Welcome to Monday and a new list of the latest crime drama news:
AWARDS
The British Independent Film Awards (BAFTA) nominations were announced last week and include a few crime dramas. BlacKkKlansman was nominated for Best Film (with Spike Lee snagging a Best Director nod), while the psychological thriller dramas Beast and You Were Never Really Here were recognized in the Best British Film category. On the Best Actress side, the nominees include Melissa McCarthy for her role in the forgery drama, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, and Viola Davis for the heist film Widows. To see all of the nominees in the various categories, check out the official BAFTA website.
THE BIG SCREEN
Amblin Partners has acquired the female-driven thriller The White Room, written by Bryce McGuire and directed by Rod Blackhurst, which takes place over the course of one night in the off-season of the remote Adirondack Mountains. When a mysterious young woman goes missing and it is up to a hardened local widow to find out the truth behind the disappearance.
Guardians of the Galaxy star Karen Gillan has signed on to topline the action thriller Gunpowder Milkshake, written and directed by Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado (Big Bad Wolves). Plot details are being kept under wraps, but the project is described as being in the assassin genre with a story that spans multiple generations and featuring an all-female cast centered on Gillan's character.
TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES
Al Pacino is in talks to make his episodic television debut in a 10-episode season of Amazon’s The Hunt, a vengeance-driven Nazi hunting series executive produced by Oscar-winning Get Out writer-director Jordan Peele. The Hunt follows a diverse band of Nazi Hunters living in 1977 New York City who've discovered that hundreds of high ranking Nazi officials are living among us and conspiring to create a Fourth Reich in the U.S. Logan Lerman plays Jonah Heidelbaum, who sets out to track the killer of his grandmother only to find himself swept up in the mysterious organization known as The Hunt, while Pacino will play the Nazi hunter who mentors him.
CBS TV Studios is developing a TV series project based on Michael Chabon’s alternative history book, Yiddish Policemen’s Union. The story follows Jewish refugees from Hitler’s Europe who found unlikely refuge on the Alaskan panhandle. In the present day of this world, Homicide Detective Meyer Landsman must overcome the shambles of his broken life and marriage to solve a mysterious murder with profound political and religious ramifications.
NBC has kicked off its pilot season orders with green lights to two dramas, Prism and Bluff City Law. Written and directed by Daniel Barnz, Prism is inspired by Rashomon, the 1950 Japanese period psychological thriller directed by Akira Kurosawa, and is described as a provocative exploration of a murder trial in which every episode is told through the perspective of a different key person involved. Bluff City Law, written by Dean Georgaris, is a character-driven legal drama that follows the lawyers of an elite Memphis law firm that specializes in the most controversial landmark civil rights cases. Led by legendary lawyer Elijah Strait and his brilliant daughter, Sydney Keller, they take on the toughest David-and-Goliath cases while navigating their complicated relationship.
NBC also greenlighted the mystery drama pilot Emergence. It's described as "a character-driven genre thriller" that centers on a sheriff who takes in a young child that she finds near the site of a mysterious accident who has no memory of what happened. The investigation draws the sheriff into a conspiracy larger than she ever imagined, and the child’s identity is at the center of it all.
Criminal Minds, one of the longest-running scripted series currently on television, is coming to a close with a shortened season 15 of ten episodes. There are hopes that some of the memorable bad guys from the past 14 seasons will make an appearance in addition to the return of several stars who have departed over the years, including original lead Mandy Patinkin, Thomas Gibson, and Shemar Moore.
Black Mirror star Maxine Peake is set to headline the British drama Reasonable Doubt, the true story of Ann Ming’s battle to change an 800-year-old double jeopardy law in the UK after her daughter Julie Hogg was killed by Billy Dunlop in 1989. She subsequently wrote a book, For The Love Of Julie, about the experience.
Netflix released a trailer for its upcoming thriller Polar (based on the Dark Horse graphic novel Polar: Came from the Cold by Victor Santos), which stars Mads Mikkelsen as the world’s top assassin, Duncan Vizla, a/k/a The Black Kaiser, who's settling into retirement when his former employer marks him as a liability to the firm who must be silenced at all costs. The film also stars Vanessa Hudgens, Katheryn Winnick, Matt Lucas, Johnny Knoxville, and Richard Dreyfuss.
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO
On Novel Suspects, bestselling thriller author Michael Connelly discusses his latest book, Dark Sacred Night, his new Murder Book true crime podcast, and his Amazon original series, Bosch.
The latest Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast episode features the first chapter of the mystery novella Ice Blonde by Elaine Viets as read by Julia Reimer.
Kristy Ramsey, the owner of Blue Lamp Books, a mystery novel and crime bookstore in Edmonton, talked to The Londoner about her love and passion for mystery and crime stories.
Suspense Radio welcomed Andrew Grant to talked about his latest thriller, Invisible, and Caesar Rondina, author of the three-part "Life Through A Mirror" murder mystery series.
Meet the Thriller Author chatted with author, screenwriter, and creator of television drama, Peter May, about his latest book, Snakehead, the fourth installment in May's China Thrillers.
D.P. Lyle, host of Criminal Mischief: The Art and Science of Crime Fiction, took on "rattlesnakes and murder."
The Writer's Detective Bureau, hosted by veteran Police Detective Adam Richardson, discussed "Coffee Mugs, Double Jeopardy, the Hiring Process, and Arrest Warrants."
THEATER
From January 16 to February 3, West Hartford, Connecticut's Playhouse on Park will stage Murder For Two, written by Joe Kinosian and Kellen Blair, with Kyle Metzger directing. Everyone is a suspect in this musical murder mystery with a twist: One actor investigates the crime, the other plays all of the suspects. And they both play the piano!
The Irving Community Theatre in Las Colinas, California, is presenting Ravenscroft: A Thrilling Mystery written by Don Nigro and directed by Andi Allen. On a snowy night, Inspector Ruffing is called to a remote house to investigate the headlong plunge of Patrick Roarke down the main staircase. Five alluring and dangerous women lead him through a bewildering labyrinth of contradictory versions of Patrick's demise and that of the late Mr. Ravenscroft. The production runs from January 18 to February 2.
GAMES
More than five years after Breaking Bad ended, fans of the show will be able to dive back into the meth-filled underbelly of New Mexico with the upcoming mobile game Breaking Bad: Criminal Elements. Criminal Elements will be a free-to-play mobile game with a strategy-focused offering that tosses players into the deep end of Vince Gilligan's absorbing, morally ambiguous universe.
Comments