Hunger/Shame/12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen’s next project is, through the information that’s incrementally coming out about it, building into something that sounds quite exciting — especially since the newest addition to the equation (which already boasted a writing collaboration between McQueen and Gillian Flynn) is Viola Davis. (Who happens to be having a pretty awesome day in film news.)
The film, titled Widows, is an adaptation by McQueen and Flynn of the 1980s British crime drama TV series of the same name, wherein a group of widows plan to complete the heist that got their husbands killed. The adaptation takes place in contemporary America; it’s yet unclear whether the characters will correspond personality-wise to those of the original series.
Pretty much all that’s known is that the Hollywood Reporter writes that the script calls for two black actresses, one white actress, and one Latina actress to play the roles. According to Variety, Jennifer Lawrence was initially in consideration to be in the film, but the scheduling didn’t work out.
McQueen was also recently working on a limited series — Codes of Conduct — for HBO, but the project (which also sounded quite promising) was apparently scrapped by the network back in February, leaving McQueen with time to focus his attention on Widows.