During HBO‘s executive and programming shakeup earlier this year, one of the projects that sadly got scrapped was “Hunger” and “12 Years A Slave” director Steve McQueen‘s “Codes Of Conduct.” The six-episode limited series would’ve starred newcomer Devon Turrell, Paul Dano, Helena Bonham Carter and Rebecca Hall, however the powers at be at the network decided not to move forward with it. But the good news is that McQueen is now moving back toward feature films and has lined up a terrific actress to lead his next flick.
Viola Davis, who is in the Oscar hunt this year with “Fences” (see the new trailer), has signed up to star in the director’s long developing “Widows.” The adaptation of the 1980s Brit TV series has been in the works now, and with a script by Gillian Flynn (“Gone Girl“), the film will follow 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, and round up another woman to help with their plan.
The quartet of leads will be a diverse one, with two two black, one white, and one Latina making up the players. As for the film overall, it sounds the the mainstream and straight genre movie McQueen has ever done, but for him, maybe that’s the thrill of it. No word yet on when production will begin. [THR]
