MOVIES
Gary Oldman will portray George Smiley in a new film of the John le Carre's classic novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, set during the Cold War and centering on a retired MI6 agent drawn back into the world of espionage. Also signed to star in the film are Colin Firth and Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock).
The sequel to the Robert Downey, Jr. film version of Sherlock Holmes will feature the character of Mycroft Holmes, the detective's older brother, who only appeared in four Holmes stories. He was described as a "fatter, lazier version" of Holmes, armed with powers of deduction that may surpass even those of his younger sibling. Actor, humorist and master-Tweeter Stephen Fry announced he's signed on to portray Mycroft in the next film.
Michael Nyqvist, who played the journalist Mikael Blomkvist in the Swedish thriller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and its subsequent sequels including The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest to be released this October, has landed a role as one of the lead villains in Paramount's Mission: Impossible IV.
Speaking of the upcoming The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, here's a trailer.
TV
After just one episode of the debut drama Boardwalk Empire on HBO, the network announced it's already signed it up for a second season. The series is based on the book Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic City by Nelson Johnson.
BBC Scotland is bringing the first of Glasgow crime writer Denise Mina's Paddy Meehan detective novels, titled The Field of Blood, to the small screen next year. The film will be adapted and directed by David Kane, with casting of the two-part production to be announced soon.
Vincent D'Onofrio is heading back to Law & Order: Criminal Intent for its tenth and final season on the USA Network beginning in 2011.
ITV has signed Brenda Blethyn to play D.I. Vera Stanhope in an adaptation of Ann Cleeves' crime novel The Crow Trap.
Mystery author Gregg Hurwitz, author of such books as The Tower and The Kill Clause, has written a a sci-fi spec script dubbed Expulsion, which was recently bought by Warner Brothers. The story focuses on a small band of survivors escaping to a planet beyond the solar system after a terrorist attack destroys Earth.
NBC has picked up a pilot titled Legends about a CIA agent with an uncanny gift for "legends" (false identities) who is sent on a variety of missions while simultaneously coping with the possibility that his own identity may be a legend too. The pilot is based on the novel of the same name by Robert Littell.
More fun with CIA agents: Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (the men behind Fringe and the new Hawaii Five-0) have received a pilot commitment from FOX for a series titled Exit Strategy, described as a high octane procedural set in the world of CIA agents who are sent in to "fix" operations gone bad.
PODCASTS/RADIO
Norwegian author Per Petterson was interviewed on NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday, talking about his books that "are as quiet and contemplative as Stieg Larsson's are violent and action-packed." His latest book is Out Stealing Horses.
Public radio affiliate WNYC's "Selected Shorts" program posted its latest collection of stories on Sunday. The first story, "Sphinx," by Edgar Allan Poe is read by read Kathleen Widdoes (with many stage credits to her name and appearances in TV's Law and Order). The other featured stories are classics by Guy de Maupassant, Saki and Thomas Wolfe.
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