Update: Gone Girl scribe Gillian Flynn will co-write the Steve McQueen project, Deadline reports. See the original story below.
Well, this is peculiar. After more or less radio silence since his Oscar win for 12 Years a Slave, earlier this week director Steve McQueen announced that his next feature will be his “dream project” based on the life of activist, singer, and actor Paul Robeson. Either some wires got crossed, or he’s simply changed his mind, because now we have news on another film claiming to be his next project.
According to Variety, he’ll reteam with New Regency after his previous film to direct, write, and produce an adaptation of Widows. It’ll be based on the British series which aired its first, six-episode season in 1983, followed by two additional runs, first in 1985 and then a decade later in 1995. The story centered on four widows who come together to finish a robbery after their crooked husbands are killed on the job.
Update: THR reports pre-production will begin this year for the film set in “a modern-day American city” and offers this quote by New Regency’s Brad Weston: “Steve was interested in doing his own version of a gangster film. It felt fresh to him to combine a contemporary, hard-hitting, very grounded gangster movie with four strong female characters. We loved it because that’s who Steve is. He sees things differently.” He adds, “This project gives him the commercial jumping-off point, but then allows him to twist it into a Steve McQueen film.”
After taking on fairly serious material with his three first features, we’re certainly intrigued to see what McQueen can do in the heist genre. As we await more details, including confirmation on which project will actually come next, check out the full first series below.
Have you seen the original? What do you think about McQueen taking it on?