Viola Davis Joins Steve McQueen's Heist Film WIDOWS

Last year, I wrote about how Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave, Shame) was finally going to direct another movie, and it sounds like a really cool project. It's called Widows, and it's based on McQueen's British TV miniseries. Here's the synopsis:

Dolly Rawlins, Linda Perelli and Shirley Miller have one thing in common - their husbands are all members of the same gang. After a terrible accident when their husbands are killed attempting to hold up a security van, for each of the women it is time to stop, take stock and start life afresh. When Dolly finds the plans for the robbery and with the women facing life alone, suppose they were to finish what their husbands started and carry out the robbery themselves?

That sounds awesome to me, and last year we found out that Gone Girl writer Gillian Flynn was co-writing the script with McQueen and that they'd added a fourth widow to the mix. Now we know who will be playing one of the leading ladies. Variety reports that Viola Davis (who just showed up in the trailer for Fences earlier today) will play one of the main roles, and they also mention that Jennifer Lawrence was offered one of the parts but had to pass due to scheduling conflicts. But having someone as talented as Davis leading this movie will be just fine, and hopefully will attract even more great talent for the other three major roles. I also sort of hope they can track down some A-list male talent to play the husbands just for a scene or two before they bite the bullet, similar to what Adam McKay did with Dwayne Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson in The Other Guys.