The rumors about Sam Mendes directing the next Bond movie continue to swirl. Will he or won't he? Is he a "director" or just a "consultant"? Complicating matters is MGM's teetering on the verge of bankruptcy, with bids to buy the company set to start in the middle of this money, potentially fetching somewhere between $1.5 billion and $2 billion.
More news on Steven Soderburgh's spy movie Knockout, about a female spy working for a Blackwater-style security contractor who is betrayed by one of her teammates. Actors Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor and Michael Douglas are in current negotiations to join the cast which already features mixed martial artist Gina Carano as the female spy.
Here's one I missed from mid-December. Charlie Huston is working with HBO to develop a TV show based on his novel Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death. Huston is not only helping to write the pilot, he'll serve as co-executive producer with with Alan Ball (Six Feet Under, True Blood).
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The TV crime drama news is coming fast and furious in the brand-new year. Shawn Ryan (The Shield, Lie to Me) is heading up the pilot for a Chicago-based crime drama Ridealong, which, if picked up, will center on three groups of police officers.
Meanwhile, ABC has picked up the pilot for 187 Detroit, a documentary-style crime drama set in Detroit and featuring a news crew that follows the top homicide division of a police department.In light of the decision by NBC to drop the Leno show at 10pm, the network suits are scrambling to come up with shows to replace those five prime time hours. Although not confirming anything yet, rumored possibilites include remakes of the British crime series Prime Suspect; the classic U.S. private eye drama The Rockford Files; the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced drama The Chase, which follows a team tracking down fugitive criminals; and Event, which chronicles the unraveling of the greatest government cover-up in U.S. history. They would join J.J. Abrams' Undercovers, which seems like a sure bet.
Numb3rs fans will have to wait a little while longer to see if they need to plan farewell parties or celebrations. CBS president Nina Tassler said that the show and its lead-in, Medium, may both return in the fall.
USA Network has approved the original series Covert Affairs, with a 90-minute premiere episode and 11 one-hour episodes. The show stars Piper Perabo as Annie Walker, a young CIA trainee who gets involved deeply within the agency when she's suddenly promoted to field operative but soon realizes her bosses are after someone from her past. The series, shot on location in Toronto, also stars Christopher Gorham, Peter Gallagher, Kari Matchett and Anne Dudek.
FOX announced that Eric Milligan, who played the popular character Zack, will return to Bones for its 100th episode, expected to air later this season.
New to the CBC this January is Republic of Doyle, a comedy-drama about a St. John's-based father-son private detective agency. The father, Malachy Doyle, is played by Irish actor Sean McGinley (Braveheart).
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