Nice to have you stop by as we start off a new week with the latest crime drama roundup:
MOVIES
Paramount Pictures has closed a six-figure deal for I Am Yours, a spec thriller script by Ryan Belenzon and Jeffrey Gelber described as having "a Fatal Attraction-like stalker vibe." Producers for the project are Tyler Perry and the Platinum Dunes trio of Michael Bay, Andrew Form and Brad Fuller, who are coming off the genre hit A Quiet Place.
Vanderpump Rules star Lala Kent has been cast in Verdi Productions’ upcoming crime feature Vault. Kent will take on the role of Edie in a story based on true events that follows a group of Rhode Island criminals in the '70s who try to lift $30 million from the mob. Kent joins a cast that includes Theo Rossi, Clive Standen, Samira Wiley, Don Johnson, and Chazz Palminteri.
The star of Netflix's recently canceled series Seven Seconds, Beau Knapp, will star alongside Alexis Bledel (The Handmaid’s Tale), Kurt Russell (The Hateful Eight), Luke Hemsworth (Westworld), Jeremie Harris (Legion), and Vincent Kartheiser (Mad Men) in the money laundering thriller Crypto. Directed by John Stalberg Jr., the indie film is described as "a thriller in the vein of The Firm and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" and centers on a young anti-money laundering agent (Knapp) tasked with investigating a tangled web of corruption and fraud in his remote New York hometown, where his father (Russell) and brother (Hemsworth) are struggling to maintain their family farm in a changing economic landscape. The agent quickly finds himself enmeshed in a dangerous underworld populated by a mysterious art dealer (Bledel), a crypto-currency enthusiast turned cyber-sleuth (Harris) and a corrupt accountant doing the bidding of ruthless clients (Kartheiser).
The Japan Society of New York announced the full lineup for JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film 12th Edition, with over 30 films, some never before seen in New York City. The roster includes two crime dramas: Outrage Coda (New York premiere on Saturday, July 28), the third entry in the Outrage yakuza series that finds Takeshi Kitano’s Otomo on South Korea’s idyllic Jeju island running enforcement for Chang (Tokio Kaneda) in regional organized crime; and Last Winter, We Parted (North American Premiere on Saturday, July 21), in which an ambitious, young freelance journalist (Takanori Iwata) takes on the closed case of a famous fine arts photographer (Takumi Saitoh) whose beautiful female subject died on set in a gruesome fire. As details of the artist’s eerie fascinations with physical mortality emerge, the writer pitches the increasingly salacious story to a skeptical editor (Kazuki Kitamura) just as it takes a dangerous turn.
TELEVISION
Media Rights Capital, Stephen King's partner on The Dark Tower, has optioned King's bestselling novel The Outsider and has plans a 10-episode limited series adaptation with Richard Price adapting the script. The story centers on Terry Maitland, one of Flint City’s most storied citizens, a Little League coach, English teacher, husband, and father of two girls, who's arrested in front of everyone and charged with the grotesque murder of an 11-year old. Even though Maitland has an iron clad alibi — he was at a conference and seen by witnesses — his DNA was found at the murder scene along with fingerprints.
Icelandic crime fiction author Lilja Sigurðardóttir's novel Snare has been optioned for TV. Snare was the first of Sigurðardóttir's books to be translated into English (by Quentin Bates) and released in the UK last year, by Orenda Books. The story follows attractive young mother Sonia is struggling to provide for herself and keep custody of her son following a messy divorce. With her back to the wall, she resorts to smuggling cocaine into Iceland, and finds herself caught up in a ruthless criminal world. As she desperately looks for a way out of trouble, she must pit her wits against her nemesis, Bragi, a customs officer, whose years of experience frustrate her new and evermore daring strategies.
Fans of the recently-cancelled Fox supernatural procedural Lucifer will be thrilled to learn that Netflix has picked up the show for a fourth season. The Tom Ellis–starring drama is based on the comic book characters created by Neil Gaiman and centers around the charming, charismatic and devilishly handsome Lord of Hell, Lucifer Morningstar (Ellis) who helps LAPD detective Chloe Decker (Lauren German) take down criminals.
WGN America is adding to its Prime Crime slate with the acquisition of two original series in the detective procedural genre — the comedic Carter, which will premiere August 7, and crime drama Gone, to debut in early 2019. Carter revolves around Harley Mackay (Jerry O’Connell), an actor playing a detective on a hit television show until he is forced to retreat to his sleepy hometown after an embarrassing public meltdown in Hollywood. Now that he’s back, he taps into his acting experience to become a real-life detective, partnering with his two best friends, Sam Shaw (Sydney Poitier) and Dave Leigh (Kristian Bruun). Gone follows the story of Kit “Kick” Lannigan (Leven Rambin), survivor of a highly publicized child-abduction case, and Frank Novak (Chris Noth), the FBI agent who rescued her. Determined never to fall victim again, Kick finds her calling when Novak persuades her to join a special task force he created dedicated to solving abductions and missing persons cases. Paired with former Army intelligence officer John Bishop (Danny Pino), Kick brings her unique understanding of a predator’s mind to the team.
Jane Shemilt’s third novel, the suspense thriller How Far We Fall, has been snapped up for development as a TV drama by production company Twelve Town. Due to publish on 28th June, How Far We Fall follows a talented young neurosurgeon, Albie, recently married to the ambitious and vengeful Beth, whose past affair with Albie’s boss puts the marriage at risk. She’ll do everything to keep Albie’s career and her secret safe. But how far will the fall take them?
Nabbing his first English-language role, Mexican star Luis Gerardo Mendez is joining the cast alongside Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston in the Netflix whodunit Murder Mystery. The script by Jamie Vanderbilt (Zodiac, White House Down) centers on a NYC cop (Sandler) that finally takes his wife (Aniston) on a long-promised European trip when a chance meeting on the flight with a mysterious man (Luke Evans) gets them invited to an intimate family gathering on the super yacht of an elderly billionaire. When the wealthy man is murdered, they become the prime suspects. Mendez will play a champion Formula One driver but, as with other characters in this murder mystery, he has a secret.
Valor's Matt Barr has been tapped as the male lead opposite Sofia Pernas in Blood & Treasure, CBS’ hourlong serialized action-adventure series set to premiere in summer 2019. Written by Matthew Federman & Stephen Scaia, Blood & Treasure centers on a brilliant antiquities expert, Danny (Barr), and a cunning art thief, Lexi (Pernas), who team up to catch a ruthless terrorist who funds his attacks through stolen treasure. As they crisscross the globe hunting their target, they unexpectedly find themselves in the center of a 2,000-year-old battle for the cradle of civilization.
The Vampire Diaries co-creator/executive producer Kevin Williamson has recruited one of that show's stars, Paul Wesley, for his new psychological thriller series on CBS All Access, Tell Me a Story, which takes the world’s most beloved fairy tales and re-imagines them as a dark and twisted psychological thriller. Set in modern day New York City, the first season of this serialized drama interweaves “The Three Little Pigs,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” and “Hansel and Gretel” into an epic and subversive tale of love, loss, greed, revenge and murder, with Wesley playing Eddie, a derelict and troubled individual whose petulance is fueled even more by his problems with drugs and alcohol. Although he works as a bartender, he also splits his time as a low-level drug dealer and part-time thief with his older brother Mitch, who never fails to treat Eddie as the lowly delinquent that he is. It was also announced last week that Dania Ramirez (Cinderalla in Once Upon a Time) will join the cast, which also includes previously-announced Danielle Campbell and Kim Catrall.
Defiance alum Tony Curran is set for a recurring role on the upcoming season of Showtime’s Ray Donovan. Season 6 will be changing locations to New York City from Los Angeles, where it has been based for the past five seasons. Last season ended with Ray’s (Liev Schreiber) fractured relationship with his daughter Bridget (Kerris Dorsey) drawing him to New York to make amends for a past wrongdoing, and Curran will play NYPD Sgt. Mikey “Rad” Radulovic, a tough, no-nonsense cop.
Apple has assembled a star-studded cast for its Octavia Spencer series Are You Sleeping and announced last week several new additions including Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul, Weeds alumna Elizabeth Perkins, Mekhi Phifer (ER), Michael Beach (Sons of Anarchy), Tracie Thoms (Unreal), Haneefah Wood (One Day at a Time), and Ron Cephas Jones (This is Us). Are You Sleeping is based on the true-crime novel by Kathleen Barber and provides a unique glimpse into America’s obsession with true-crime podcasts and challenges its viewers to consider the consequences when the pursuit of justice is placed on a public stage. Spencer stars as Poppy Parnell, a relentless investigative reporter who looks to uncover the truth behind a decades old questionable murder verdict through her new podcast. Three-time Emmy winner Paul stars as convicted murderer Warren Cave whose guilt or innocence has remained a question in many people’s minds for the past 20 years.
Amazon Prime released the first trailer for its original series Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, which sees John Krasinski taking on the iconic Clancy role (previously played by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck, and Chris Pine in film versions). This is more of an origin story that sees up-and-coming CIA analyst Ryan as he's thrust into a dangerous field assignment for the first time and uncovers a pattern in terrorist communication that launches him into the center of a dangerous gambit with a new breed of terrorism that threatens destruction on a global scale. Wendell Pierce and Abbie Cornish also star in the series directed by Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game).
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO
Writer Types started off its new shorter format with special gusts Jennifer Hillier, best-seller Jeffrey Deaver, and Adam Walker Phillips. Plus, this week's Unpanel featured authors from the new Santa Cruz Noir anthology from Akashic books.
Two Crime Writers and a Microphone hosts Steve Cavanagh and Luca Veste discussed Lionel Shriver's latest outburst, diversity in publishing, and an update on the CockyGate (trademark) situation. Special guests this week are Katherine Armstrong, editorial director at Bonnier Zaffre, and author Martyn Waites.
True crime podcasts such as Serial, My Favorite Murder, and In The Dark helped to popularize the format, and Bustle finds more fodder for fans in the form of seven British true crime podcasts that are both spooky and totally puzzling.
Destination Mystery was joined by the writing team of Anne Rothman-Hicks and Ken Hicks who publisher in a variety of genres including the international thriller, Theft of the Shroud and their Jane Larson mystery series.
Dear Texas Radio welcomed Laura Oles, a photo industry journalist who spent twenty years covering tech and trends before turning to crime fiction.
THEATER
Cate Blanchett is joining actor Stephen Dillane (The Tunnel) to head back to the stage in a new play by Martin Crimp at London’s National Theater, When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other – Twelve Variations on Samuel Richardson’s Pamela. The play will be directed by Anatomy of a Suicide director Katie Mitchell. The play tells the story of a young maid terrorized and imprisoned by a libertine nobleman in “a dangerous game of sexual domination and resistance” and marks the first time that Blanchett, who lives in the UK, will return to the theater in seven years.
Murder She Didn't Write: The Improvised Murder Mystery is coming to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, August 1-27. A classic murder mystery is created on the spot from audience suggestions - will the killer be Ms. Violet in the parlor with the flamethrower? Dr. Gold in Debenhams with the canon?
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