Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

American director James Mangold is eyeing a drug thriller titled City State that he hopes to develop and direct. It would be a remake of Icelandic writer-director Olaf de Fleur Johannesson's original film, which follows four strangers involved with Iceland's criminal underworld—both criminals and cops—who find their lives connected once a mafia syndicate tries to take over Iceland's drug trade.

Producers David Katzenberg and Seth Grahame-Smith have bought movie rights to Alive in Necropolis, the 2008 debut noirish detective story by Doug Dorst set in the real-life cemetery-filled town of Colma, California. According to Grahame-Smith noted, "The book is about a murder mystery, told through the eyes of a young detective who may or may not be going crazy, and may or may not be seeing ghosts that are helping him."

An American version of Occupied, the European TV series based on author Jo Nesbo's novels, is possibly in the works. Although the Norwegian TV original has yet to be filmed, Swedish producer Marianne Gray hinted that it would include American actors and a director in order to make it more "transferrable" to U.S. television later. Gray added that the new strategy in Hollywood seems to be to identify bestselling crime novel series and then convert them into high-end television drama, often giving them a theatrical outing first.

Writer-director Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart) is teaming up with Fox Searchlight to direct and adapt The Man In The Rockefeller Suit, based on the nonfiction book by Mark Seal about a German-born conman who passed himself off as a member of the Rockefeller clan for decades.

George Clooney is out and Bradley Cooper is in as Napoleon Solo in Steven Soderbergh's film adaptation of the iconic 1960s TV series Man from U.N.C.L.E. Glooney had to withdraw due to back problems. In the original series, Robert Vaughn played expert spy Solo, with David McCullum ("Ducky" on NCIS) playing his partner Illya Kuryakin. No word yet on who will play Illya in the movie version.

Here's another trailer for the upcoming Sherlock Holmes sequel, again starring Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes and Jude Law as Watson. And let's hope the movie is successful, because Warner Brothers has already hired Drew Pearce to write the third installment in the franchise, even before the open of this second movie, titled Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, on December 16

Cinema Blends also has a preview of the film London Boulevard based on the novel by Ken Bruen. It was released in November 2010 in the UK, but will finally get a limited release run in the U.S. starting November 11 of this year.

TV

A true-life crime fiction subject, if there ever was one: HBO is planning a movie about Bernie Madoff starring Robert De Niro as the disgraced financier.

Jamie Bamber (Battlestar Galactica, Law and Order: UK) will appear in a multi-episode arc on Body of Proof, playing Scott Decker, a potential love interest for medical examiner Dr. Megan Hunt (Dana Delany). Perhaps this will soften the blow after he landed the lead role in Ron Moore's fantasy drama pilot 17th Precinct, which failed to picked up by NBC.

A&E renewed The Glades for a third season. The cop series starring Matt Passmore as Jim Longworth, a brilliant Chicago homicide detective forced to relocate to the sleepy, middle-of-nowhere town of Palm Glade near the Florida Everglades.

It appears that Person of Interest and Unforgettable are doing well enough in the ratings that CBS is eyeing a full-season rollout for both of the freshmen crime drama series. Person of Interest stars Jim Caviezel as an ex-CIA hitman who teams with a scientist (played by Michael Emerson) to prevent crimes before they happen. Unforgettable stars Poppy Montgomery as a police detective who has a rare medical condition that gives her the ability to remember everything

Fox has acquired an hour-long drama pilot from from Criminal Minds veteran Ed Bernero and ABC Studios. It's based on the Marvel Comics character Punisher, a police procedural with Frank Castle as an NYPD homicide detective by day, vigilante seeking justice by night. (Hat tip to Omnimystery News.)

PODCASTS/RADIO

Keith Rawson interviewed James Sallis at the Poisoned Pen bookstore, discussing his latest novel, The Killer is Dying, as well as the  release of the film adaptation of his novel Drive.

George Smiley fans, rejoice: As Elizabeth Foxwell notes, this week BBC Radio 4 Extra features The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley's People. Go here for the schedule (episodes can usually be heard online for up to a week after broadcast).

THEATER

Seattle's ACT Theatre is launching a new stage production of Double Indemnity, based on the James M. Cain novel that also inspired the 1944 noir film classic directed by Billy Wilder. The play opens this Thursday under the direction of Kurt Beattie and runs through November 20th.