In contemporary Chicago, amidst a time of political and societal turmoil, when four armed robbers are killed in an explosive heist attempt, their widows...with nothing in common except a debt left behind by their dead husbands' criminal activities...take fate into their own hands to forge a future on their own terms. 

                                                                        --Twentieth Century Fox
 
 
The film WIDOWS is based on the 1980s British television series, which impressed the then thirteen-year-old director-to-be, Steve McQueen...
 
“The show immediately transported me into a criminal world where the most vulnerable and overlooked people were women. These women were deemed incapable of anything other than being judged by their appearances, yet they took on challenges against their stereotype and transformed themselves into more than capable forces, determined to take their destinies into their own hands.
 
At that stage in my life, I felt a strong parallel to these women as I, too, experienced being looked at under a similar gaze. Their adversaries considered the widows as people who couldn’t achieve anything, and they did. It had a profound effect on me.
 
To bring the story into the now, I changed the location of WIDOWS from London in the early eighties to Chicago of the present. This was vital for me in order to also tackle politics, religion, class, race, criminality and mourning, and to look at the locale (Chicago) and revert it like a telescope into the global. 
 


What’s so powerful for me about this story is that these four women from different racial, social and financial backgrounds came together to achieve their common goal. They understood that by working together they were capable of anything.”   —Director Steve McQueen
 
 
Known for his collaborative spirit, the director reached out to his production designer of 12 YEARS A SLAVE, Adam Stockhausen, who in turn reached out to Set Decorator Elizabeth Keenan SDSA International, of such diverse films as SELMA and A WRINKLE IN TIME, to accurately and stylistically create the many-faceted essence of Chicago...a microcosm through the lens.
McQueen says, “It was beautiful working with them. Elizabeth brought an amazing depth, she killed it, and of course, there is no way to describe Adam’s talent and eye and heart.”
 
Keenan graciously gives insider notes on the photo gallery above!