Monday greetings to all! For those of you in the U.S. who are observing Memorial Day, I hope you are taking time to remember the people who died while serving in the country's armed forces, as well as enjoying some quality time together with family and friends.
And now, here's a roundup of the latest news of crime dramas, on the big and small screens, as well as podcasts and the stage:
MOVIES
MGM is re-launching Orion Classics, with a focus on multi-platform and specialized releases and acquisitions, and has named Mike P. Nelson’s thriller The Domestics as its first release. The Domestics is set in a terrifying post-apocalyptic world inhabited by murderous gangs divided into deadly factions, where Nina (Kate Bosworth) and Mark (Tyler Hoechlin) race desperately across the lawless countryside in search of safety. Rounding out the cast are Lance Reddick (The Wire), Sonoya Mizuno (Ex Machina), Dana Gourrier (The Hateful Eight), Thomas Francis Murphy (True Detective) and David Dastmalchian (The Belko Experiment).
In the last John Wick installment, the retired hit man was declared officially excommunicado from the Continental and dealing with a global contract out on his head. The next installment, John Wick: Chapter 3 will pick up after the events of the last film and find Keanu Reeves' character facing countless threats with no sanctuary to turn to. Joining the action franchise this time around are Halle Berry and Anjelica Huston, who will work with returning members Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Ian McShane, and Lance Reddick.
It's been almost two years since the last James Bond outing, and during the time since, there's been a lot of talk around who would direct the next film (Danny Boyle), whether Daniel Craig would be returning to the role for a fifth installment (yes, he is), and if we'd be seeing it any time soon. Regarding the last question, the tentatively titled Bond 25 has officially been set for release on October 25th, 2019 in the UK and two weeks later on November 8th in the U.S.
Al Pacino’s Scarface will be re-released June 10-13 to mark the film's 35th anniversary. Brian De Palma’s movie, based on a screenplay by Oliver Stone, is a gangland classic that stars Pacino as a Cuban gangster who rises through the ranks of the drug trade in Miami in the 1980s. The re-release is being presented by Universal Pictures, which is also producing a new version of De Palma’s film, directed by Antoine Fuqua.
A trailer was released for City of Lies (based on the novel of the same name by journalist Randall Sullivan) starring Johnny Depp and Forest Whitaker as they take on one of the most notorious unsolved cases in Los Angeles history: the murder of Biggie Smalls. Depp will play Russell Poole, a real-life detective who spent years trying to crack the mystery, who teams up with a desperate reporter (Forest Whitaker) to solve the mystery of Biggie Smalls’ death and the conspiracy to cover up the case.
The first trailer is out for Papillon, a remake of the classic 1973 film that was based on the memoirs of convicted felon and fugitive Henri Charrière. Directed by Michael Noer (Northwest) from a script by Aaron Guzikowski (Prisoners), the film stars Charlie Hunnam, Rami Malek, Yorick Van Wageningen, Roland Moller, Tommy Flanagan and Eve Hewson, and opens in theaters August 24.
TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES
Ryan Reynolds and Michael Bay are heading to Netflix to star in Six Underground, a Bay-directed action picture that has Skydance Media partnering with the streaming giant. Reynolds will be reunited with his Deadpool and Deadpool 2 writers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, who penned the script that centers on six billionaires who fake their own deaths and form an elite team to take down bad guys.
The next installment in BBC One’s collection of Agatha Christie stories, The ABC Murders, has signed John Malkovich to play Hercule Poirot and Rupert Grint to portray Inspector Crome. Filming is due to begin in June on the three-part drama that is set in the 1930s at a time when Britain is dangerously divided and suspicion and hatred are on the rise. The story sees Poirot face a serial killer known only as A.B.C. As the body count rises, the only clue is a copy of The ABC Railway Guide at each crime scene.
Season 9 has been confirmed for ITV's award-winning crime drama VERA, with Brenda Blethyn returning once again to play the unorthodox but brilliantly perceptive Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope. The four-part season centers on the death of Joanne Caswell a newly qualified HMP forensic psychologist working in Newcastle, who'd been looking into the crime of a former patient who had recently committed suicide. Kenny Doughty returns as Detective Sergeant Aiden Healy, who over the years has proved himself to be a strong and reliable partner to DCI Stanhope. Doctor Who’s Peter Davison, James Atherton (The Crown), Adrian Lukis (Little Boy Blue), and Paul Kaye (Game of Thrones) will lead the all-star guest cast.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation announced its fall slate including Coroner (winter 2019), an hourlong procedural series based on former barrister-turned-acclaimed crime writer M.R. Hall's bestselling Jenny Cooper novels, about a former ER doctor newly appointed as a coroner investigating suspicious deaths. The CBC also renewed the Frankie Drake Mysteries and the Murdoch Mysteries for an additional season each.
Independent drama producer Kudos has won the television adaptation rights to Diane Setterfield’s new suspense novel Once Upon a River. The story is a period mystery set in an inn on the River Thames where the regulars are entertaining themselves by telling stories when the door bursts open on an injured stranger. In his arms is the drowned corpse of a little child, although hours later the dead girl stirs, takes a breath and returns to life. Is it a miracle? Is it magic? Or can it be explained by science? Setterfield’s debut 2006 novel The Thirteenth Tale was adapted into a BBC TV drama starring Vanessa Redgrave and Olivia Coleman.
Only a short time after Syfy canceled The Expanse beyond its upcoming third season, Amazon announced it was picking up the critically praised series for Season 4. Co-created and written by Oscar-nominated screenwriting duo Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby (Children of Men), the series is based on the bestselling book series by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck (under the pen name James S. A. Corey). The project stars Steven Strait, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Dominique Tipper, Cas Anvar, Wes Chatham, Frankie Adams, and Thomas Jane in the police detective set in the asteroid belt where the first officer of an interplanetary ice freighter and an Earth-bound United Nations executive slowly uncover a vast conspiracy that threatens the Earth’s rebellious colony.
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO
The New York Times profiled the podcast My Favorite Murder, which has legions of female fans who call themselves Murderinos and have turned the show’s hosts, Georgia Hardstark and Karen Kilgariff, into global stars.
The Two Crime Writers and a Microphone hosts Steve Cavanagh and Luca Veste talked about Cocky Cowboys, trademark bullying, Ian McEwan's disappointing grades, and much more. Craig Sisterson also reviewed Dark Pines by Will Dean and Paper Ghosts by Julia Haeberlin, and special guest Simon Toyne chatted about the Solomon Creed novels, working in TV and the vagaries of that business, plus basing books on true crimes.
Suspense Radio's Inside Edition was joined by Sisters in Crime talking about the organization and also welcomed author Charlie Donlea to discuss his latest novel, Don't Believe It, in which a filmmaker helps clear a woman convicted of murder—only to find she may be a puppet in a sinister game.
Debbi Mack interviewed crime fiction author David Swinson on the Crime Cafe podcast. Swinson's new novel Crime Song is the follow up in his D.C.-set series featuring Frank Marr, a retired cop turned PI, who was a burglar in his former life.
Read or Dead discussed books by Asian and Asian American writers in honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
THEATER
The Strand Theater in Marietta, Georgia, is presenting encore performance of Murder! at The Strand, an immersive theatrical whodunit that sold out during its initial run in April. The additional performances June 7-10 will once again allow the audience to identify the true story behind a nefarious crime and the criminal with the motive to commit it.
Chicago's Lifeline Theatre is mounting a revival of its 2010 hit adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s novel, Neverwhere, itself based on the 1996 BBC television series in which a man and woman find themselves trapped in a shadowy underworld beneath London’s streets where rogues and assassins roam. Robert Kauzlaric’s adaptation is directed by Ilesa Duncan with a run from May 25-July 15.
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