Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

Luke Evans and Alice Eve may soon be joining the cast of The Raven, the James McTeigue-directed project in which Edgar Allan Poe (played by John Cusack) and Evans, playing a detective, hunt down a serial killer who kidnapped Poe's fiancee and has gone on a murder spree with copycat plots taken from the author's work.

Paramount Pictures acquired screen rights to Out of Range, a book proposal for a two-book mystery by Hank Steinberg, who created the CBS series Without a Trace. In another sign that it probably helps to have a TV show to sell a book, the movie deal came on the heels of a high six-figure purchase at HarperCollins on the basis of the proposal and a few sample chapters.

Meanwhile, Working Title Films acquired screen rights to Jo Nesbø's novel The Snowman, the latest in the author's bestselling detective series featuring Harry Hole (pronounced HEU-leh in Norwegian). Nesbø had turned down offers to make movies based on his books for years, but apparently liked the current deal well enough to go ahead with the project.

Lionsgate picked up Happytime Murders, a muppet murder mystery to be directed by Jim Henson's son Brian, featuring an alcoholic ex-cop muppet turned private detective who triest to solve murders with his human ex-partner.

TV

Robert de Niro has teamed up with crime writer Richard Price for Rookies, about a team of six freshman cops who are sent into high-crime trouble spots, a TV series project for CBS.

TNT has given the go-ahead to a pilot titled Hollywood & Vine, a noir mystery drama set in post-WWII Los Angeles. According to Deadline, it features "a savvy private eye with a stoic charm and an uncompromising set of personal values who is dedicated to searching for the truth – even if it means taking on the upper echelons of power in a city balanced precariously between the glamour of Hollywood and Beverly Hills and the dual threat of organized crime and a corrupt police department."

James David Elliott, who starred as Cmdr. Harmon "Harm" Rabb, Jr. on the TV series JAG, will have a guest-starring role on CSI: New York playing Sela Ward's ex-husband, a stint that may turn into a multi-episode arc.

The Wire TV series lives on — in graphic novel form. Artist Dennis Culver has been drawing one character a day from the series, and Ryan McKee from TV Squad feels it would make for an awesome graphic novel series, too.

The planned NBC remake of The Rockford Files, the classic P.I. TV show from the 1970s starring James Garner, has been shelved for now. The pilot with Dermot Mulroney in the title role wasn't deemed good enough, although rumors are that a new pilot (possibly with Josh Holloway) is still in the works for next season. Likewise, the reboot of Prime Suspect, the UK series starring Helen Mirren, appears dead for now.

PODCASTS/RADIO

NPR has a review of the updated Sherlock Holmes mini-series from the BBC which premieres in the U.S. on PBS Masterpiece October 24th. Co-creator Steven Moffat says that says Sherlock Holmes' original world lent itself quite well to modernization.

THEATER

Shots Ezine reports that the play based on the Inspector Morse books by British author Colin Dexter, titled House of Ghosts and starring former Dr Who Colin Baker as Morse, is underway with its limited run at the Cliffs Pavillion Theatre.