It's Monday again and that means it's time for the latest crime drama roundup:
THE BIG SCREEN
Sony is developing the film, Storming Las Vegas, based on the 2008 book from John Huddy. Dennis Lehane has been hired to adapt the book that follows a series of daring Las Vegas casino robberies masterminded by Jose Vigoa over the span of 16 months. The Cuban-born Vigoa and his crew evaded police as they stole millions from some of the biggest players on the strip until Lt. John Alamshaw and a team of Vegas' robbery detectives brought Vigoa to justice.
Another Tom Clancy character is headed to Hollywood after Paramount Pictures tapped Michael B. Jordan to play Clancy hero John Clark in a new two-film series. The studio is developing the two pics based on the Clancy books Rainbow Six and Without Remorse, both novels in which Clark is the main star. Without Remorse will be the first film of the two, serving as an origin story for the character of Clark, a.k.a. John Terrence Kelly, an ex-Navy Seal-turned-operations officer for the CIA.
Last Monday, I noted that the latest James Bond movie seemed to be back on track following the departure of director Danny Boyle, after longtime Bond sreenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade had been tasked with crafting a new script. On Thursday, producers announced that True Detective director Cary Joji Fukunaga had been hired to direct the still-untitled 25th film in the franchise, becoming the first American filmmaker to take on that role. The new film, in which Daniel Craig returns for his fifth (and likely final) outing as secret agent 007, will begin shooting on March 4, 2019 with a current release date of February 20, 2020.
Angelina Jolie is attached to star in The Kept, a period revenge thriller based on the 2014 James Scott novel of the same name, with Alice Birch (who wrote the Florence Pugh-starring period drama Lady Macbeth), to pen the screenplay. Set in the winter of 1897 in rural New York, the story is set in motion when a woman returns to her isolated homestead to discover that her husband and four of her children were murdered. The woman is shot and tended to by her remaining son, Caleb, who survived by hiding in the pantry. With her 12-year-old by her side, the woman sets out to find those responsible, but the gritty journey in blizzard conditions to a lake town will reveal secrets that will test the bond of mother and son.
Cinemablend reported that Fox's untitled Kingsman movie (the third in the franchise) is set for release just over a year from now, on November 8, 2019. Writer-director Matthew Vaughn is returning to return to pen the screenplay and direct the film, thus completing the trilogy. There isn't an official plot description yet, but the director has spoken in the past about the third film in the franchise taking the characters on a journey to a place we've never seen them before, and it would presumably conclude the Harry Hart-Eggsy relationship.
Oscar-winner Allison Janney will play trailblazing feminist lawyer Susan Estrich in an untitled project about the women who took on Fox News kingpin Roger Ailes and the toxic male culture at the network. Author and liberal commentator Estrich, who was the first female President of the Harvard Law Review and the first woman to manage a presidential campaign, surprised many by representing Ailes even after a slew of sexual harassment allegations surfaced against him. I, Tonya and Mom star Janney bolsters an A-List cast which already includes Charlize Theron (as Megyn Kelly), Nicole Kidman (as Gretchen Carlson), Margot Robbie (as a Fox News associate producer) and John Lithgow (as Ailes).
Andie MacDowell has signed on to co-star in the genre thriller Ready or Not, joining Samara Weaving in the cast. Ready or Not tells the story of a young woman, who on the night of her wedding, is invited to her new in-laws time-honored tradition which turns into a lethal game of survival. MacDowell will play the mother-in-law to Weaving’s protagonist.
TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES
Apple has given an eight-episode straight-to-series order to Defending Jacob, headlined and executive produced by Chris Evans. Created and written by Mark Bomback (Planet of the Apes trilogy) and based on William Landay’s bestselling novel, the project tells the story of a father dealing with the accusation that his son is a 14-year-old murderer.
Hulu has given a direct-to-series eight-episode order to a Veronica Mars revival slated to premiere in 2019, with Kristen Bell reprising her role as the title character. Hulu also landed streaming rights to the complete series in a new deal with original series producer Warner Bros. TV, as well as SVOD rights to all past episodes of the original Veronica Mars. The revival hails from the cult favorite’s original’s creator Rob Thomas, who will pen the first episode in which spring breakers are getting murdered in Neptune, thereby decimating the seaside town’s lifeblood tourist industry.
NBC has put in development Strong Justice, an hourlong drama from Wendy Calhoun (Empire), Elizabeth Banks, and Max Handelman’s Brownstone Productions and Warner Bros. TV. Written by Calhoun, Strong Justice centers on FBI’s first-ever mother-daughter duo, Special Agents Etta and Memphis Strong, who strive to be exceptional investigators despite sexist and racist hurdles.
Fox has put in development Switch, an hourlong drama from former Underground executive producers Joby Harold and Tory Tunnell, Len Wiseman and Warner Bros. TV. The "adrenaline-fueled procedural" deals with the exploits of the FBI’s newest undercover unit, the Switch Division, a task force created to allow an agent to go undercover inside the body of another human being. Although hard pressed at first to find anyone insane enough to try the new technology, a former undercover burnout named Harry “Mac” Macallister takes up the challenge and the opportunity to spend each week inside the bodies of various criminals.
CBS is developing the drama Far Rockaway, from writer David Wilcox (CBS’ Bull), Alex Kurtzman (Star Trek: Discovery) and CBS TV Studios. Written by Wilcox, Far Rockaway is based on the Spanish format titled Estoy Vivo and is set in Far Rockaway, where a workaholic NYPD detective killed in the line of duty is granted a second chance to return to earth in the body of another cop in order to bring his killer to justice and heal the fractured family he left behind.
What do Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the disembodied voice of Bosley (as first seen in the original TV Charlie's Angels) have in common? Patrick Stewart, it seems. Stewart has joined the Charlie's Angels project to play the familiar role of Bosley. While that in itself isn't unusual, director Elizabeth Banks was, and still is, planning to play the same role. So, it appears that the plan is for the new Charlie's Angels to have multiple Bosleys, with Banks playing one and Patrick Stewart playing another, and perhaps other actors playing the role as well.
The breakout BBC One drama Bodyguard is headed to Netflix. The streaming network will carry the terror thriller starring Game of Thrones’ Richard Madden and Line of Duty’s Keeley Hawes outside of the UK and Ireland with a premiere set for October 24. Set in and around the corridors of power, Bodyguard tells the fictional story of David Budd (Madden), a heroic but volatile war veteran now working as a Specialist Protection Officer for the Royalty and Specialist Branch (RasP) of London’s Metropolitan Police Service. When he is assigned to protect the ambitious and powerful Home Secretary Julia Montague (Hawes), Budd finds himself torn between his duty and his beliefs. Responsible for her safety, could he become her biggest threat?
Sony Crackle's original streaming series StartUp has added Mira Sorvino for its upcoming third season and released a trailer. Mira Sorvino appears in the 10-episode season in a guest star role as NSA Agent Rebecca Stroud, who is investigating the show’s centerpiece outfit ArakNet. Stroud, as the trailer shows, is prepared to go to any lengths to try to bring down ArakNet, the creation of a group of tech entrepreneurs. The show will begin streaming on Crackle on November 1, after a preview period on Amazon devices starting October 22.
Netflix has handed a Season 2 renewal to its gritty Indian crime drama Sacred Games. Based on Vikram Chandra’s best-selling novel, it’s described as a tale of betrayal, crime, passion and a thrilling chase through Mumbai’s underbelly.
ITV is bringing back hit cop drama Unforgotten for a fourth season. The series (which is being developed in the U.S. for ABC by Josh Berman, Sony Pictures Television and BBC Worldwide Productions), has been handed a six-episode run following the success of the third season. Nicola Walker and Sanjeev Bhaskar return as two London detectives, who work together to solve cold case murders and disappearances.
Tiya Sircar, who currently recurs on NBC’s The Good Place, has been tapped as the lead in Good Sam, a Netflix feature based on the mystery book series of the same name by Dete Meserve. The film follows Intrepid TV news reporter Kate Bradley who is assigned to uncover the identity of a mysterious Good Samaritan—Good Sam—who has been anonymously leaving $100,000 cash gifts on the doorsteps of seemingly random New Yorkers. As interest in the extraordinary gifts sweeps across the country, as Kate seeks to unravel the identity of Good Sam and the powerful and unexpected reasons behind the extraordinary gifts.
Coming off a key recurring role on The Americans, Laurie Holden is set for another major recurring part opposite Kelsey Grammer on Fox’s new legal drama series Proven Innocent, from Empire co-creator Danny Strong and writer David Elliott. Written by Elliott, Proven Innocent follows a criminal defense firm led by Madeline Scott (Rachelle Lefevre), a fierce and uncompromising lawyer with a hunger for justice. Holden will play Greta Bellows, the wife of Gore Bellows (Grammer), the hard-as-nails and tough-on-crime state’s attorney, a "Lady Macbeth type" who wants her husband to win the Attorney General race, possibly even more than he does.
Ahead of the Season 3 premiere of Live PD, A&E gave another massive order to its flagship series, picking up an additional 150 episodes of the hit real-time reality police docuseries. Totaling 450 hours, the deal extends the series’ run into 2019, with the new order bringing the number of commissioned episodes to date to 293. Hosted by Dan Abrams with analysis from Tom Morris Jr. and Sgt. Sean ‘Sticks’ Larkin, Live PD follows diverse police departments from across the country in real time as they patrol their communities.
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO
Val McDermid chatted with the BBC's A Point of View podcast to make the case that "crime fiction isn't really about murder at all."
Beyond the Cover welcomed special guests Boyd Morrison (co-author with Clive Cussler of Shadow Tyrants) and PJ Tracy (The Guilty Dead).
Criminal Mischief, hosted by DP Lyle, investigated the POV authors choose for crime fiction manuscript and how it can make or break your story.
The Mysteryrats Maze Podcast podcast featured the first chapter of the mystery novel Murder at the Driskill by Kathleen Kaska, read actor Casey Ballard.
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