The movie based on Patricia Cornwell's books, Scarpetta, finally gets a writer. Kerry Williamson (Fork in the Road) has been picked to adapt Cornwell’s mystery series for the big-screen. The film is allegedly to be a new franchise for actress Angelina Jolie, although the first installment isn't taken from any one novel and will be more of a composite.
Ditto to finding a writer for The Chancellor Manuscript, based on Robert Ludlum's novel, as Peter O'Brien (Unlocked) will pen that script. The film has also found a director, Marc Forster (Kite Runner, Quantum of Solace).
Antonio Banderas is rumored to be in talks to play the head of a Black Ops European unit in the spy thriller Knockout that already has lined up stars Gina Carano, Michael Douglas, Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender, Dennis Quaid and Channing Tatum. Michael Angarano (Forbidden Kingdom) is also in negotiations to join the growing (and expensive) cast.
The 21st annual Palm Springs International Film Festival honored Niels Arden Oplev's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, (based on Stieg Larsson's novel), with the Mercedes-Benz Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature.
TV
Showtime has picked up Borgias, a 13-part crime drama series, a Renaissance-era version of Sopranos starring Jeremy Irons as the patriarch of a powerful crime family in 1492 Italy.
Fox has given the go-ahead to a cop dramedy titled Code 58 (formerly known as Jack and Dan), starring Colin Hanks and Bradley Whitford as two mirror-opposite partners at the LAPD. It will have previews in May and run during the summer.
Fox has also picked up Ridealong, a "character procedural" from Shawn Ryan (The Shield) that follows one of Chicago's toughest cops as he struggles to clean up the violence and corruption in town.
ABC has ordered eight episodes of the new drama Scoundrels for its 2010 summer lineup. It's about a family of small-time criminals who are uprooted when the dad is thrown into prison for an extended period of time.
The show renewals keep trickling in a bit at a time. One of the latest is the news that the show NCIS-LA will have a second season on CBS. Meanwhile, there are rumors that a Los Angeles version of Law & Order is being considered. Guess imitation really is the sincerest form of flattery. At least on T.V.
Scott Bakula has signed on to reprise his role as Chuck’s spy father for multiple episodes of the NBC series Chuck. Bakula has more good news in that his new series Men of a Certain Age was renewed.
CSI is off to USA. The network will have non-exclusive rights to seasons 1-10 of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation beginning in December 2010, and exclusive rights to seasons 11 and beyond starting in Fall 2011.Sharon Stone is scheduled to make a guest appearance on Law & Order: SVU in a four-episode arc later this season playing a cop turned prosecutor.
Although this is a bit out of the scope of the usual Media Murder fare, it's still big news when a director/producer with the status of a Steven Spielberg signs up to a documentary. He'll be producing produce Rebuilding Ground Zero, a six-part documentary series about the construction of a new World Trade Center for the Science Channel.
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