It's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a brand-new roundup of crime drama news:
THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES
Anjelica Huston, who made her John Wick franchise debut as "The Director" in 2019’s John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, is joining the Ana de Armas-led spinoff movie, Ballerina. Huston is the second John Wick actor to be officially announced for Ballerina, as Ian McShane is also on board to reprise Winston, the manager of The Continental’s New York branch. It’s also been reported that Keanu Reeves’s John Wick will appear in the spinoff, but Lionsgate hasn’t confirmed if that is indeed the case.
Emma D’Arcy has dropped out of the feature thriller Anna about fearless Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya due to a scheduling clash and has been replaced by Naomi Battrick (The Postcard Killings). The project stars two-time BAFTA nominee, Maxine Peake (Black Mirror), in the title role and is directed by Broadchurch’s James Strong from a screenplay by Eric Poppen. Politkovskaya was a world renowned journalist and human rights activist who went from being a local print journalist to braving the Chechen killing fields and exposing Russian state corruption under Vladimir Putin. She refused to give up reporting on the war in Chechnya despite numerous acts of intimidation and violence and was ultimately murdered in the elevator of her block of flats. Battrick will play Politkovskaya’s daughter, Vera, in the cast that also includes Ciaran Hinds, Jason Isaacs, Harry Lawtey, and Ellie Bamber.
Teresa Palmer is set to join Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt in the cast of Universal’s The Fall Guy, which has a March 1, 2024 release date. The film is inspired by the 1980s series of the same name and will be directed by David Leitch. Drew Pearce, who worked with Leitch on Universal’s Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, wrote the script and serves as executive producer. Although plot details are still unknown, the original TV series starred Lee Majors, Douglas Barr, and Heather Thomas as Hollywood stunt performers who moonlight as bounty hunters.
Sony has rounded out its cast for The Equalizer 3, with Eugenio Mastrandrea, Remo Girone, Sonia Ammar, Daniele Perrone, Andrea Scarduzio, and Andrea Dodero boarding the project. The actors join an ensemble led by Denzel Washington which also includes Dakota Fanning, and Gaia Scodellaro, as previously announced. While the film’s plot is being kept under wraps, it’s the third in an action series centered on Washington’s vigilante character, Robert McCall, from director Antoine Fuqua.
TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES
The Night Manager producer, The Ink Factory, is creating a TV version of John Le Carré’’s A Most Wanted Man almost a decade after making a feature film version, with Snabba Cash writer, Oskar Söderlund, serving as showrunner. No broadcaster is attached as of yet, although Söderlund’s version is said to be updated to a modern day European context. One of Le Carré’s best known works, A Most Wanted Man follows a young Chechen ex-prisoner who arrives illegally in Germany with a claim to a fortune held in a private bank. It was written against the backdrop of George W. Bush’s policy of "extraordinary rendition" and inspired by the real-life story of Murat Kurnaz.
Red Planet Pictures has struck a deal with Louise Candlish, upon whose book ITV’s Our House was based, to develop another two books by the author, 2016’s The Swimming Pool and the upcoming thriller, The Only Suspect, the latter of which will be adapted by Simon Ashdown. The Red Planet team also acquired the rights to Will Dean's novel The Dark Pines, the first in a contemporary Nordic Noir series about a hearing-impaired bisexual detective, and are working with Orphan Black showrunner, Aubrey Nealon, and Amber Alexander on a major adaptation that is close to being greenlighted in Canada.
Felix Herngren, director and writer of Oscar-nominated The 100 Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, is creating and directing an adaptation for the Viaplay streaming service of Emelie Schepp’s novel, Jana – Marked for Life. Herngren is pairing with Henrik Björn (Jordskott) on the six-part adaptation, which tells the story of public prosecutor and former child soldier, Jana Berzelius. During an investigation into the murder of a high-ranking official at the Swedish Migration Agency, the main suspect is also found dead, and Jana immediately recognizes something on his scarred body. To understand her own traumatic past, Jana must reach the killer ahead of the police.
Disney+ has unveiled its debut Nordic original, an adaptation of Swedish author Mikael Niemi’s To Cook a Bear. The six-parter takes place in the mid-nineteenth century in the northern Swedish village of Kengis and centers on a runaway Sami boy, Jussi, who develops a deep relationship with Laestadius, the Lutheran revivalist preacher and naturalist. When the body of a shepherd girl is found in a bog, the villagers set out in search of the killer bear they think is on the rampage, but Laestadius believes a worse, and more human, monster is at work. Swedish screenwriter Jesper Harrie is penning the adaptation, and Anagram Sweden is producing.
The BBC's award-winning murder mystery drama, Shetland, will have a new lead actor when it returns next year. Ashley Jensen will star as DI Ruth Calder, a native Shetlander who returns to the isles after 20 years working for the Met in London. The Scottish actor takes on the lead detective role left vacant by the departure of DI Jimmy Perez, played for seven series by Douglas Henshall. Jensen joins series regulars Alison O'Donnell (DS Alison "Tosh" McIntosh), Steven Robertson (Sandy), Lewis Howden (Billy), and Anne Kidd (Cora).
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO
Crime Writers of Color welcomed Delia C. Pitts, a former university administrator and U.S. diplomat, about her crime fiction writing, which includes Murder My Past and Murder Take Two, the fifth and sixth books in her contemporary noir mystery series. She also has an upcoming novel featuring small town African American private investigator, Vandy Myrick, to be published by Minotaur in 2024.
Spybrary host, Jeff Quest, chatted with Benjamin Cunningham, author of The Liar: How a Double Agent in the CIA Became the Cold War's Last Honest Man, a book the publisher calls "the Cold War meets Mad Men in the form of Karel Koecher, a double agent whose shifting loyalties and over-the-top hedonism reverberated from New York to Moscow." Quest also chatted about the Prague Spring, declassified documents, and interviewing difficult subjects.
Six Days of the Condor author, James Grady, spoke with Crime Time FM's Paul Burke about his latest thriller, This Train; the Condor series; the US mid-terms; gauging the pulse of the nation; realism, rebellion and redemption; and enjoying life and art to the fullest.
In the latest episode of Red Hot Chili Writers, hosts Vaseem Khan and Abir Mukherjee spoke with Kate Mosse and debut thriller writer, Greg Mosse, discussing historical fiction; the Cathars; climate grief; eco-terrorism; women pioneers; the Matilda Effect; the Tibetan Joan of Arc; and Granny Rosie.
The new episode of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine's podcast features Merrilee Robson's tale, "Tired of Bath," from the March/April 2022 issue, which imagines what Jane Austen would experience when transported to the current day, and tracks two friends — an English teacher and a filmmaker — as they handle the situation.
THEATRE
Agatha Christie’s stage thriller, The Mousetrap, a London theater staple for 70 years, is finally heading to Broadway at an as-yet-undisclosed venue sometime in 2023. The play, a West End institution and popular tourist destination since 1952, has been performed in the U.S. before but never on Broadway or in New York. Although a new Broadway cast will be assembled for the production, some physical elements of the long-running London staging will make the crossing, according to the producers: "New York audiences will be able to see and hear some of the original sights and sounds from the production as it has appeared in London since 1952. The set will be a loving recreation of Anthony Holland’s design, and for a truly authentic touch, the only surviving piece of the original set — the mantelpiece clock — will be loaned from the London production for the Broadway run. The unique backstage wind machine, imprinted with the original producer’s name and still used today, will also be shipped across the Atlantic."
