Brad Pitt has discussed his film 12 Years A Slave and how he declined the lead role because he didn’t want his children to see him in that role.

The film, directed by Steve McQueen, is based on the historical tale of Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free black man from upstate New York who is kidnapped and sold into slavery in pre-Civil War America. Solomon fights to live and maintain his dignity while dealing with a harsh slave master, played by Michael Fassbender. “It’s about love,” McQueen told attendees at the Lotos Club’s Peggy Siegal screening on Tuesday. “This is a man who believes in his soul he will be reunited with the people he loves.” Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment produced the Oscar-nominated Fox Searchlight picture that moved many people, including Oprah Winfrey, to tears.

Pitt appeared as a respectable Canadian who worked on the plantation where Northup was.

Brad expressed his pride in the picture to Today Entertainment, saying, “It’s why I got into film in the first place.”

However, he acknowledged that he would not let his children see the film until they were older.

He said: ‘Maybe my eldest I would, right now. I’d rather for the others to get a little bit older and understand the dynamics of the world a little more.’

According to the New York Post, Pitt turned down the harsh character performed by Fassbender because “I didn’t want my kids to see me in this role.”