Media Murder for Monday

AWARDS

The film and TV nominees for the Critics' Choice Awards were announced last week. Fargo led the TV pack with eight nominations, including Best Movie Made for Television or Limited Series and acting nominations for Patrick Wilson, Kirsten Dunst, Nick Offerman, Jesse Plemons, Bokeem Woodbine, Cristin Miloti, and Jean Smart. Other crime drama nods in the TV category included Luther and its star Idris Elba; Hugh Dancy (Hannibal), Rami Malek (Mr. Robot), Liev Schreiber (Ray Donovan), and Viola Davis (How to Get Away With Murder). On the cinema side, Bridge of Spies and its director Steven Spielberg and star Mark Rylance also received nominations.

The London Critics’ Circle also announced their 2015 nominees, with nods to Bridge of Spies (actor Mark Ryland), The Revenant (director Alejandro G Iñárritu, stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy and Film of the Year), and Sicario (actors Benicio Del Toro and Emily Blunt and Tom Ozanich for sound design).

The American Film Institute delayed the date on which it chose the Top 10 films of 2015 so that its jury could see a number of films that didn’t screen until late in the year. But late last week, AFI released its "best" lists, including the movie Bridge of Spies and TV shows The Americans, Better Call Saul, Fargo, Homeland, and Mr. Robot.

MOVIES

The crime thriller Too Late is getting a special 35mm-only theatrical release this spring nationwide. The film stars John Hawkes as a troubled private investigator hired to find a missing woman with whom he has a messy relationship. The project was framed as a story in five acts shot in the 35mm Techniscope format, with each chapter comprised of a single 20+ minute uncut shot.

German producers Philipp Kreuzer and Jörg Schulze are launching Maze Pictures with their first project being an adaptation of The Crimson Rivers, the best-selling novel by Jean-Christophe Grangé. Set in the world of the macabre, the thriller follows two detectives investigating a series of grisly murders.

Laura Linney is in talks to star in the psychological thriller The Dinner, with Oren Moverman set to direct from his own script. Based on the novel by Herman Koch, the story is set at a dinner in Amsterdam and revolves around around two brothers, one running for prime minister of the Netherlands, who must deal with their teenage sons having committed a violent crime. The book was previously adapted in 2013 by Menno Meyjes as a Dutch drama and screened at the Toronto International Film Festival. It was also the source for a 2014 Italian drama from Ivano De Matteo and screened at Venice where it won the Europa Cinemas Label as best European film.

The Charlie's Angels reboot has taken a step closer with the hiring of Evan Spiliotopoulos to write the script. Spiliotopoulos most recently penned the script for another action thriller, the Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson-starring Hercules in 2014. Director Elizabeth Banks had been previously announced as the film's director.

Charlotte Gainsbourg is in talks to join Michael Fassbender and Rebecca Ferguson in The Snowman, the adaptation of Jo Nesbo's thriller, which will be exec produced by Mrtin Scorsese and directed by Tomas Alfredson. The story centers on idiosyncratic Oslo police department detective Harry Hole who investigates the murder of a woman whose scarf is found wrapped around a snowman.

Black Label Media acquired rights to an untitled feature film that centers on the 2011 scandal that rocked the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and centers on Operation Pandora’s Box, a secret program masterminded by the LASD to hide an informant inmate that was feeding the FBI dirt on abuse at the Men’s Central Jail. Jesse Zwick (About Alex) and Michael Weintraub will write the script.

TELEVISION

Kiefer Sutherland is returning to the small screen for ABC's conspiracy thriller Designated Survivor. He'll play a low-ranking member of the United States Cabinet who finds himself suddenly destined for the Oval Office as the appointed President after a massive attack during a State of the Union leaves the POTUS, the V.P. and everyone else above Sutherland’s paygrade dead.

Amazon Studios picked up the action-drama Bulletproof. To be written by Corey Miller (CBS’ Reckless), the show revolves around a female Marine sniper-turned-assassin who is hired to kill a cop. The same company that is producing the pilot, EuropaCorp, also just cut a deal with mystery writer David Baldacci to develop a project.

Good news and bad news for fans of TNT programming: the network has renewed the mystery adventure drama The Librarians, the serialized crime drama Murder In The First, and the crime procedural Major Crimes. At the same time, TNT canceled Public Morals, Legends, and Agent X.

Fans of Fargo are going to have to wait until 2017 for the third season of the FX series, according to show creator Noah Hawley. As previously announced, the new season will be set in 2010, four years after Season 1, but will not include any of the first season regulars as primary players in the action. [Warning: This article link contains spoilers for the entirety of Fargo season two...]

PODCASTS/RADIO/VIDEO

PBS' Masterpiece announced Masterpiece Studio, a new podcast that will "give an insider's view to some of the most popular shows presented on Masterpiece." The first installment of the podcast will go live on Dec. 21, with an interview with Sherlock actor and co-creator Mark Gatiss.

On this latest Crime and Science Radio, the topic is  Men of Valor," an interview with author and weapons expert John F. Mullins, Major U.S. Army Special Forces (Ret.)

Debbi Mack's Crime Cafe welcomed crime fiction author Kenneth Wishnia to chat about his Filomena Buscarsela mystery series and other novels, as well as the anthology Jewish Noir.

The latest Thrilling Reads podcast hosted Cheryl Bradshaw, the New York Times & USA Today bestselling author writing in the genres of mystery, thriller, romantic suspense, and paranormal suspense.

Author Jeff Shelby joined CrimeFiction.FM to discuss his new book, the sixth in Joe Tyler mystery series, Thread of Revenge.

If you're a fan of NPR's comedy quiz show, "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell, Me," you're probably familiar with the part of the show where they invite a celebrity guest to answer a series of questions. In one recent episode, Lee Child stopped by so the bestselling author could answer three questions about books that sold really, really badly.