Gillian Flynn to cowrite Steve McQueen heist thriller

Gillian Flynn and Steve McQueen are looking to pull off a heist together.

The “Gone Girl” writer has joined the “12 Years a Slave” director to cowrite a big-screen thriller based on the British miniseries “Widows,” New Regency announced Friday.

McQueen, who won an Oscar for producing “12 Years” and also earned a directing nomination for the historical drama, will direct the yet-untitled movie. The story centers on the widows of four armed robbers who were killed during a failed heist, prompting the women to pull off the raid themselves.

Lynda La Plante penned the original series.

McQueen will also produce, alongside Iain Canning and Emile Sherman of See-Saw Films.

Flynn, a former entertainment journalist, became a breakout novelist with her third book, “Gone Girl,” a tightly plotted murder mystery about a husband who finds himself at the center of a police investigation and media firestorm when his wife vanishes.

Flynn then made her screenwriting debut adapting the bestseller herself for Fox, New Regency and director David Fincher; the result was a critical and commercial hit that grossed $368 million worldwide. Flynn’s adapted screenplay earned an Oscar nomination as well.

Flynn’s debut novel, “Sharp Objects,” is being developed for TV, and her second, “Dark Places,” has been adapted into a forthcoming film. Her other screen projects in development include the HBO series “Utopia” and Warner Bros.’ remake of “Strangers on a Train.”

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