MOVIES
Actor Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) is developing a script he adapted from the mystery novel Home Again by David Wiltse. He's working with producer Mark Johnson to turn it into a movie, and will also serve as the film's director. Of the story, Cranston adds "It's basically a very strong father-son story and a murder-mystery."
Brad Pitt is going to star in the movie adaptation of The Gray Man, the thriller novel by Mark Greaney. Pitt will play a former CIA operative-turned-ultimate assassin who battles special forces teams from around the world in order to save the life of his handler and the handler's family. (Hat tip to Omnimystery.)
Director Brian De Palma's next film project is a thriller written by Joby Harold titled The Key Man. It's about a single father who is targeted by U.S. government agents because his body contains answers to important national secrets. De Palma's past crime drama-related projects included Scarface, The Untouchables, Carrie and Mission: Impossible.
More first-look photos and a trailer from the upcoming film adaptation of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig.
TV
Fox has ordered a pilot for a new hourlong project from Josh Friedman (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) and 20th TV. The new show, titled The Asset, is described as "a character-driven drama set in the New York office of the CIA, which centers on a female agent." Also getting the go-ahead from the studio are an alien-themed cop show titled Stranger Planet and an LAPD procedural, both yet to be cast.
Oscar nominee Julianne Moore is in negotiations to star in the HBO period drama based on the novel Dope by author Sara Gran, who is also writing the script. The movie takes place in 1950 in New York and follows a woman who rehabilitates herself on a farm following a heroin addiction and returns to society as a private eye.
The History Channel is gearing up for a miniseries about the infamous American feuding families the Hatfields and McCoys. Bill Paxton will play Randall McCoy opposite Kevin Costner, who will play "Devil" Anse Hatfield.
Get ready for Law & Order: Cape Town. Well, if you live in South Africa, anyway. The Cape Film Commission announced that 12 episodes have been ordered with filming set to begin on location, in Cape Town by May of 2012, with a cast and film crew that will be primarily South African.
CBS is planning on a crossover episode between two of its shows, Hawaii Five-0 and NCIS: LA, with NCIS actress Daniela Ruah appearing on H50.
The season opener of CSI:NY commemorates the 9/11 attacks around their ten-year anniversary, with flashbacks to that tragic day, showing viewers how Mac and his ill-fated wife and others were affected.
The BBC is bringing back Martin Shaw to 1960s Northumberland as Inspector George Gently, along with his headstrong, un-pc sidekick, Bacchus (Lee Ingleby), to appear in two TV movies this year and in 2012. The series is based on the books by Alan Hunter. (Hat tip to Eurocrime.)
Fans of BritCrime should check out this comprehensive rundown of all new crime series coming to the BBC and ITV for the 2011/2012 broacast season. Some of these may make their way across the pond (Endeavor and Sherlock are already scheduled in the U.S.), and hopefully the others will too. Some are news to me, including Undisclosed, a four-part BBC1 thriller starring Philip Glenister (Mad Dogs, Life on Mars) as a small-time solicitor, Harry Venn, forced to delve into his murky past involving the death of his brother 12 years ago, (it also stars one of my favorites, David Suchet).
Are you or is someone on your Christmas gift list a fan of the original Law and Order? If so, and if you have $500 to $700 lying around, the entire 20 years and 456 episodes will be available on DVD November 8th.
THEATER
The Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut, will host a production of City of Angels, the jazzy 1989 Tony Award-winning show with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by David Zippel and book by Larry Gelbart. The play is described as a "sexy noir musical comedy about a mystery writer named Stine (played by D.B. Bond) and his famous gumshone/alter ego, Stone (played by Burke Moses)."
I adore the Law & Order franchise. I wonder if they'll make a Law & Order: Australia ?
Posted by: Emily | August 26, 2011 at 02:55 AM
That sounds like a natural to me, especially since Australia seems to be a hotbed of great actors right now (many of whom are on American TV shows with very realistic American accents--two in "Fringe" alone, Anna Torv and John Noble).
Posted by: BV Lawson | August 26, 2011 at 08:38 AM