It’s the start of a new week and that means it's time for a new roundup of crime drama news:
THE BIG SCREEN
Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures and Brad Pitt’s Plan B (the creative team behind this year's Oscar winners Vice and If Beale Street Could Talk) are adapting the best-selling novel The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides to the big screen. The thriller centers on Alicia Berenson, a famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer with a seemingly perfect life - until one day she shoots her husband five times in the face and then never speaks another word. When she's sent to the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London, criminal psychotherapist Theo Faber is determined to get her to talk and unravel the mystery behind her actions, a pursuit that threatens to consume him.
The upstart Solstice Studios has chosen its first homegrown picture, the action thriller Split Second. Scripted by former military intelligence officer Mitchell LaFortune, Split Second centers on an assassin who suffers a psychological breakdown when he is ordered to kill the woman who is his lifeline. The story follows two versions of the same character: one who pulls the trigger and descends into madness, the other who takes the road to redemption and goes on the run with her.
Unified Pictures is developing the film noir thriller Whisper. The project stars Maia Mitchell, Joey Bicicchi, and Guy Burnet, with Azi Rahman making his feature directorial debut. Bicicchi plays Nick, a talented photographer who is new to Los Angeles and falls for Tessa (Mitchell), a free-spirited young woman who is no longer charmed by the city. Their worlds are turned upside down when she asks him to do the unimaginable, which forces the duo down a path of revenge and destruction.
Gone Girl star Rosamund Pike has been cast as the lead in the thriller I Care A Lot. Director J Blakeson (The 5th Wave) is also writing the project, which will begin shooting in June of this year. Oscar nominee Pike will play Marla Grayson, a highly successful legal guardian with a knack for using the law to her benefit and her clients’ detriment. But when she cherry picks her seemingly perfect client, she soon realizes looks can be deceiving.
James Moses Black has come aboard Black and Blue, a crime drama directed by Deon Taylor. Naomie Harris stars as a rookie cop in New Orleans who witnesses corrupt narc officers murdering a drug dealer, an event captured by her body cam. When they then fail to execute her and she escapes, the narcs pin the murder on her, and she is hunted both by the narcs who are desperate to destroy the incriminating footage, as well as the drug dealers out for apparent revenge.
Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow announced the release of Sherlock Holmes 3 has been pushed back a full year. The still-untitled follow up to 2011’s Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows will now hit theaters December 22, 2021, instead of December 25, 2020. The first two films were directed by Guy Ritchie and starred Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law as Holmes and Watson, respectively. It's not been officially announced whether Downey and Law will return for the third outing.
If you're a fan of noir cinema, check out this list of the “10 best neo-noir films of all time: From Chinatown to LA Confidential.”
TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES
FX Networks has landed the rights to adapt Don Winslow’s acclaimed Cartel Trilogy into a TV series that will include Winslow’s 2005 novel The Power of the Dog, the 2015 followup The Cartel, and the just published conclusion, The Border. The book trilogy spans a 45 year period and follows DEA agent Art Keller through America’s long running war on drugs as well as his blood feud with Mexican drug kingpin Adan Berrera. The first two books were originally sold to be turned into a feature film by Fox, but the company ultimately decided it was too much material for a two-hour film and better suited for “an edgy Sons of Anarchy-style series” by sister company FX.
The classic British series Rumpole of the Bailey is returning to the small screen. The legal drama, which was created by writer and barrister John Mortimer, will be rebooted by Mortimer’s daughter, Emily. The original starred Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, an elderly barrister in London who defended a weird and wonderful mix of clients. Polly Williams, eOne’s head of scripted development in the UK, told Deadline that Mortimer has “reimagined” the series and she and her sister Rosie were writing the script. “They have written a very modern take on Rumpole. I’m very excited to see how that turns out,” Williams added.
Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories has inked a deal with Agatha Christie Ltd. to develop a new Miss Marple TV series. The latest incarnation will be co-developed by the Big Little Lies producer and Endeavor Content. Christie’s books about the amateur detective have been in print for more than 90 years and are now in more than 100 territories worldwide. Numerous film and TV adaptations through that time have starred Margaret Rutherford, Angela Lansbury, Geraldine McEwan, Helen Hayes, and Joan Hickson as the iconic amateur sleuth.
NBC has put the brakes on its plans for Law & Order: Hate Crimes, the greenlighted new Law & Order spinoff from the franchise’s creator Dick Wolf, which had already been given a 13-episode order. The project remains in active development at the network as everyone “needed more time to fresh (sic) out the concept.” Meanwhile, SVU has not been renewed, although it is considered to be likely so it can break the record for the longest-run drama series jointly held by Gunsmoke and Law & Order. It is thought the Hate Crimes spinoff could then be introduced during SVU’s 21st and likely final season.
A drama series starring Captain Marvel star Brie Larson has landed at Apple with a straight-to-series order. The untitled female-focused CIA drama is based on Amaryrillis Fox’s upcoming memoir, Coming of Age in the CIA, and draws upon the real-life experiences of undercover operative Fox as a young woman working up the ranks in the spy agency.
Podcast company Wondery is stepping up its television activities following the success of Dirty John and is in talks to adapt its latest hit, Over My Dead Body. The first season of the Over My Dead Body podcast tells the story of Dan Markel and his wife Wendi, two good-looking attorneys whose wedding is featured in the New York Times. But when this perfect couple’s marriage falls apart, it leads to a bad breakup, a worse divorce, and a murder case involving a menagerie of high-priced lawyers and unexpected co-conspirators.
USA Network has picked up a third season of its thriller drama series, The Sinner, and has tapped Matt Bomer as a new lead opposite Bill Pullman who will return as Detective Harry Ambrose. Bomer will play Jamie, an upstanding Dorchester resident and expectant father who looks to Ambrose for support in the wake of an accident. He succeeds Jessica Biel and Carrie Coon, who starred opposite Pullman in Seasons 1 and 2, respectively.
Russell Hornsby has been hired as the title character in NBC’s Lincoln, a drama pilot based on the bestselling book series by Jeffery Deaver (adapted into the 1999 movie starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie). Lincoln follows legendary forensic criminologist Lincoln Rhyme (Hornsby), who was seriously injured during his hunt for the diabolical serial killer known as the Bone Collector. Called back into action when the killer re-emerges, Rhyme 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.
Nicholas Pinnock (Counterpart) has been cast as the lead in ABC’s untitled legal/family drama pilot that centers on Aaron (Pinnock), a prisoner who becomes a lawyer, litigating cases for other inmates while fighting to overturn his own life sentence for a crime he didn’t commit. One of the producers on the project is Isaac Wright, Jr., who was once wrongfully convicted as drug kingpin but got his conviction overturned while in prison and became a licensed attorney. It was also recently announced that Indira Varma (Game of Thrones) has been cast as the female lead in the pilot.
Game of Thrones alum Finn Jones has signed on to star in Fox’s crime drama pilot, Prodigal Son. The project centers on Malcolm Bright (Jones), who has a gift—he knows how killers think because his father Martin Whitly (played by Michael Sheen) is one of the worst, a notorious serial killer called “The Surgeon.” Also starring in the pilot are Bellamy Young, Lou Diamond Phillips, Aurora Perrineau, and Frank Harts.
ITV announced that Brenda Blethyn will return for a 10th series of Vera (based on the novels by Ann Cleeves), reprising her role as DCI Vera Stanhope. Four feature-length episodes, set in North East England, will begin production in April and will air in 2020. Returning alongside Blethyn are Kenny Doughty (DS Aiden Healy), Jon Morrison (DC Kenny Lockhart), Riley Jones (DC Mark Edwards), Ibinabo Jack (DC Jacqueline Williams), and Paul Kaye (Dr Malcolm Donahue).
Hellboy’s Ron Perlman and X-Men’s Famke Janssen are to star in BBC One's spy drama The Capture, joining previously announced Callum Turner and Holliday Grainger in the six-part series. The London-set spy thriller begins with the unjust arrest of an innocent man and escalates into a multi-layered conspiracy of manipulated evidence.
Sara Rue is set as a series regular in NBC’s Prism pilot. 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.”
Sofia Barclay has booked a series regular role on ABC’s NYPD Blue pilot, a new iteration of the iconic cop drama. The sequel centers on Theo (played by Fabien 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.
Daredevil alum Wilson Bethel is set as a series regular in the CBS legal drama pilot Courthouse, a show that pulls back the curtain on the court system. It follows the lives of the judges, assistant district attorneys, and public defenders as they work with bailiffs, clerks, cops and jurors to bring justice to the people of Los Angeles. Bethel will play Mark, a roguish, highly successful Deputy District Attorney.
Maddison Jaizani and Alex Saxon are set as series regulars opposite Kennedy McMann and Tunji Kasim in the CW’s untitled Nancy Drew pilot inspired by the classic mysteries about the brilliant young sleuth. Jaizani will play Bess, a refined young woman whose wealthy background sets her apart from Nancy (Kennedy McMann) – but when they both become suspects in the same murder, Bess proves to be a spirited ally in the search for the real killer.
Chris D’Elia is set for a recurring role on the upcoming second season of Netflix’s You. D’Elia will play Henderson, a “designer hoodie, black Ray-Bans, expensive sneakers-wearing famous comedian.” You follows bookstore manager and stalker Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) and is based on Caroline Kepnes’s best-selling novels. The show’s second season will be loosely based on the author’s second book in the series titled Hidden Bodies, which follows Goldberg to Los Angeles where he meets Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti), an aspiring chef who isn’t into social media like his previous leading lady.
Yara Martinez and Brian Van Holt will co-star opposite Stephen Dorff in Deputy, Fox’s police drama pilot from Bright helmer David Ayer, Aquaman writer Will Beall, and eOne. Written by Beall and directed by Ayer, Deputy centers on Deputy Bill Hollister (Dorff), a career lawman who’s very comfortable kicking down doors but utterly lost in a staff meeting. But when the L.A. County sheriff drops dead, Bill becomes acting sheriff, in charge of 10,000 sworn deputies policing a modern Wild West. Martinez will play Hollister’s wife, Dr. Paula Reyes, a trauma surgeon, while Van Holt will play former Marine-turned-Deputy Cade Walker.
Sarayu Blue has joined the cast of Medical Police, which has a 10-episode series order at Netflix and stars Childrens Hospital alums Erinn Hayes and Rob Huebel. Medical Police is described as an action-packed thriller, mystery, and love story that centers on two American physicians (Hayes and Huebel) stationed at a pediatric hospital in São Paulo, Brazil, who discover a civilization-threatening virus. The duo are recruited as government agents in a race against time and around the world to find a cure and uncover a dark conspiracy.
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO
David Swinson was featured on WAMU public radio's Kojo Nnamdi Show to talk about his career, his characters, and the “good cop/bad cop” tropes of crime fiction.
On the latest Mysteryrat’s Maze podcast from Kings River Life magazine, actor Thomas Nance reads the first chapter of the mystery novel Fostering Death by K.M. Rockwood.
Two Crime Writers and a Microphone hosts Steve Cavanagh and Luca Veste welcomed guest Jo Spain, who talked about her road to being published, Brookside, and writing for TV.
Beyond the Cover chatted with Greg Iles about his latest novel, Cemetery Road.
Crime Cafe host Debbi Mack interviewed Dr. Ellen Kirschman, clinical psychologist and consultant, who's worked with law enforcement agencies for over 20 years, and has written mysteries and nonfiction books like I Love a Cop: What Police Families Need to Know.
Dr. D.P. Lyle's Criminal Mischief focused on “The Rules of Writing.”
Michael Connelly's Murder Book podcast continued the real life saga of a Hollywood killing that tested the limits of the American justice system.
THEATER
The Mystery Series at Calgary's Vertigo Theatre is performing Might as Well Be Dead: a Nero Wolfe Mystery, from March 16- April 14. Adapted by Joseph Goodrich from the Rex Stout novel, the story follows iconic P.I. Nero Wole and his assistant Archie Goodwin as they help a client whose estranged son has been charged with murder.
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