After his 12 Years a Slave took home three Oscars at the 2013 Academy Awards (including Best Picture), Steve McQueen has been developing his fourth feature film, a big-screen take on the 2002 British TV miniseries Widows. McQueen is directing the heist thriller and is also co-writing the screenplay with Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn. Now, Widows has set a star with the addition of two-time Academy Award nominee Viola Davis (The Help, Doubt). Variety reports that Davis will play one of the new film’s four leads.
Widows tells the story of a heist that winds up killing all four men who organized it. With a lot of money still left on the table, the widows of the original team step in to finish the heist on their own.
Davis, who starred earlier this year in Warner Bros. Pictures‘ DC Comics ensemble Suicide Squad, also headlines ABC‘s How to Get Away With Murder. You can also catch her reprising her Tony Award-winning role in Denzel Washington’s big screen adaptation of Fences when it hits the big screen December 25.
McQueen will produce Widows alongside See-Saw Films’ Iain Canning and Emile Sherman. Film 4 and New Regency are co-financing the film.
