As previously reported, Steve McQueen will direct the film, which follows a free black man who is drugged and dragged to Louisiana and sold into slavery.
Cumberbatch (Frankenstein), Giamatti (The Iceman Cometh, The Three Sisters), Paulson (Collected Stories, The Glass Menagerie) and Woodard (Drowning Crow, Me and Bessie) join a cast that includes Paul Dano (A Free Man of Color), Lupita Nyong'o, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender and Brad Pitt.
The New Regency film is being produced by Plan B and River Road and is set for a 2013 release.