Cynthia Erivo believes Widows‘ poor connection with the audience during its box office run was because viewers didn’t understand what they were in for.

IndieWire reports that according to a new interview the Harriet star did with Vulture, Erivo spoke about how she felt audiences didn’t mesh with its “messy charm.”

“There’s something that’s super messy about Widows, which I loved. There’s an expectation of a heist movie to be slick and tidy, and it just wasn’t that. I think that was its charm, but I’m not sure that everyone quite understood that. But maybe we’re getting to a place where people will.”

To that point, she did say in the interview that she believes that the film is beginning to find viewers who understand it. “I always think that it will be one of those things that people will go back and think, ‘Oh my gosh, this was really, really good!'” she said.

Earlier in the interview, she also lamented how she felt director Steve McQueen and co-star Viola Davis didn’t get the kudos they deserved from viewers.

“I was sad for Steve, and I wanted more for Viola ’cause I thought she was exceptional in it,” she said. “I hadn’t seen her in anything like that, where she got to show this fierce, tough, ready, take-no-rubbish-from-anyone type side of her, and I absolutely adored it.”

Critic Joi Childs also loved Davis in the film. As she wrote in her Shadow And Act review of the film, Davis rightly deserved to lead the film, “wowing with a layered, emotional and calculated execution.”

To that end, maybe Widows is set to become a cult classic rather than a box-office smash. As we know, cult classics do end up having much longer lives than initially expected.

READ MORE:

TIFF Review: Viola Davis Is A Calculating, Emotional And Complex Leader In Steve McQueen’s Heist Thriller ‘Widows’

Photo: 20th Century Fox

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