Media Murder for Monday

It's Monday and time for another weekly roundup of crime drama news:

MOVIES

Domenick Lombardozzi has been cast in Martin Scorsese’s Netflix film The Irishman, along with Jeremy Luke and Joseph Russo. They join the all-star ensemble cast of Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel, and Jack Huston. The drama is about Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran (De Niro), a reputed hitman suspected of involvement in the disappearance and murder of Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa. It’s based on the 2003 novel I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt. Lombardozzi will play Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno, head of the Genovese crime family.

Nuala Ellwood’s thriller, My Sister’s Bones has been optioned by Bill Kenwright Films. The novel tells the story of two sisters, Kate, a war reporter, and Sally, a recluse who never left their childhood home of Herne Bay. When their mother dies, Kate returns from Syria to Herne Bay and grows concerned about what is going on in the house next door. But, as it becomes apparent Kate is a victim of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the reader struggles to know who to believe, or who is actually guilty.

Claire Foy has officially been announced as the new Lisbeth Salander in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo sequel, The Girl in the Spider’s Web. The new installment of Sony Pictures’ Millennium franchise, created by author Stieg Larsson and continued for his estate by David Lagercrantz, will start production in January in Berlin and Stockholm, and the film will be released on October 19, 2018.

A trailer was released for Red Sparrow, starring Jennifer Lawrence as a young Russian ballerina who enters the Sparrow spy program. After a harrowing training period, she emerges as one of the agency's top recruits then meets an American CIA agent (Joel Edgerton) whose fateful encounter has the potential to throw both of their lives in jeopardy. Red Sparrow will be released in theaters March 2, 2018.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

The annual Emmy Awards were handed out last night and included a few nods to crime dramas, including The Night Of, which saw a Lead Actor in a Movie or Limited Series nod to Riz Ahmed and for cinematography; Big Little Lies was also a big winner, grabbing the Outstanding Limited Series title and Best Actress for Nicole Kidman and Best Director for Jean-Marc Vallée, as well as Supporting Actor for Alexander Skarsgård. The big winner of the night could said to be streaming services, with several wins for Netflix (The Crown and Stranger Things) and Hulu (The Handmaid's Tale).

E! has put in development One Of Us Is Lying, based on Karen M. McManus’ bestselling mystery-thriller young adult novel, from Universal Cable Productions and John Sacchi’s 5 More Minutes Productions banner. Described as Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars, One Of Us Is Lying follows what happens when five strangers walk into detention and only four walk out alive.

Netflix subscribers in the U.S. and Canada will be able to tune in mystery thriller Harlan Coben’s The Five after the streaming service scored the North American rights to the series, originally produced and set in the U.K., where it went out on pay-TV service Sky. It marked bestselling author Coben’s move into TV, and follows a group of friends as they discover that the brother of one them, who vanished years earlier, may still be alive after his DNA turns up at a murder scene.

Two decades after its debut in theaters, True Lies is headed for the small screen after Fox handed out a put-pilot commitment to a reboot of James Cameron's 1994 Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis action drama. Arrow executive producer Marc Guggenheim will pen the script for the potential series, said to be a modern version of the story about how a suburban couple adjusts when one of them is revealed to be a spy.

Hari Nef is set for a recurring role opposite Penn Badgley and Elizabeth Lail in Lifetime’s straight-to-series psychological thriller drama You, from Greg Berlanti and Sera Gamble. Written by Berlanti and Gamble based on Caroline Kepnes’ best-selling novel, You is described as "a 21st century love story that asks, 'What would you do for love?'" When a brilliant bookstore manager Joe (Badgley) crosses paths with an aspiring writer, Beck (Lail), his answer becomes clear: anything. Nef will play Blythe, a talented and competitive peer in Beck’s MFA program.

Alexandra Billings (Transparent) is set for a key recurring role opposite Billy Bob Thornton, Morris Chestnut, and Ana De La Reguera in the upcoming second season of Amazon’s original drama series Goliath. Billings will play Judge Martha Wallace, a seasoned professional who is meticulous and controlled, who presides over the trial of a teenager accused of a double murder.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

Two Crime Writers and a Microphone hosts Steve Cavanagh and Luca Veste presentend a special live episode recorded at the Bloody Scotland crime festival, featuring Ian Rankin, Mark Billingham, Eva Dolan, and Stuart Neville.

The Story Blender podcast welcomed special gust Sandra Brown, who owns the distinction of being on the New York Times bestseller list with her thrillers sixty-eight times.

Debbie Mack's Crime Cafe featured an interview with crime fiction author Dave White about the latest installment in his Jackson Donne series.

THEATER

Rivendell Theatre in Chicagoland is presenting the world premiere production of Alias Grace, an adaptation of Margaret Atwood's 1996 novel that was loosely based on a notorious 1843 murder case. Jennifer Blackmer penned the adaptation, with Karen Kessler directing the story of 16-year-old Grace Marks, accused of brutally murdering her employer and his housekeeper. Imprisoned for years, Grace still swears she has no memory of the killings until a doctor in the emerging field of mental health arrives to try to find out the truth of the matter.

Canada's Vertigo Theater Mystery Series is presenting the world premiere of Jovanni Sy's play, Nine Dragons, through October 15. When an upper-class European girl is found murdered on the seedy side of Kowloon, ambitious Chinese police detective Tommy Lam is on the case. But faced with corruption and the prejudice of his superiors, how far will Tommy go in the pursuit of justice?

The Swan Theatre in Worcester is presenting the world premiere of the play Where Is Mrs Christie? from September 19-23. The one-woman show stars The Second Best Bed actor, Liz Grand, and delves into the mysterious 11-day disappearance of the iconic mystery author in 1926.