Top o'the week means it's time again for "Media Murder for Monday," with the latest crime drama news from stage and screen:
AWARDS
The BAFTA awards (essentially the "British Oscars") were handed out last night. Congrats to all the winners, and you can read the full list here.
MOVIES
Sony will produce a feature adaptation of The Seven Five, the Tiller Russell-directed and Eli Holzman-produced documentary about one of the most corrupt police forces in 1980s New York. The project is described as "the cop version of Goodfellas."
Director Robert Zemeckis is on board to direct Brad Pitt in an untitled romantic thriller from Paramount and New Regency. Few plot details have been revealed, except that the project will be set during World War II and "is epic in scope."
Jake Gyllenhaal is teaming up with Harvey Weinsten for The Man Who Made It Snow, Antoine Fuqua’s Colombian crime-biopic. Gyllenhaal will star as Max Mermelstein, allegedly the only American in the inner circle of the Colombian drug cartels during the 1980s.
Hobbit star Luke Evans will take a lead role in the prison thriller Three Seconds, based on a Swedish book adapted by screenwriter Matt Cook, to be helmed by British director Otto Bathurst. The story centers on a man forced to go undercover in prison by the FBI, only to be abandoned by the agency, and forced to escape on his own.
Fast And Furious star Tyrese Gibson has made a deal with Universal to executive produce and star in Desert Eagle. He'll play a border patrol agent up against drug cartel that operates out of a Native American casino front.
Sleepy Hollow’s Orlando Jones and his Drive-By Entertainment partner Noam Dromi have optioned the rights to cult deprogrammer Ted Patrick’s story. Patrick was known as the “father of deprogramming” and seen as savior to many parents who had seemingly lost their children to cults, but his methods found him standing trial several times on kidnapping charges, and he was convicted on a number of felony charges over the years.
A trailer was released for the upcoming tale of Sherlock Holmes as a retired 93-year-old in the film Mr. Holmes starring Ian McKellen, which will see its first screening at the Berlin International Film Festival, later this month.
A promo photo was released for the thriller Go With Me, which stars Anthony Hopkins, Julia Stiles, Ray Liotta, and Hal Holbrook. Daniel Alfredson (the Millennium trilogy) directs the adaptation of Castle Freeman Jr’s nove about a young woman who returns to her hometown and is harassed by an ex-cop-turned-violent crime lord (Liota) and enlists an ex-logger (Hopkins) and his sidekick (Alexander Ludwig) to stand up to him.
TELEVISION
Unforgettable is definitely living up to its name. The twice-cancelled CBS series is getting a new life and 13-episode fourth season on the A&E network. The show stars Starring Poppy Montgomery as a female detective who remembers everything except the events of the day her sister was murdered. Dylan Walsh will also return, playing her boyfriend/partner, NYPD’s Al Burns.
NBC is looking to bring back its long-running drama, Law & Order, as a limited series. The network has been exploring the possibility of re-assembling the cast from the early years of the series, including original cast members Chris Noth and Sam Waterston.
NBC also announced it was renewing The Blacklist, Grimm, Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (for its 17th season).
The Hollywood Reporter has a list of which broadcast series are returning, canceled or have wrapped their run with a guide to the 2015-16 television season.
Mira Sorvino is joining the CBS psychological thiller Stalker in a recurring role. She'll play a respected FBI agent who began her career at LAPD’s Threat Assessment Unit and once ran the division.
Former Heroes star Milo Ventimiglia has been cast in a recurring role on Fox's Batman prequel series Gotham, playing a character known as the Ogre starting in Gotham's 19th episode.
Desperate Housewives star Marcia Cross and the original Man From U.N.C.L.E. Robert Vaughn will guest star on the Feb. 25 episode of NBC’s Law & Order:SVU. They'll play a married couple in a story about the dynamics of family power with adult children and younger wives.
Law & Order: Criminal Intent star Courtney B. Vance has been tapped to play O.J. Simpson's lead defense attorney Johnnie Cochran for the upcoming series American Crime Story: People vs. O.J. Simpson.
TV Guide has an exclusive sneak peek of ABC's new drama American Crime premiering Thursday, March 5. The show follows the aftermath of the murder of a war vet and the assault of his wife and the ensuing case that only becomes more complicated and complex as suspects are rounded up.
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO
BBC Radio is currently offering a six-part production of Strong Poison, the mystery from Dorothy L Sayers featuring Lord Peter Wimsey (Ian Carmichael) and Harriet Vane (Ann Bell).
THEATER
Laura Linney and Seth Numrich will star in Switzerland, a new play by Joanna Murray-Smith about famed crime novelist Patricia Highsmith, at California's Geffen Playhouse. The co-world premiere, first performed at Sydney Theatre Company, will begin performances March 6 prior to an official opening March 13.
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