MOVIES
Millennium Films has optioned movie rights to The Bricklayer by Noah Boyd. Gerard Butler is set to star as retired FBI agent Steve Vail, who is working as a bricklayer in Chicago when he is called back into duty after a gang of criminals begins "demanding an escalating series of multi-million dollar ransom payments." The female role of FBI deputy director who is also Vail's partner has yet to be cast. (Hat tip to Omnimystery.)
Production may begin as early as November on the film Broken City, which was optioned by Mark Wahlberg who will also star and independently produce the movie. Wahlerb plays an ex-cop-turned-private detective hired by the mayor of New York to see if his wife is cheating on him, but instead ends up in the middle of murder and scandal. Russell Crowe has signed on to portray the mayor.
Morgan Freeman will play an ex-magician who has spent much of his life exposing illusionists' secrets, in the film Now You See Me from director Louis Letterier. Morgan teams up with Ruffalo's FBI agent trying to catch a team of illusionists, led by Jesse Eisenberg, who rob banks during their performances then rain their plunder down on their audiences.
French actress Stephanie Szostak is in negotiations for the film adaptation of the graphic novel R.I.P.D. She will play the wife of a murdered cop named Nick Walter (played by Ryan Reynolds) who enlists with the Rest In Peace Department in the afterlife. Walker teams up with a gunslinger from the old west (Jeff Bridges) to find the man who killed him (Kevin Bacon). Szostak's character can sense Nick's presence and he tries to get her to help solve the case.
20th Century Fox has signed a movie deal with Colton Harris-Moore, the "barefoot bandit" teen who gained cult status during a two-year, nine-state crime spree that included stealing airplanes and cars. Harris-Moore and his attorney says the money will go toward the minimum $1.4 million restitution Harris-Moore owes his victims.
Columbia Pictures has released a new trailer for its upcoming political thriller Anonymous, which combines the mystery behind the real identity of William Shakespeare, set amid cloak-and-dagger political intrigue and illicit romances in the Royal Court.
And here are your first images from the upcoming film J. Edgar with Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role.
TV
Shawn Ryan and Simon Mirren at Sony Pictures have sold an untitled project to CBS, a sort of cross between Criminal Minds and Showtime's Dexter. It's a procedural about a genetic scientist who uses his newfound discovery that he has the psychopath gene to help the FBI catch killers.
CBS has also ordered up a pilot from Goodfellas writer Nicholas Pilegg titled Ralph Lamb. Set in the early '60s, it's based on the true story of Ralph Lamb, a cowboy-turned-Las Vegas sheriff who modernized the department and assembled the city's first SWAT team, but was best known for his tough stance on the Mafia.
ABC is considering making a series based on The Lincoln Lawyer and Mickey Haller character created by author Michael Connelly. Connelly is working with John Romano to write a pilot script for Lionsgate, the same studio that produced the recent film based on Connelly's novel.
Twentieth Television bought the rights to the three-book series from Swedish criminologist and author Leif G.W. Persson. Screenwriter Stephen Gaghan (Traffic) will adapt the novels featuring Evert Backstrom, a cynical, racist, sexist and homophobic cop with a drinking problem who is disliked by many of his colleagues. Persson, a leading psychological profiler, will serve as an executive producer.
The man behind the TV version of True Blood, the series based on books by Charlaine Harris, is working with Cinemax to create a new scripted series, although it won't have a supernatural theme. Alan Ball's new project is titled Banshee, and will focus on an enigmatic ex-con who's also an expert in martial arts who poses as a murdered sheriff in a small town in Pennsylvania Amish Country.
Last week, I mentioned Endeavour, the new ITV made-for-TV prequel movie to the Inspector Morse series. It's been picked up by PBS to air in the U.S. sometime next year.
Diane Neal, who left Law & Order: SVU after season 9, is returning for several episodes in the upcoming season 13 this fall. Neal says the show will hark back to earlier seasons, and "It's back on track to what the original SVU was intended to be, which is about sex crimes and crimes against children. It's got more of a nitty-gritty feel."
Scott Wolf has joined NCIS for the Season 9 opener in the potentially recurring character of FBI Agent Casey Stratton. Executive producer Gary Glasberg says "Who he is and how he influences the NCIS team will come in due time, but I can promise you some unexpected surprises."
Spike TV has ordered three new reality shows including Big Easy Justice, which follows bounty hunter Tat-2 and his Elite Fugitive Recovery Team as they hunt down some of post-Katrina New Orleans' most elusive criminals, and Undercover Stings (from the producers of Cops) taking viewers "inside the high-stakes world of orchestrated busts and undercover police sting operations."
Fans of Warehouse 13 can breathe a sigh of relief, as Syfy renewed the series for a fourth season. Breaking Bad is also coming back for a final batch of 16 episodes. Fans of In Plain Sight, however, will be less happy at the news that USA is not renewing that series.
You can watch all three episodes of Zen available on the PBS web site, but hurry, because they apparently go away after August 30th.
Pull out your calendar or smartphone and start jotting down the nights you'll be glued in front of the TV with popcorn and your beverage of choice. The Hollywood Reporter has a handy complete broadcast premiere guide.
A great post. I really do learn a lot from your blog. Some of these new films and shows sound really interesting. The Morse show especially.
I like Gerard Butler (what's not to like?) but I'm wondering if he can do a credible American accent.
I'm off to see the Anonymous trailer. Thanks.
Posted by: Yvette | August 15, 2011 at 04:16 PM
I'm not sure I've heard Butler attempting an American accent. Now, if he were Australian, he'd be fine, judging by all the Aussie actors currently playing Americans on TV shows!
Posted by: BV Lawson | August 15, 2011 at 06:07 PM
The ANONYMOUS trailer looks intriguing. But - not sure I agree with the premise. I wonder if Shakespeare is turning over in his grave or just laughing.
I've always heard it's hard if not impossible to prove a negative.
Posted by: Yvette | August 15, 2011 at 06:35 PM
thanks for all the updates :) personally I'm looking forward to Broken City! and about your accent debate, I have to agree with Yvette - skeptical about the american accent :)
Posted by: free movies online | October 15, 2011 at 04:01 PM