MOVIES
Ben Affleck has signed on to direct an untitled political thriller set in Africa about a group of mercenaries called in to topple an African warlord.
Michael Fassbender is in negotiations to star in the gangster-centered drama Trespass Against Us, to be the debut feature effort for music video and TV director Adam Smith.
The action thriller The Coup began filming in Thailand. The project stars Owen Wilson and Pierce Brosnan and follows an American family living in Southeast Asia who find themselves caught in the middle of a violent military uprising.
The film adaptation of the original TV series Veronica Mars released a trailer for the film, scheduled for 2014. The project found part of its funding recently via a successful Kickstarter drive. The story will continue the adventures of star Kristen Bell as the title character who moonlighted as a private eye while a student under the mentoring of her detective father.
TELEVISION
NBC is adapting Harlan Coben's novel Gone For Good, about a man whose endless search for his missing and allegedly murderous brother, Ken, is "filled with so many twists and turns it leaves him doubting the actions of everybody he’s ever loved."
NBC is also turning to author Chesea Cain for a new project, adapting her new thriller series for the small screen. Titled One Kick, the story centers around a woman abducted as a child who now works for a mysterious billionaire thanks to his resources and high-tech tools she needs to hunt down predators and rescue other abductees.
ABC has ordered a crime thriller from writer Charles Randolph, adapted from the best-selling novels by Liza Marklund that were turned into the hit Swedish drama series Annika Bengtzon: Crime Reporter. (Hat tip to Omnimystery News.)
The CW ordered a script-to-series commitment from 24's Matt Michnovetz. The project is titled The Cover, and is described as an FBI drama about the Irish Mob.
NBC ordered a script commitment for a potential series based on author Thomas E. Sniegoski's series about Remy Chandler, an angel who embraces earthly life as a Boston private eye with a variety of useful "superpowers."
CBS put in development a legal drama titled Alleged, about a defense attorney who takes on the most important case of his life: defending his own brother, a successful surgeon and father of two who is accused of murdering his wife.
Omnimystery News reported on four projects under development at ABC and TNT, including: a pilot based on a book by Alexandra Robbins about a female FBI agent who is also a former member of a secret society; a PI drama featuring a former LAPD homicide detective, whose disabling injury gives him a new ability to solve the most difficult cases; the legal thriller Entrapment in which a prosecutor is accused of murder; and Public Morals, starring Ed Burns as a late 1960s-era NYPD cop.
Starz is working with Owen Wilson to develop an FBI period drama titled WonderWorld. Set during the Reagan era, the story is inspired by one of the biggest real-life undercover operations in FBI history, and follows two straight-arrow agents as they infiltrate the Mob-controlled porn industry of the 1980s.
HBO released the new trailer and teaser art for the highly anticipated drama series True Detective and launched the companion site darknessbecomesyou.com, with images, animations, videos and interactive features. The project stars Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson as Louisiana detectives whose lives collide and entwine during a 17-year hunt for a killer.
Royal Pains star Paulo Costanzo is set to guest star on the CBS police procedural Criminal Minds, playing an old friend from Garcia's (Kirsten Vangsness) troubled past who she hasn't seen since she joined the BAU. Criminal Minds will celebrate its 200th-episode milestone this season, in an episode bringing back former regular Paget Brewster.
The USA Network tapped Shane Coffey as the star for its new series Novice, about a recent college graduate whose job search leads him to a position with a Korean crime organization.
Law & Order: SVU detectives Fin (Ice-T) and Rollins (Kelli Giddish) will guest star on the Chicago Fire spin-off, Chicago PD.
Meanwhile, Fox released the first eight minutes of its upcoming futuristic crime drama Almost Human.
Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall is co-writing a novel with author Erin Kelly based on the popular BBC crime drama. The novel will "elaborate on the existing plot and delve deeper into the lives and backstories of the characters."
Hat tip to author Chris Fowler for pointing out that Channel 4 announced Danny Boyle is working with on a comedy-drama set in a London police station and also given the go-ahead to No Offence, an eight-part comedy series about a trio of female cops, by Paul Abbott. Plus, the police spoof Scot Squad was given a full series order and returns to BBC Scotland next year, while the second series of Charlie Brooker’s police parody Touch of Cloth will be aired in the summer.
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO
Lawrence Block joined Craig Ferguson on the Late Late Show, talking about his writing and his recent self-publishing effort.
On this week's Crime and Science Radio, the feature was "The Infancy of Toxicology", an interview with Deborah Blum, Author of The Poisoner's Handbook.
A minor correction: Remy Chandler is the character who is a fallen angel working as a Boston PI; the author of the books is Thomas E. Sniegoski.
Posted by: Jerry House | November 05, 2013 at 05:05 PM
Thanks, Jerry! I keep telling myself I shouldn't do these posts so late at night....
Posted by: BV Lawson | November 05, 2013 at 05:21 PM