Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

After the 1990s and forays into the Batman franchise, director Joel Schumacher (Veronica Guerin, A Time to Kill) has been getting back to his suspense-thriller genre roots, the latest project being The Hive. The script, writen by Rich D'Ovidio (Exit Wounds), centers on an emergency operator who must confront a killer from her past to save a young girl's life.

Is director Paul Greengrass taking over for Oliver Stone in the film adaptation of John D. MacDonald's The Deep Blue Good-By? Stone had teamed up with Leonardo DiCaprio, who is serving as producer and wants to star, but everyone's schedules seem to be getting in the way. DiCaprio still wants to star in the film, with the working title Travis McGee, which centers on the MacDonald's iconic Florida-based "salvage consultant."

Actor Russell Crowe may be looking to star and direct the hostage thriller 77, based on a story by crime writer James Ellroy (L.A. Confidential) and a script by David Matthews. The film is based on the true story of the 1974 shootout between the LAPD and the Symbionese Liberation Army (best known as the group that kidnapped Patty Hearst) and connects it with an unsolved murder of a police officer.

TV

John Grisham's novel The Firm, already made into a 1993 movie, is also set to become the basis for a TV series. NBC is currently in negotiations to pick up the 22-episide series to air on Sony's AXN networks. Casting is underway, with production expected to begin in July. The series picks up 10 years after the events in the 1993 feature left off and reintroduces Mitch McDeere, who brought down a prestigious Memphis law firm operating as a front for the Chicago mob, as he and his family emerge from isolation after 10 years in the Federal Witness Protection Program.

Actress Elisabeth Harnois (Miami Medical) will be joining the cast of CSI as a regular. Originally signed to guest star only in the May 5th episode as the estranged daughter of Conrad Ecklie (Marc Vann), who works for the LAPD, she's been signed up as a full-blown regular status on the show.

Actress Lauren Stamile (Derek's psycho ex-girlfriend Rose on Grey's Anatomy) is also becoming a regular. In her case, it's with the upcoming fifth season of Burn Notice, playing a CIA agent looking into the murder of a fellow operative. Her investigation leads her to cross paths with Michael (Jeffrey Donovan). 

There's some bad blood in the NCIS creative family. Don Bellisario, creator of both NCIS and JAG, has filed a lawsuit against CBS Studios about his right to be compensated for NCIS: Los Angeles
due to a contractual "first opportunity" rights provision.

Want to have some hints for the upcoming CBS crime show season finales? Here are a few micro-spoilers from TVLine.

PODCASTS AND VIDEO

Author John Lamb, formerly one of the toughest cops in Oceanside, California, and now the creator of the Teddy Bear Mystery series, talks about his career shift and writing for the AARP-sponsored series My Generation appearing on PBS.