Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

The film rights to Ruth Ware’s The Lying Game have been acquired by The Gotham Group, which is also set to produce Ware’s first two novels: The Woman in Cabin 10 and In A Dark, Dark Wood. The Lying Game follows four best friends from boarding school who are brought back together when a morbid discovery threatens to expose the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of one of their teachers. The group was notorious for playing a game involving an elaborate ruse that created consequences they never imagined.

Veteran producer Uri Singer is developing a movie based on Jess Walter’s 2006 sci-fi detective novel The Zero. The story centers on a cop who wakes up to find he’s shot himself in the head during a devastating terrorist attack. As the smoke slowly clears, he finds that his memory is skipping, lurching between moments of lucidity and days when he doesn’t seem to be living his own life at all. 

Daniel Craig finally confirmed the rumors on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that he'll be back for his fifth appearance as 007 in the upcoming film, which is slated for release in 2019, adding "I couldn't be happier."

Channing Tatum is attached to star in Bloodlines, a crime movie involving the Mexican drug cartels that is based on the upcoming book by Melissa Del Bosque, Bloodlines: The True Story of a Drug Cartel, the FBI, and the Battle for a Horse-Racing Dynasty. Tatum will play Scott Lawson, a rookie FBI agent assigned to the sleepy border town of Laredo, Texas, where he writes reports about the drug war. Lawson finally gets some action when he discovers that Miguel Trevino, the leader of a brutal Mexican drug cartel, has bought a racehorse for the purpose of laundering drug money, and with the help of a more experienced female agent, he attempts to infiltrate the cartel.

The Shaft movie reboot Son of Shaft, with Tim Story attached to direct, is eyeing Samuel L. Jackson to reprise his role from the 2000 Shaft movie as John Shaft II, the nephew of the original. Richard Roundtree, a.k.a. the original John Shaft himself, is also angling to return as the man who started it all. Independence Day: Resurgence's Jessie T. Usher is in talks to play the youngest of the Shaft men, i.e. the son of Jackson's Shaft, in what will turn out to be a "family" affair.

A trailer was released for Good Time, starring Robert Pattinson as a young bank robber whose latest botched job lands his younger brother, Nick (played by co-director Benny Safdie), in jail. Connie's efforts to break him out takes him on a disturbing journey through New York's criminal underworld. 

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

ABC Signature, the cable/digital division of ABC Studios, has landed the hot hourlong spec Julia, a darkly comedic dramedy about celebrity chef Julia Child from writer Benjamin Brand and ABC Signature Studios. The fictional project is based on a true fact: before she was the world’s first celebrity chef, Julia Child was an agent for the OSS, the precursor to the CIA, during World War II. The new drama re-imagines a world where the CIA takes advantage of Julia Child’s newfound celebrity status and drags the French Chef back into action as a covert operative.

Every Cloud Productions, which produces the female-produced, written and lead show, Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries, is not letting Miss Fisher fade away. A movie is confirmed to be in the works, with a planned release date in the back half of 2018, once again starring Essie Davis in the 1920 flapper era-set action.

BBC has commissioned two new eight-part drama series for its flagship channel BBC One. The Three, based on a trilogy of books by Sarah Lotz, is adapted by Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy scribe Peter Straughan and is described as a multi-stranded, international thriller with a supernatural twist that sees four planes crash on the same day in four different countries. The Serpent is written by Ripper Street scribe Richard Warlow and is based on the true story of how one of the most elusive criminals of the 20th century – con man and escape artist Charles Sobhraj – was caught and brought to trial. The series will be directed by Tom Shankland (The Missing) and produced by Poldark’s Mammoth Screen.

Patrick Dempsey, who made viewers swoon for 11 seasons as Derek "McDreamy" Shepherd on Grey's Anatomy, is returning to television via the cable network Epix to headline The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair, a 10-episode series based on the 2014 Joël Dicker novel of the same name. Dempsey will play Harry Quebert, a college professor who is accused of the murder of a 15-year-old girl in a coastal New Hampshire town. One of Harry's former students, author Marcus Goldman, comes to see Quebert before the murder to find inspiration for his next novel, but winds up using the murder investigation as his focus. Damon Wayans Jr. and Virginia Madsen were also cast in the series, as a police sergeant and a local diner owner, respectively.

Russell Tovey has closed a deal to return as a series regular for Season 3 of Quantico, which returns to ABC’s lineup in midseason. He joins fellow returning series regulars star Priyanka Chopra, Jake McLaughlin and Johanna Braddy as well as Season 2 addition Blair Underwood. 

Rizzoli & Isles alum Bruce McGill has landed a pivotal recurring role on the upcoming third season of NBC’s hit police drama series Shades of Blue, starring Jennifer Lopez and Ray Liotta. McGill will play Jordan Ramsey, a ruthless and resourceful man who runs a unit out of the Intelligence Division. Capable of going to extreme measures to ensure the success of his agenda, Ramsey is not burdened by an over-active moral compass. He knows what he wants, and he pushes the limits to get it.

Barbara Hershey has been tapped for a recurring role on the 10-episode 11th season of the Fox sci-fi drama The X-Files. It’s the show’s second run as an event series, following last season’s six-season revival.  Hershey, an Oscar nominee for The Portrait of a Lady, will play Erika Price, a powerful figure who represents a mysterious organization. She joins returning stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson and co-star Mitch Pileggi.

After a teaser two weeks ago along with the revelation of Bobby Cannavale’s used car salesman character Irving, USA Networks dropped a small teaser on Twitter from Mr. Robot's season 3.0, featuring Rami Malek’s Elliot at the world series for hackers.


PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

Authors on the Air host Pam Stack welcomed Duane Swierczynski, the author of several crime thrillers including the Edgar-nominated and Anthony Award-winning Expiration Date, as well the Charlie Hardie series.

Author, lawyer, and columnist J.D. Rhoades joined The Blue Plate Special podcast to discuss his Jack Keller novels.

Big Blend Radio chatted with author Michael H. Rubin about his new book, Cashed Out, that combines both the allure of and the inherent danger in Louisiana’s bayous with the rush of a legal thriller.

Mystery Writer Loretta Ross was on the Menu at The Blue Plate Special podcast.