As he prepares to roll the cameras on his next film, crime thriller adaptation Widows, director Steve McQueen is boosting the cast count again. Jacki Weaver, a woman who knows a little something about playing people involved in crime stories, is on board.
McQueen and Gone Girl's Gillian Flynn have written the script, which draws from Lynda La Plante’s 1983 crime miniseries. The original series – two more followed in 1985 and then 2002 – followed the story of women who all lose their criminal husbands when the men die in the middle of robbing a security van that catches fire.
Not content with mourning, the widows decide to finish the job for themselves and get the loot. Viola Davis, Elizabeth Debicki, Cynthia Erivo, Michelle Rodriguez, Liam Neeson, Colin Farrell, Daniel Kaluuya, Robert Duvall and Andre Holland are all aboard. Widows will hit the States on 16 November next year, but hasn't yet set a UK date.
And that's not the only film Weaver is down to appear in, as she's also joined the cast of a comedy called Poms.Diane Keaton is also starring in the film, which follows a group of women in a retirement home forming a cheerleading squad. Zara Hayes is directing from Shane Atkinson's script and rights will be available at Cannes this month.