British filmmaker Steve McQueen has picked his next project. He will direct a film adaptation of Widows, an ‘80s U.K. series.
The project will re-team him with New Regency, the financiers of his 12 Years A Slave, which won three Oscars, including Best Picture, earlier this year. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the new film should be in preproduction by the end of the year. Iain Canning and Emile Sherman, who won an Oscar for The King’s Speech, will co-produce with McQueen.
Lynda La Plante’s Widows debuted in the U.K. in 1983 and has reportedly been a passion project for McQueen, who saw the series in his teens. The thriller begins with a heist where three robbers are killed. Their widows then decide to follow through with their husbands’ plans. McQueen’s film won’t be called Widows and is also expected to be relocated to the U.S. McQueen is looking to write the screenplay himself.
Surprisingly, Disney had the screen rights to the series, but they recently sold it to New Regency.
“After the tremendous success and the amazing journey we experienced together on 12 Years A Slave, we formed a true friendship with Steve,” New Regency CEO Brad Weston said in a statement to TheWrap. “He is like family to all of us here at New Regency and we are thrilled he has entrusted us with this project. We can't wait to collaborate with him once again.”
There’s no casting set for the film, but since all three of his previous works have featured Michael Fassbender, McQueen will probably try to find a role for him somewhere.
McQueen was an artist before making his feature directing debut with Hunger in 2008. That was followed in 2011 by Shame and last year’s 12 Years A Slave.
Earlier this week, it was reported that McQueen also wants to make a film about Paul Robeson. The Widows-based film will be first, though. He’s also developing a pilot for HBO.
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