Viola Davis is to star in 'Widows'.
Viola Davis
The 'How to Get Away With Murder' actress has signed up to take the lead role in Steve McQueen's upcoming adaptation of Lynda La Plante's 1983 TV miniseries of the same name.
The original series - which was followed by two more outings in 1985 and 2002 - told the story of four women whose criminal husbands died in the middle of robbing a security van after it caught fire.
The group eventually track down the cash for themselves - but then one of the women discovers her husband didn't die.
According to Variety, Jennifer Lawrence was also approached to appear in the film but had to pass due to scheduling conflicts.
'Gone Girl' writer Gillian Flynn - who previously worked with the director on 'Codes of Conduct', an HBO series that has now been shelved - is writing the script for 'Widows'.
Because of his work on 'Codes of Conduct', 'Widows' will be McQueen's first new movie since his Oscar-winning effort '12 Years a Slave'.
Viola will be hoping shooting 'Widows' is much calmer than when she worked on 'Suicide Squad' as she recently admitted filming the comic book blockbuster left her with "heart palpitations" and fearing she was going deaf.
She said: "Just put it this way, it got so crazy that there were times during filming that I had heart palpitations.
"Not only heart palpitations, but at one point I said, 'Did I suffer from hearing loss? Why is my left ear still pounding?' "
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