Another week has begun and and so has another listing of the latest crime drama news:
MOVIES
Bruce Willis, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and Alec Baldwin have signed on for the thriller Motherless Brooklyn, written and directed by Edward Norton, who is also starring in the project. Inspired by Jonathan Lethem’s novel of the same name, the story is set in 1950s New York and follows Lionel Essrog (Norton), a lonely private detective afflicted with Tourette’s Syndrome, as he ventures to solve the murder of his mentor and only friend, Frank Minna (Willis). Armed only with a few clues and the powerful engine of his obsessive mind, Lionel unravels closely-guarded secrets that hold the fate of the whole city in the balance.
Armie Hammer is set to star in an untitled thriller from writer-director Babak Anvari (Under the Shadow), from Annapurna Pictures. Hammer will play a New Orleans bartender whose life begins to unravel after he picks up a phone left behind at his bar.
Stephen Merchant and Norwegian actress Synnove Macody Lund have joined The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo sequel The Girl in the Spider's Web, joining already-signed actors Claire Foy and Lakeith Stanfield and director Fede Alvarez. Sony hopes to relaunch the film franchise, whose last installment was released in 2011, planning for a November 9, 2018 release. The film is adapted from the David Lagercrantz-penned fourth book in the Millennium series.
Amber Heard will star in Run Away With Me, a romantic thriller from Sentinel Pictures, playing Kimberly, a star-crossed lover who encounters the dark criminal underbelly of the European fashion industry in Paris. There is no word on other casting, including Heard's love interest. French-Canadian director Fred Grivois has come on board to direct the project, after making his feature film debut with the 2015 thriller Through the Air (La Resistance de l’air).
After last week noting that production on the spy thriller The Rhythm Section had been shut down to star Blake Lively's injury, word comes this week that the film is expected to resume production in Spain in June. The film, based on Burnell’s series of "Stephanie Patrick" novels, centers on Lively who takes on an assassin’s identity so she can wage revenge against those who orchestrated a plane crash that killed her family.
Paramount released the full trailer for Mission: Impossible - Fallout, the sixth film in the series starring Tom Cruise. The extensive supporting cast includes returnees Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson, Alec Baldwin, Sean Harris, and Michelle Monaghan, as well as newcomers Angela Bassett, Vanessa Kirby, and Henry Cavill,
Lionsgate has released the first trailer for their upcoming thriller Spinning Man, along with the first poster. Guy Pearce stars alongside Pierce Brosnan and Minnie Driver in the project, which serves as a gripping examination of crime, punishment, and conscience when a professor is suspected in the disappearance of one of his students.
Universal Pictures has debuted the very first trailer for their upcoming British thriller Tango One, the adaptation of Stephen Leather’s thriller of the same title, which is about how far one man will go to rescue his daughter and save his criminal empire from collapse.
A featurette was also released for the upcoming spy thriller Red Sparrow, starring Jennifer Lawrence.
TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES
NBC has given a pilot order to the drama Suspicion, based on the book by Joseph Finder, from The Path creator Jessica Goldberg, Universal TV and Keshet Studios. Created/written by Goldberg, Suspicion is described as a Hitchcockian thriller about how far one man will go to save the people he loves.
The novels in the "Teddy & Emilie" trilogy by Swedish crime author Jens Lapidus have been picked up by the production company Filmlance to be adapted into a new eight-part crime series. Jens Lapidus is known in Sweden as a criminal defense lawyer and is perhaps most famous for having written Easy Money, which was adapted into a film starring Joel Kinnaman.
Amazon Prime Video, Liberty Global, and All3Media International are partnering for the psychological thriller series The Feed from writer Channing Powell (The Walking Dead) and Studio Lambert. Based on the recently published novel by Nick Clark Windo, the London-set futuristic series centers on the family of the man who invented an omnipresent technology called The Feed. Implanted into nearly everyone’s brain. The Feed enables people to share information, emotions and memories instantly. But when things start to go wrong and users become murderous, the family is driven apart as they struggle to control the monster they have unleashed.
The Magnum P.I. pilot from Peter Lenkov (Hawaii Five-O), Davis Entertainment (The Blacklist), and CBS TV Studios has found its director in Fast & the Furious helmer Justin Lin. the reboot of the classic 1980s Tom Selleck series will feature the same central quartet of characters as the original but, instead of four guys, it will consist of three men and a woman, with Higgins reconceived as Juliet Higgins.
Michael Emerson (Lost, Person of Interest) will play the Abbot in the adaptation of Umberto Eco's historical crime novel Name of the Rose, joining a cast that includes Rupert Everett and John Turturro. The international eight-part drama is produced by Germany’s Tele Munchen Group and Italian production company Palomar and will first be shown on Italian broadcaster Rai in the first quarter of 2019.
Former Survivor’s Remorse star Teyonah Parris has been set as the female lead in CBS drama pilot Murder, based on the BBC miniseries, from producer Dan Lin. Written by Amanda Green, this investigative drama explores crime through the unique and often-conflicting perspectives of cops and killers, witnesses and victims, friends and family, shot like a true-crime documentary. Parris will play Det. Ayana Lake, a rising star in the NYPD whose keen intellect and quick, analytic mind are the keys to her success. But when she’s partnered with instinctive intuitive Det. Jack Garrity (not yet cast), styles and personalities sometimes clash.
Felicity Huffman has signed on for a recurring role opposite Chris O’Dowd and Ray Romano in Season 2 of Epix’s dark comedy series Get Shorty, which is based in part on the 1990 Elmore Leonard bestseller. Huffman will play Clara Dillard, a mothering, high-level special agent for the FBI who’s described as hippie therapist meets J. Edgar Hoover. She takes over the investigation focusing on Amara and the crime organization in Season 2. In addition, Sarah Stiles (playing Gladys in Season 1), has been promoted to series regular for the second season.
A major shakeup has hit Law & Order: SVU. Rafael Barba (Raul Esparza) has exited the series and Chicago Justice's Peter Stone (Philip Winchester) will officially take his place. Ezparza spoke out about his exit, thanking his cast and crew in an emotional tweet. Showrunner Michael Chernuchin also opened up, hinting that this probably isn't the last we've seen of Barba.
Gracepoint alum Virginia Kull is set for a recurring role in season 2 of AT&T Audience Network’s breakout series Mr. Mercedes. Kull will play Sadie McDonald, a nurse on the neurology ward, known as the “Brain Bucket” at Mercy General Hospital. She’s an epileptic who has recently gone off her medication and is prone to occasional microscopic seizures which pull her away from the task at hand. Her most famous patient is Brady Hartsfield, the infamous Mercedes killer.
A first-look at Channel 4's innovative new thriller series, Kiss Me First, was unveiled. Adapted by Skins co-creator Bryan Elsley from Lottie Moggach's debut novel, the series fuses live action with computer-generated sequences.
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO
Robert Crais returned to WYSO's Book Nook to talk about his latest installment in his mystery series featuring Elvis Cole and answer the question "If it came down to a hypothetical battle between Lee Child's dominating fictional hero Jack Reacher and (Elvis' sidekick) Joe Pike, who would come out on top?"
WTOP Radio chatted with David Baldacci about his latest novel, End Game, the fifth in his Will Robie series, as well as his Virginia roots.
Two Crime Writers And A Microphone hosts Steve Cavanagh and Luca Veste welcomed reviewer Kate Moloney and special guest Will Dean, who talks about living in the middle of a forest, flat-pack houses, being Robin Hood, and Moose.
The Crime Friction podcast was joined by Gary Phillips (The Man), ahead of the release of his latest novel, Culprits.
THEATER
The Speed of Darkness is currently in production at the River Street Theatre in Los Angeles. Steve Tesich's South Dakota-set mystery-thriller is about a Vietnam veteran and construction-business owner whose past returns to haunt him. The show runs through March 18.
The Arts Center of Coastal Carolina is staging a production of the Tony Award-winning Dial "M" for Murder, directed by New York City-based Russell Treyz. Based on author Frederick Knott and the basis for the famous Hitchcock film, the story is chilling study of power, secrets, infidelity and greed. Performances run through February 25.
Calgary Stage West theater is presenting Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, Ken Ludwig’s farcical version of the famous mystery thriller, in which five actors take on 40 different roles. The production is directed by Mark Bellamy and runs through April 15.
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