Welcome to Monday and a new list of the latest crime drama news, minus the Oscar nominations, which won't be announced until tomorrow. But I'll have a special edition addendum at that time.
AWARDS
The Producers' Guild of America held its annual awards ceremony this weekend. Crime drama winners were mostly on the television side, with The Americans winning Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television – Drama, and The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story winning Outstanding Producer of Limited Series Television. If you're wondering who won the PGA's equivalent of "Best Film Drama," that honor went to Green Book (set in the 1960s about a a world-class African-American pianist and his white bodyguard/chauffeur). In its 29-year history, the PGA Awards have forecast the Best Picture winner on 20 occasions.
THE BIG SCREEN
John Boyega will executive produce the South African crime-thriller, God Is Good, described as being in the same vein as Prisoners and City Of God. Boyega is also launching a record label, UpperRoom Records, which will oversee the film’s soundtrack. Set in Cape Town’s Cape Flats, the English-language film will follow a reformed gangster-turned-pastor and a volatile detective who cross paths after an act of brutal violence sets them on collision course with a heinous gang lieutenant.
Oscar-winner Gary Oldman will co-star with Olga Kurylenko in the British action-thriller, The Courier, set to start shooting next month in London. Kurylenko will play a courier whose daily deliveries are interrupted when she discovers that her latest package is a bomb aimed at killing a witness who is about to testify against a ruthless crime lord (played by Oldman).
Corey Stoll and Billy Magnussen have been added to the cast of the much-anticipated Sopranos prequel film, The Many Saints of Newark, joining Jon Bernthal, Vera Farmiga, and Alessandro Nivola. It's unclear what roles Stoll and Magnussen will play in the film, although it was previously announced Nivola will play Dickie Moltisanti. Likewise, details for the project are being tightly withheld, but producers say that fans of the series can expect some of the beloved characters to appear in the project, which is set during the Newark riots in the 1960s when the African-Americans and the Italians of Newark were at each other's throats.
Christopher McQuarrie has signed on to write and direct the next two films in the popular Mission: Impossible franchise, according to Variety, which also reported that both films would be shot back-to-back, with the first premiering summer 2021 and the second in summer 2022. Sources confirmed that Tom Cruise would return as IMF agent Ethan Hunt, but a potential surprise is that Christopher McQuarrie is considering having Henry Cavill and Alec Baldwin reprise their respective roles in one or both movies. Since their characters died in the previous film, it is assumed the appearances would be through flashbacks.
A trailer was released for Red Joan, about 87-year-old Joan Stanly, a widow, devoted mother, and KGB spy (played by Judi Dench). The film is inspired by the real-life story of the life of Melita Norwood, a British civil servant who supplied Russian spy agencies with state secrets.
John Wick and his dog are back in the trailer for the third installment in the action franchise, John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum, in which Keanu Reeves’ namesake killer is excommunicated from the secret society of assassins after the events of the second John Wick film. With a $14 million bounty on his head, Wick has to allude assassins trying to collect that sum. But this time, Wick has some help from Halle Berry, who joins the cast and brings with her a pair of attack dogs of her own.
A trailer was also released for the upcoming adaptation of Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase, starring Sophia Lillis as the titular teenage detective. The project is directed by the award-winning Katt Shea and based on a script from the screenwriting team of Nina Fiore and John Herrera (The Handmaid’s Tale, The Vampire Diaries). The film hits theaters in March.
TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES
NBC has handed a pilot order to Lincoln (f/k/a The Bone Collector), based on the bestselling book series by Jeffery Deaver that was previously adapted into the 1999 movie of the same name starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. Lincoln follows legendary forensic criminologist Lincoln Rhyme, who was seriously injured during his hunt for the diabolic serial killer known as the Bone Collector. Called back into action when the killer re-emerges, Lincoln forms a unique partnership with Amelia Sachs, a young beat cop who helps him hunt the deadly mastermind while also taking on the most high-profile cases in the NYPD.
Bill Skarsgard (It) and Eliza Scanlen (Sharp Objects) will star in Antonio Campos' adaptation of The Devil All the Time, which Netflix has acquired for distribution. Skarsgard and Scanlen join an all-star cast that includes Tom Holland, Chris Evans, Mia Wasikowska, Robert Pattinson, and Tony Award-winner Gabriel Ebert. The story is based on Donald Ray Pollock's novel and is set in a place called Knockemstiff, Ohio, a forgotten backwoods where a storm of faith, violence and redemption brews. Netflix describes it as "a midwestern gothic involving a serial killer couple, a faith-testing preacher, and a corrupt local sheriff."
HBO's long-simmering Perry Mason drama is officially moving forward with the signing of The Americans' Matthew Rhys to star in the title role, taking over from Robert Downey Jr. Based on the characters created by Erle Stanley Gardner, HBO's Perry Mason will follow the character at a time in his life when he is living check-to-check as a low-rent private investigator. Mason is haunted by his wartime experiences in France and is suffering the effects of a broken marriage.
After an extensive search, young British actor Fabien Frankel has landed the lead role of Theo Sipowicz in ABC’s pilot NYPD Blue, a follow-up drama to the iconic cop drama that aired from 1995-2005. The sequel revolves around Theo (Frankel), the son of Dennis Franz’s Detective Andy Sipowicz character from the original series, who tries to earn his detective shield and work in the 15th squad while investigating his father's murder. Like the original series, the follow-up revolves around a core group of 15th Precinct police officers/detectives that also includes Detective Nicole Lazarus (Alana Tal) and Detective Craig Pettibone (Rick Gomez). Additionally, two cast members from the original series, Kim Delaney and Bill Brochtrup, will reprise their roles as Diane Russell and John Irvin, respectively.
Peter Sarsgaard is set for the lead role in Interrogation, CBS All Access’s true-crime drama. The project is based on a true story that spanned more than 30 years, in which a young man was charged and convicted of brutally murdering his mother. Each episode is structured around an interrogation taken directly from the real police case files. The first nine episodes of the series will be available to watch in any order, with the conclusive season finale to be released at a later date.
Producer Ryan Murphy is rounding out the cast for Ratched, his new Netflix series starring Sarah Paulson as a younger version of the diabolical Nurse Ratched. The stellar list includes Sharon Stone, Cynthia Nixon, Finn Wittrock, Jon Briones, Charlie Carver, Judy Davis, Harriet Harris, Hunter Parrish, Amanda Plummer, and Corey Stoll. Ratched is an origins story beginning in 1947, which will follow Ratched’s journey and evolution from nurse to full-fledged monster, tracking her murderous progression through the mental health care system. Ratched scored a two-season, 18-episode, straight-to-series order.
Unsolved Mysteries is back after Netflix revived the long-running true crime and paranormal franchise that was hosted by Robert Stack and ran for over 500 episodes between 1987 and 2010. The new 12-part show will use re-enactments in a documentary format to profile real-life mysteries and unsolved crimes, lost loves, cases involving missing persons, and unexplained paranormal events.
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO
Read or Dead hosts Katie McClean and Rincey Abraham talked about mystery books written by Native and Indigenous authors.
Speaking of Mysteries chatted with Matthew Quirk about his new thriller, The Night Agent, featuring FBI Agent Peter Sutherland.
In this week's Writer's Detective Bureau podcast, hosted by veteran Police Detective Adam Richardson, the topics included "Water-Related Deaths, Bail for Murder, Here comes the Judge, nd Researching the News."
THEATER
The Vertigo Theatre of Calvary, Canada's Mystery Series will stage a production of Ira Levin's classic play, Death Trap, from January 26 to February 24. The play centers on Sidney Bruhl, who is languishing in his Connecticut home, struggling to overcome a bout of writer's block that has seen his Broadway success turn to near bankruptcy. But the answer may have just arrived when Sidney receives a fantastic script written by his former student, Clifford Anderson. Anderson just wants his old mentor's opinion, but Sidney will do whatever it takes to get back on Broadway.
The Milton Keynes Theatre in the UK is producing The Girl on the Train from January 23-26. Adapted from Paula Hawkins’ novel, the story follows Rachel Watson (played by Samantha Womack) who lives vicariously through the train window every day by spying on a seemingly happy couple in their home. When Rachel learns that the woman she’s been secretly watching has suddenly disappeared, she finds herself as a witness and even a suspect in a thrilling mystery in which she will face bigger revelations than she could ever have anticipated. This is the first stop in a tour of the production that will take it throughout the UK through July.
Following his stage successes of Not Dead Enough, The Perfect Murder, and Dead Simple, best-selling author Peter James is back with a new spine-tingling world premiere play, The House on Cold Hill. Actor Joe McFadden and EastEnders' Rita Simons are joined by Charlie Clements and Persephone Swales-Dawson in the ghostly story of the Harcourt family, who move into the house of the dreams that has been empty for the last forty years. However, their dream home quickly turns into the stuff of nightmares as they begin to wonder whether they may not be the only residents at Cold Hill. This production is also heading on a UK tour, with the first stop at the Dartford, Orchard Theatre from January 23-26.
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