- Title: Director Steve McQueen said "Widows" not just a heist movie
- Date: 6th November 2018
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (OCTOBER 11, 2018) (REUTERS) ****WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR, STEVE MCQUEEN, SAYING: ''I mean first foremost my job is to sort of you know entertain I don't care what movie you're trying to make - art house or whatever you think is an art house - ours or whatever, our job is to sort of you know to entertain first and foremost even as an artist. Secondly you're hoping it will enlighten you are hoping it will shed light on things which are happening every day which some people can actually recognise and be aware of. I can only hope that that this film could do that, even if it's just one person. I would hope that if they could engage with it in it in a way that can actually make them actually do something.'' LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (OCTOBER 10, 2018) (REUTERS) ACTRESS MICHELLE RODRIGUEZ ON RED CARPET LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (OCTOBER 11, 2018) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTRESS, MICHELLE RODRIGUEZ, SAYING: ''It's all about a conversation you know it's all about a conversation starting and you know I and I know as a as a spectator as an audience member as a person who grew up in a poverty stricken neighbourhood in America, in an urban neighbourhood in America, where there is money but it's just being, you know, curtailed and handled in inappropriate ways. You know if you're aware of what's happening you know it just changes everything. I didn't know anything while I was growing up about you know Hobbesian economics I had no idea that there was a leviathan. I had no idea that the kids, you know, in in in the streets had other options, you know. And I just think that this just shows you in the entire picture. So that, you know, you can judge for yourself and be more informed about the decisions you make on your daily life and I just think that you know if anybody is talking about it job done, you know.''
- Embargoed: 20th November 2018 10:48
- Keywords: Steve McQueen Widows Michelle Rodriguez Viola Davies heist oscar drama film
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK / VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
- City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK / VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Film
- Reuters ID: LVA00495D9FM5
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: At first glance, Steve McQueen's latest film "Widows" may appear to be a fast-paced heist movie but the award-winning British director says he wanted his Chicago-set movie to take a deeper look at the current political and social-economic climate.
Adapted from a 1980s television series by British crime writer Lynda La Plante, "Widows" follows a group of women who plan a heist to pay off a large debt left by their dead husbands criminal activities.
Gender, race, crime and politics are all subjects touched on in the movie, which stars Oscar winner Viola Davis, "Fast and Furious" star Michelle Rodriguez and "The Night Manager" actress Elizabeth Debicki.
"The whole idea of having this rollercoaster ride of a heist was ...to engage with that whole idea of escapism and ... the whole of that aspect of a thriller but not negate the political and the current ... social economical environment that we live in today," McQueen told Reuters in an interview.
The London-born filmmaker, known for "12 Years a Slave" and "Shame", said he decided the set the movie "in ... a heightened contemporary western city", picking Chicago, the third largest city in the United States.
"I want to take ... this fiction and staple it into reality of our every day," he said.
"First, foremost my job is to entertain ... Secondly you're hoping it will enlighten, you are hoping it will shed light on things which are happening every day which some people can actually recognise and be aware of."
"I can only hope that this film could do that, even if it's just one person." - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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