmmakers.

"You know, I remember people saying that movies with Black leads do not travel, and therefore, the movie wasn't going to make any money," he recalled.

Based on the 1853 slave memoir of the same name, "12 Years a Slave" follows the life of Solomon Northup, (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free Black man who was abducted and sold into slavery. He's later freed after more than a decade, reuniting with his family.

"There were people who pulled out of '12 Years a Slave' because they didn't think it would make any money, but the fact of the matter [is] we made over virtually 150 million dollars outside of the United States, which tells you how hungry people were for that kind of narrative."

According to Box Office Mojo, the historical period drama actually made north of $187 million worldwide.

McQueen continued: "They didn't expect that. You know, it made $57 million in the United States box office. We succeeded our DVD sales for the year in one week. That's when people used to buy DVDs."

The British filmmaker told Insider that it was at that moment that Hollywood realized that it could cash in big by producing movies about Black people told by Black filmmakers.

"Just go back and look before '12 Years a Slave' and after," he said. "From a direct result of that, 'Moonlight' was made and 'Selma' was made because it was made by the same producers. And the only reason they were able to make it was because of '12 Years a Slave' being a financial hit because they were trying to make those movies for a long time, but they couldn't until '12 Years a Slave.'"

Before McQueen's historic Oscar win, only two other Black directors had even been nominated in the Best Picture category — John Singleton in 1992 for "Boyz n the Hood" and Lee Daniels in 2009 for "Precious."

Both "Moonlight" and "Selma" went on to receive commercial and critical acclaim, picking up multiple Oscar nominations. Barry Jenkins also became the second Black director to helm a Best Picture film.

However, both McQueen and Jenkins were beaten out for the coveted Best Director award. A Black director has yet to take home the award, even with Jordan Peele ("Get Out") and Spike Lee ("BlacKkKlansman") being nominated in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

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