Director Steve McQueen has disclosed that he is "fully recovered and functional" following a private battle with prostate cancer. The 55-year-old British filmmaker opened up about his health struggle for the first time in an interview with Deadline published on Thursday. McQueen revealed that two years ago, he underwent surgery to remove a cancerous tumor just before he was due to start filming his new war movie "Blitz."

He decided to get tested because his father, Philbert McQueen, passed away from prostate cancer in 2006. McQueen recounted that doctors "found that I had developed this cancer, this tumor, a small tumor, and thus caught it very early. I postponed the shoot by two weeks and then had the procedure."

The "12 Years a Slave" director spent two days in the hospital, working from his bed, and then returned home for 12 days before commencing production on "Blitz" in London. However, McQueen chose not to inform anyone in the cast or crew about his health issue, as he didn't want them to be "worried." Only McQueen's mother, sister, and close family knew about his diagnosis.

"And that was it. I really just wanted to get on with the job," McQueen said. "And that's kind of who I am. I'm a 'get on with it' kind of person," he added. The Oscar winner confirmed that he is now cancer-free, attributing his recovery to early detection. "Early detection means virtually a hundred percent success rate. Again, it's a cancer that if you detect early, it's totally survivable and curable," he explained.

McQueen also reflected on how his father's death motivated him to learn everything about prostate cancer. "Because I knew that if it did come my way, if I did get it, it could be dealt with in an extremely effective way, and that's the end of it," he shared. "In some ways, you could say, my dad saved my life because unfortunately he died of it."

McQueen completed filming on "Blitz" in April 2023. The film follows a young boy (Elliott Heffernan) who finds himself in danger during the German bombing of London in World War II, as his mother (Saoirse Ronan) desperately searches for him. Paul Weller, Harris Dickinson, Stephen Graham, Kathy Burke, and Benjamin Clémentine also star in the movie.

In a separate interview with Deadline, McQueen explained his approach to creating "Blitz." "I wanted to look through a child's perspective," he said. "Like a Brothers Grimm fairytale, it's very dark, but it's almost like a dream — and I think that seeing these things through a child's perspective is what gives it a dreamlike quality. Because I'm putting you in a situation where you're experiencing things for the first time. It's a landscape we're all familiar with, but it's at the same time it's unrecognizable."

"Blitz" is currently in select theaters and will be released on Apple TV+ on November 22.

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