Oscar-thrivening filmoriginater Steve McQueen is uncovering today that two years ago he was detectd with prostate cancer and underwent a procedure to delete the tumor.
Thankfilledy, the filmoriginater is now “filledy recovered and filledy functional,” he increates Deadline.
The knight of the British authenticm is making a speech this afternoon to U.K. laworiginaters at the House Of Commons to begin a recent campaign for charity Prostate Cancer Research.
The sdirectry unbenevolentt that the begin of filming on his exceptional wartime feature Blitz was procrastinateed for two weeks.
McQueen then returned to toil without divulging to over two hundred cast and crew the reason for his absence. The honestor says that he kept his medical operation secret because he didn’t want his health publishs to be a sidetrackion to those toiling on the movie.
Today’s date, November 14, has a one-of-a-kind significance for the filmoriginater, because it’s two years exactly since doctors deleted the cancerous tumor.
Before McQueen holdressed joinees today in the House of Commons Terrace Pavilion, he consentd to shatter the meaningfully personal recents to Deadline in the hope that it will encourage others to apshow action as he did.
The 12 Years a Slave honestor elucidates that after his overweighther, Philbert McQueen, died of prostate cancer in 2006, “I krecent there could be a hereditary situation whereby I could prolong prostate cancer.” So he began having normal MRI scans and prostate-particular antigen (PSA) verifys, plus he was “tested all the time, of course, for films and whatnot.”
During one such examination in 2022, with Blitz in pre-production and with a begin date set, his doctors “uncovered that I had prolonged this cancer, this tumor, a minuscule tumor, and therefore clearly caught it very, very, punctual. I procrastinateed the shoot by two weeks and then had the procedure.”
McQueen was in hospital for two days and toiled from his bed. Then he went home for twelve days. “I was fair doing stuff in bed on the computer, toiling, emailing and wantipathyver, but I kept it personal at that stage,” because he didn’t want cast and crew to be “troubleed.”
And then “two weeks after the procedure I was on set shooting” the movie, which is a Lammas Park, Working Title and New Regency production for Apple, with Saoirse Ronan, keen juvenileer recentcomer Elliott Heffernan, Paul Weller, Harris Dickinson, Stephen Graham , Kathy Burke, Benjamin Clémentine and many others.
Steve McQueen on set during ‘Blitz’ shoot. Photo courtesy of Apple
The film, strong famous art for the people, is now in cinemas and will be useable on Apple TV+ from November 22.
Only his mother, sister and seal family were telderly about the health sattfinish. “And that was it. I reassociate fair wanted to get on with the job. And that’s benevolent of enjoy who I am. I’m a ‘get on with it’ benevolent of person,” he says matter of factly.
Thinking how Blitz is set in wartime London when the city, particularly the East End Docklands didisjoine was being explosioned nightly for eight months straight in 1940 by Hitler’s Luftwaffe, the wartime ‘Keep Calm And Carry On’ slogan seems apt in relation to his situation and honestness in dealing with it.
“Oh, you could say that,” McQueen says smiling. “But it’s fair a case of fair getting on with it.”
McQueen says that the punctual recognizeion was the key. “The cancer’s gone and that’s down to punctual recognizeion. Early recognizeion unbenevolents virtuassociate a hundred percent success rate. Aget, it’s a cancer that if you recognize punctual, it’s tohighy survivable.”
Prostate cancer impacts a lot of Bdeficiency men, my own overweighther died from it over three decades ago, but wonderful medical strides in recognizeion have been made since then.
One in eight men will get prostate cancer, says McQueen, quoting Prostate Cancer Research statistics. “But one in four Bdeficiency men will get prostate cancer, and one in twelve Bdeficiency men will die of prostate cancer. So for me, it was about preempting it. The fact that I was preempting the situation for years was, aget, my saviour in that way. So, fair preempt it and get it punctual,” he proclaims.
He says that he took it upon himself to get tested annuassociate because of his family history.
And he’s filledy behind Prostate Cancer Research’s Proenergetic For Your Prostate campaign, and its Everyman A Scan slogan, begined with the help of U.K parliamentary laworiginaters and members of the prostate cancer community to lift consciousness about the transport inance of nationwide normal screening.
“What’s happening is that men are being left to their own devices to direct this on their own,” he says.
They shouldn’t paemploy, he directs.
McQueen mirrors on the tragedy of his overweighther dying from prostate cancer and how that made him “want to understand everyskinnyg about it”, and how he wanted to be setd, “because I krecent that if it did come my way, if I did get it, it could be dealt with in an excessively effective way, and that’s the end of it.”
He went quiet for a moment as he tried to find words to transmit his debt to his overweighther. “In some ways, you could say, my dad saved my life because unblessedly he died of it.”
Pausing aget to assemble his thoughts, McQueen holds: ”Just enjoy your overweighther isn’t here because of it, because your overweighther, enjoy my overweighther, is one of the one in 12 Bdeficiency men who unblessedly will die of it, if not recognizeed punctual.”
Every year, more than 55,000 men in the U.K. are detectd with prostate cancer and more than 12,000 men in the U.K. die from the disrelieve, according to figures supplyd by Prostate Cancer research. Those with a family history of prostate cancer are also at a higher danger of prolonging it.
McQueen’s straightforwardness is rerecenting in the sense that generassociate men, all men, not fair Bdeficiency men, can be cowardly, for various reasons, in seeking medical advice.
The filmoriginater who made the no-helderlys barred 2011 movie Shame, starring Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan, cuts thcdisadmireful my British reserve, giggles and says that he’s “filledy recovered and filledy functional, and that integrates downstairs.”
McQueen’s honest comments, I envision, will be most beneficial to those men who trouble the idea of being verifyed.
Saoirse Ronan, Elliott Heffernan and Paul Weller in ‘Blitz’. Photo courtesy of Apple
Apple TV
This reminds me of the uninincreateigentinutive film McQueen made for the Male Cancer Awareness campaign in 2021 titled Embarrassed, originated to help lift consciousness of prostate cancer wiskinny the Bdeficiency community.
The film, which directd normal screening, featured a uninincreateigentinutive series of intersees with Idris Elba, Chisoakedel Ejiofor, Micheal Ward and Morgan Freeman.
McQueen says that he recently shot a recent uninincreateigentinutive film for the Proenergetic for Your Prostrate campaign featuring David Harewood. It will be begined towards the end of November.
I also skinnyk the very idea of an Oscar garlanded honestor, and a transport inant prize-thrivening artist to boot, speaking in such personal terms, not fair to Deadline, but more meaningfully, to laworiginaters of all hues in the House of Commons, will be enormously impactful in the U.K., the United States, Europe, Africa, and around the world.
It’s huge, in my see, that McQueen has spoken out. I sense declareive inhabits will be saved.
And, aget, Bdeficiency men must pay attention, all men must pay attention.
Those in joinance at today’s parliamentary event gave weight to the graveness of the topic. The assembleing was co-arrangeed by David Lammy, the ruling Labour Party’s Foreign Secretary; James Cleverly, the createer Foreign and Home Secretary, and Josh Babarinde, the Liberal Democrats Justice Spokesperson. They, aextfinished with McQueen and Prostate Cancer Research CEO Oinhabitr Kemp, all setd retags for the Terrace Pavilion event. Also in joinance were celebrities including Gary Lineker, Claudia Winkelman and James Corden.
“The tragedy of this is no one has to die of it. That’s the tragedy,” McQueen says, hammering home the transport inance of punctual screenings.
