Media for Monday

Monday means it's time for the latest roundup of crime drama news:

MOVIES

Peter Nicks is set to direct an adaptation of The Fence: A Police Cover-Up Along Boston’s Racial Divide for Fox Searchlight. The project is based on the book by journalist Dick Lehr and recounts the true story of Michael Cox, an African American plainclothes officer who is mistakenly beaten during a police chase and then finds himself on the other side of the “blue wall of silence” as the Boston Police Department covers it up. The book was adapted for the big screen by George Pelecanos and Dennis Lehane.

Sony Pictures has picked up The Crow Reborn, the long-in-the-works reimagining of James O’Barr’s graphic novel that was turned into a 1994 movie starring Brandon Lee and directed by Alex Proyas. The Crow Reborn will reboot the franchise and will be more faithful to O’Barr’s novel which tells the story of Eric Draven, a rock musician who is revived from the dead to avenge his own death as well as the rape and murder of his fiancée.

Emmy-winner Michael Badalucco (of David E. Kelley’s The Practice) and Sopranos alum Federico Castelluccio are set as the leads in Marlyn Bandiero’s indie film Blue Betrayal, inspired by true events about a family man who loses everything after he is betrayed by his partners. Set in 1983, the story follows police officer Joe Luppino, who gets shot and comes within an inch of losing his life and begins to fear about supporting his family, which leads him to open a small gym for a second, safer income. He soon discovers his business partner is selling drugs out of the gym and members of his precinct are involved. Luppino has to fight against the betrayal, the set up, and ultimately his own need for revenge.

The first trailer was released for the political thriller Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House, which stars Liam Neeson in the title role about the Watergate scandal that took down President Richard M. Nixon.

An international trailer was released for Lynne Ramsay’s thriller, You Were Never Really Here (titled A Beautiful Day in France), where Joaquin Phoenix stars as Joe, an ex-FBI agent and soldier who must rescue a politician's daughter from a brothel.

A trailer was also released for the indie noir flick, Death Waits for No Man, the "unnerving and complex chronicle" of a neon art collector who seduces a lone drifter into killing her abusive husband.

If you're a fan of heist films, you should check out this listing of "The 9 Best Heist Scenes in Movie History."

TELEVISION

Justified executive producers Carl Beverly and Sarah Timberman are returning to the literary creations of Elmore Leonard, optioning three of the late author’s praised Detroit novels, Unknown Man #89, Pagan Babies, and Mr. Paradise, as the basis for a new TV series targeted for cable and streaming networks. Written by Tod “Kip” Williams (Door in the Floor), the series adaptation is envisioned as focusing on one novel each season, with characters occasionally appearing in multiple seasons as they often did in Leonard’s novels. Additionally, novels may spawn related, but narratively original seasons, based on featured or tangential characters and storylines in the original books.

After a competitive auction, CBS has landed Chiefs, an hourlong drama from David Hudgins, Carol Mendelsohn and Sony Pictures TV Studios, which explores the professional and personal lives of three driven, successful, but very different women who are each Chiefs of Police of their own precincts in L.A. County. They band together to create a task force to catch a dangerous serial killer.

In another highly competitive deal, NBC has landed Closure, a legal procedural drama from Drop Dead Diva creator Josh Berman, Underground executive producer John Legend and Sony Pictures TV Studios with a put pilot commitment. Written by Berman, Closure is based on the inspiring story of Serena Nunn, who at 19 learned about the criminal justice system first-hand after being sentenced to 15 years for conspiracy to distribute drugs, despite her being a star student and her negligible role in the crime as the girlfriend of a drug dealer. When Nunn’s sentence was commuted after 11 years, she went on to earn a law degree and started working in the public defender’s office in Atlanta assisting other lawyers because her conviction prevented her from admission to the state bar. That changed when Nunn was pardoned by President Obama last December. Nunn is now a practicing lawyer using her unique perspective to defend her clients.

The This Is Us star Milo Ventimiglia is teaming up with NBC for a new police drama centering around an elite task force working to protect their own. The project, titled Greenlit, is about a highly-skilled group of federal agents whose impressive backgrounds include working for the FBI, Secret Service, IRS and SWAT. Their job is to protect members of law enforcement who find themselves targeted for murder (or "greenlit," as they call it) by various criminal organizations.

Last week, I reported that James Gunn was spearheading a reboot of the 1970s TV buddy-cop series Starsky and Hutch, and this week, it was announced that the project had landed at Amazon. It will be the first foray into television for Guardians of the Galaxy's James Gunn and his production company Troll Court Entertainment.

In a previous Media Murder for Monday post, I also noted that True Detective season 3 was looking more possible, and now we have the official word that True Detective will return to the airwaves for a third season. It will take the big mystery back to a rural setting, like that of Season 1, namely in the Ozarks. Mahershala Ali of Moonlight and Luke Cage will star as Wayne Hays, who is a state police detective hailing from Northwest Arkansas.

UKTV – home of channels like Alibi and Drama – announced a brand-new, 11-part series that takes us back to the so-called Golden Age of crime fiction, the 1920s. The Frankie Drake Mysteries will star Lauren Lee Smith as Private Investigator Frankie Drake and Chantel Riley as Trudy, her associate at Drake Private Detectives, Toronto’s only female private detective agency, where the team takes on the cases the police do not want. Guest stars include British actor Laurence Fox as Frankie’s confidante Greg Miller. 

Fox has given a put pilot commitment to Nightfall, a cop drama from Oscar-nominated writer Sheldon Turner (Up in the Air) and Emmy-winning producer Howard Gordon (24, Homeland). Written by Turner, Nightfall is about a New York City anti-crime unit headed by a charismatic, often unpredictable detective who works the midnight shift, dealing with all the dangerous and insane things that occur between the hours of 10 PM and 6 AM.

In his first major TV role, Orlando Bloom has been tapped to headline Amazon’s eight-episode straight-to-series fantasy drama Carnival Row and will also serve as a producer of the series. Carnival Row is described as a fantasy-noir set in a neo-Victorian city filled with mythical creatures fleeing their war-torn homeland causing tensions between citizens and the growing immigrant population. The series follows the investigation of a string of unsolved murders that are eating away at whatever uneasy peace still exists. Bloom will play the man in the center of it, Rycroft Philostrate, a police inspector investigating the murder of a faerie showgirl on Carnival Row. The producers also announced that Cara Delevingne is set to join the cast.

Former CBS president Glenn Geller is returning to the network with a new CIA drama alongside Madam Secretary showrunner Barbara Hall. The CBS Studios project, Family Business, is described as a multi-generational CIA spy family show told through the eyes of its youngest generation: three adult siblings — who all struggle with rivalry, secrets, and making their mark in the Intelligence Community.

Mouna Traoré (Murdoch Mysteries) and Ellen Wong (GLOW) are set to recur opposite Max Irons in Condor, AT&T Audience Network's 10-episode straight-to-series drama produced by MGM Television and Skydance TV. The project was inspired by Sydney Pollack's 1975 film Three Days of the Condor, which had been adapted from the book Six Days of the Condor by James Grady. The story, which is being written by Jason Smilovic and Todd Katzberg, "follows Joe Turner (Irons), a young CIA analyst whose idealism is tested when he stumbles onto a terrible but brilliant plan that threatens the lives of millions." William Hurt, Bob Balaban, and Mira Sorvino also star.

Tim Roth’s lawman locks horns with Christina Hendricks’ oil refinery bigwig in the trailer for Tin Star, which is set to premiere all 10 episodes on Amazon Friday, Sept. 29. Tin Star tells the story of Jim Worth, a former British detective who brings his family to the tiny, tranquil town of Little Big Bear, where he is police chief. But when a vast oil refinery, fronted by corporate liaison Elizabeth Bradshaw (Mad Men's Hendricks), opens nearby and inundates their home with workers looking for drugs, gambling and prostitution, Jim must work hard to protect his family and town from organized crime.

Chicago Justice star Monica Barbaro will revive her character for Chicago P.D. beginning in episode four of the new season, titled "Snitch," to help bring down the bad guys. The episode reunites her with Seda for the first time since Justice's cancellation earlier this year. While details on her return are scarce, we do know that Antonio Dawson, who is rejoining the original series, will make his way back to the Intelligence Unit as part of a new case his old team is working on.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

Shot Magazine's Ayo Onatade chatted with Louise Penny about the latest installment in her Chief Inspector Gamache series, Glass Houses. Penny also spoke with CBC radio about the healing process of writing her latest novel during her late husband's illness and passing.

KSCJ's Having Read That podcast welcomed T. Jefferson Parker to discuss his new series with private investigator Roland Ford.

Shane Gericke, author of The Fury, was on the Menu at The Blue Plate Special podcast.

Two Crime Writers and a Microphone hosts Steve Cavanagh and Luca Veste discussed Ian Rankin bringing Rebus back, a new BBC adaptation, detectives on TV, and quizshow celebrities Monkman and Seagull. In Reviewer's Corner, Liz Barnsley reviews books Val McDermid and Weste Barnsley, and author Martyn Waites stopped by for a wide-ranging interview.

Book Riot's Read or Dead podcast hosts Katie and Rincey talked about real life mysteries that have surrounded mystery writers.

KGNU's Book Talk welcomed Rachel Howzell Hall to chat about her series featuring LAPD homicide detective Lou Norton.

NPR's Scott Simon spoke with author Nathan Englander about his latest novel, Dinner at the Center of the Earth, set amid the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.