Colin Farrell (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, In Bruges) is in negotiations to join Liam Neeson (Silence) and Viola Davis (How to Get Away with Murder) in the upcoming film Widows, according to Variety. Farrell recently signed on to play a role in the upcoming live-action version of the 1941 animated Disney classic Dumbo, though the schedules will reportedly allow him to do both films. Farrell would play “a politician that finds himself mixed up in the widows’ plans.”
Widows was a British crime miniseries that began in 1983 from actress/writer Lynda La Plante (Prime Suspect). After winning three Academy Awards for 12 Years a Slave, director Steve McQueen is prepping a big screen version of Widows. McQueen is also co-writing the film with Gone Girl‘s Gillian Flynn. Michelle Rodriguez (The Fast and the Furious) and Cynthia Erivo (Mr. Selfridge) are also set to star in the film. In the series, three robbers are killed during a crime and their widows, Dolly Rawlins (Ann Mitchell), Shirley Miller (Fiona Hendley) and Linda Perelli (Maureen O’Farrell), enlist the help of Bella O’Reilly (Eva Mottley) to pull of the raids that their husbands completely failed at.
In 2002, the first series was remade for the American market, but the plot was significantly changed. Instead of a traditional armed robbery, this version united the three widows and the fourth woman in a plan to steal a famous painting. The series starred Mercedes Ruehl (The Fisher King) as Dolly Rawlins, Brooke Shields (Suddenly Susan) as Shirley Heller, Rosie Perez (White Men Can’t Jump) as Linda Perelli, and N’Bushe Wright (Blade) as Bella O’Reilly.
