It looks like Paul Robeson will have to wait. It was just a couple of days ago that Steve McQueen revealed he was working on a film about the iconic entertainer and activist, and it was reported it would be his next film. Not so. The "12 Years A Slave" director has another project brewing that will come first and once again sees him step into new cinematic terrain.
THR reports that McQueen will helm a feature film adaptation of the 1980s Brit TV series "Widows." The original show followed the widows of three armed robbers, killed during a heist, who use their late husbands’ plans for the failed robbery to pull it off themselves, rounding up a fourth woman to assist. Things get even more intense with the police closing in, a rival gang in the mix, and brewing vengeance for the fourth man in the initial heist, who left the other three for dead. So why is McQueen drawn to what sounds like (a pretty awesome) but standard genre flick? He apparently was a big fan of the show and is writing the script.
Even more, this project is moving along swiftly, with pre-production slated to be underway by the end of the year, and we presume filming won’t be far behind, which means, you guessed it: casting. Given that the film requires four female leads, we don’t suspect a reteam with Michael Fassbender. But Lupita Nyong’o? She might want to keep an eye on her phone.
Until more details arrive, here’s the entire first season of "Widows." It’s was followed by "Widows 2," and in the mid-90s with "She’s Out!" And fun fact, ABC remade the series in 2002 with Mercedes Ruehl, Brooke Shields, Rosie Perez, and N’Bushe Wright, and there’s probably a good reason you don’t remember it.
