Hope all those of you in the path of Florence and the storm's aftermath are safe this Monday morning (and it's always good to remind folks that the American Red Cross needs your help in times of disaster relief situations).
Meanwhile, here's the stormy Media Murder for Monday roundup of the latest crime drama news:
THE BIG SCREEN
IIFC Films has acquired domestic rights to Judi Dench’s period spy thriller Red Joan for a 2019 theatrical release. Loosely inspired by the biography of British KGB agent Melita Norwood, the film is directed by Trevor Nunn and had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. Written by Lindsay Shapero and based on Jennie Rooney’s best-selling novel of the same name, the story follows a retired scientist living in a London suburb who is arrested for crimes committed many years ago.
Singer and actress Idina Menzel (Frozen) is joining Adam Sandler, Eric Bogosian, Lakeith Stanfield and Judd Hirsch in the cast of Uncut Gems. Set in the Diamond district of New York City, Sandler will star as a jewelry store owner with a gambling addiction who is juggling two relationships and escalating debts, with Menzel playing Sandler’s wife.
Good news for James Bond fans who feared chaos after the departure of Danny Boyle from the upcoming Bond 25 film. Screenwriter Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who’ve been aboard the 007 franchise as story writers since 1999’s The World Is Not Enough, are now turning their approved Bond 25 treatment into a script with elements from Boyle’s script and working them all into a new movie. A search is still underway by Eon and MGM for a new director and Deadline has heard that such names as Edgar Wright, Yann Demange, and David Mackenzie’s have been floated.
Academy Award winner Melissa Leo and Bella Thorne have been tapped to star in Leave Not One Alive, an indie revenge thriller written and directed by Jordan Galland. The plot follows a theater actress, Lillian Cooper (Leo) whose son dies mysteriously. When the investigating officer (Michael Potts) rules the cause of death an accidental overdose, Lillian conducts her own investigation which leads her to an unlikely alliance with her son’s former drug dealer (Thorne). On her quest for answers, Lillian hallucinates some of the iconic characters she’s played on stage which serve as her inner voice, urging her to avenge her son’s death.
Pretty Little Liars alum Keegan Allen will star in an untitled social media thriller film along with Holland Roden, Ronen Rubinstein, Denzel Whitaker, hip hop recording artist Siya, social media star George Janko and Pasha Lychnikoff. The story centers on a social media personality who, along with his close friends and millions of online followers, travels to Moscow to capture new content for his successful vlog. Pushing the limits to excite and engage his growing audience, the group enters a cold world of mystery and excess at every turn, blurring the lines between game and danger until all of them must fight to survive.
TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES
Oscar nominee Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) is set to star in and executive produce The Banker’s Wife, a high stakes international thriller drama series based on Cristina Alger’s book. The project (which has also snagged top TV writer-creator Meredith Stiehm and top TV director Lesli Linka Glatter) is inspired by the Panama Papers and set in the world of global finance from Geneva to Paris, London and New York, with two women racing for answers when a mysterious plane crash sets them off on parallel pursuits of truth.
Grey Matter Productions and Topic Studios have set writer-director Oren Moverman to adapt The Good Girl, the debut thriller novel from Mary Kubica, into a thriller drama series. The story centers on the kidnapping-gone-wrong of Mia Dennett, the perfect daughter of a prominent Chicago judge. When she is abducted as part of a wild extortion plot, her kidnapper unexpectedly decides to hide her in a remote cabin for months, evading both the police and the criminals who want to use her to get to her father. The plot alternates timelines and the shifting points of view of Mia’s mother, her kidnapper, and the detective tasked with finding her in a quest to find out what really happened to Mia and how, even in the perfect family, nothing is as it seems.
Fox has given put-pilot commitments to two high-profile cop drama projects, Connect and Prodigal Son. Connect described as "a high concept, adrenalized procedural" about a brash hero with a gift that he will use to assist his cop brother with whom he has a troubled relationship. Prodigal Son centers on Malcolm Bright who has the gift of knowing how killers think and how their minds work; his father was a notorious serial killer called “The Surgeon,” which led Bright to become the best criminal psychologist around since murder is the family business.
Fans of the thriller Absentia can breathe a sigh of relief because Amazon has finally picked up a second season of the show starring and executive produced by Castle alumna Stana Katic. New cast members joining season two — currently filming in Sofia, Bulgaria — include Matthew Le Nevez (The Widow) and Natasha Little (The Night Manager). Patrick Heusinger returns for season two as Emily’s (Katic) ex-husband and Special Agent Nick Durand. In season two, Emily's obsessive investigation into the questions that haunt her uncovers a serial killer and a spiraling conspiracy that threatens more than just her family.
Oscar nominee Chloë Sevigny and The Carrie Diaries star AnnaSophia Robb are set to co-star opposite Patricia Arquette and Joey King in the first season of The Act, Hulu’s character-based anthology series that tells startling, stranger-than-fiction true crime stories. The first season is based on Dean’s 2016 Buzzfeed article “Dee Dee Wanted Her Daughter To Be Sick, Gypsy Wanted Her Mom To Be Murdered.” It follows Gypsy Blanchard (King), a girl trying to escape the toxic relationship she has with her overprotective mother, Dee Dee (Arquette). Her quest for independence opens a Pandora’s box of secrets, one that ultimately leads to murder.
The reboot of Charlie's Angels is going to have more than just three angels. Freshly-named Charlie's Angel Kristen Stewart explained in an interview with Variety that the reboot will feature a whole network of angels around the world who work together to get the job done.
Amazon dropped a video trailer for the psychological thriller Homecoming starring Julia Roberts a caseworker at a secret government facility who works with a soldier eager to rejoin civilian life.
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO
Two Crime Writers and a Microphone hosts Steve Cavanagh and Luca Veste welcomed special guest Elly Griffiths, who talked about her Ruth Galloway series, her upcoming standalone novel, archaeology, her Italian roots and much more.
The Story Blender spoke with author KJ Howe about the follow-up to her exhilarating debut, The Freedom Broker.
Author Debbi Mack interviewed crime writer Elka Ray on the Crime Cafe podcast. Ray is the Canadian author of two novels, Saigon Dark and Hanoi Jane, a collection of short crime stories and has a romantic mystery coming out with Seventh Street Press in early 2019.
Read or Dead hosts Katie McClean and Rincey Abraham discussed historical mysteries, Serial season 3 and more.
Speaking of Mysteries grilled Margaret Mizushima about her fourth Timber Creek K-9 mystery feauturing Officer Mattie Cobb and Robo, her German Shepherd partner.
Meet the Thriller Author welcomed Bob Mayer, the NY Times bestselling author of the series Area 51, The Green Berets, Atlantis and the Time Patrol.
Spybrary listeners voted overwhelmingly for Len Deighton's Berlin Game to be the first spy book to be discussed in the podcasts Spybrary book club edition, and a panel that includes Spybrary host Shane Whaley, Deighton expert Rob Mallows, and spy genre expert Peter Newman, take on the challenge.
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