It's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a brand-new roundup of crime drama news:
THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES
Director Joshua Caldwell, whose Bella Thorne crime feature Infamous recently debuted on VOD and drive-ins, has optioned Kyle Rutkin’s psychological thriller novel, She Died Famous, as his next feature. Described as akin to A Star Is Born crossed with Gone Girl, the story follows the death of iconic superstar, Kelly Trozzo, her suspected killer, and the author she commissioned to pen her shocking Hollywood memoir. Caldwell called it "a mind-bending trip into the world of tabloid, murder, and celebrity."
Elijah Wood is to star as Ted Bundy’s FBI analyst in the crime-thriller, No Man Of God. Set largely in a single interrogation room, the film is based on real life transcripts culled from conversations between FBI analyst, Bill Hagmaier (Wood), and serial killer Bundy that took place between 1984 and 1989. The film details the complicated relationship that formed between the two men during Bundy’s final years on death row.
Baby Driver director Edgar Wright will helm a big-screen adaptation of The Chain, based on Adrian McKinty’s 2019 novel. The story follows a mother who gets a call from a stranger that her 11-year-old daughter has been kidnapped, and the only way she can keep her child alive is by kidnapping another child within 24 hours as part of a sinister chain of abductions. Jane Goldman (Kingsman: The Golden Circle) will write the script based on McKinty’s book.
Another Baby Driver player, Lily James, is set to star in The Paris Trap, a thriller directed by Pablo Trapero. The Hitchcockian thriller revolves around a young American woman on a visit to Paris who becomes the victim of mistaken identity. Caught up in a secret international government operation, she must play the part to save her own life.
Neal McDonough (Yellowstone, Project Blue Book) has signed on to star in Red Stone, an indie thriller written and directed by Derek Presley. The story follows Motley (Dash Melrose), whose life spirals out of control as he’s forced to go on the run from southern crime lord, Jed Haywood (Michael Cudlitz). Boon (McDonough), Haywood’s best henchman and close friend, is tracking Motley, and over the course of one day, both Motley and Boon go on a spiritual journey as their fate brings them together for a showdown.
Antoine Fuqua has been hired to direct Will Smith in Emancipation, an action-thriller penned by Willam N. Collage about the harrowing escape of Peter, a runaway slave forced to outwit cold-blooded hunters and the unforgiving swamps of Louisiana on a tortuous journey north to join the Union Army. The thriller is based on a true story that solidified the cause of abolitionists and prompted many free blacks to also join the Union Army.
Oscar Isaac is set to star in and produce the next film from director Ben Stiller, titled London. Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, A Star Is Born) is adapting the screenplay for London based on "a new short story/high-concept thriller" from crime author Jo Nesbø, though details about the plot are being kept under wraps.
TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES
Apple TV+ has come aboard the Israel-Iran espionage thriller, Tehran, taking the international rights to the series outside of Israel. The eight-part series features young Israeli actress Niv Sultan as Tamar Rabinyan, a Mossad computer hacker-agent undertaking her very first mission in Iran’s capital, which is also her place of birth. Tasked with disabling an Iranian nuclear reactor, her mission has implications not just for the Middle East, but for the rest of the world. But when the Mossad mission fails, Tamar goes rogue in Tehran as she rediscovers her Iranian roots and becomes romantically entwined with a pro-democracy activist.
NBC has cancelled more programs including Bluff City Law, which starred Jimmy Smits as a civil rights lawyer and ran for ten episodes. It's among the latest cancellations at NBC, which earlier this month also axed Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector, a series based on the crime novels of Jeffery Deaver.
Another legal drama suffered a happier fate, with ABC renewing its freshman series, For Life, for a second season. Created by Hank Steinberg and produced by Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, For Life is a fictional serialized legal and family drama about an imprisoned man, Aaron Wallace, who becomes a lawyer litigating cases for other inmates while fighting to overturn his own life sentence for a crime he didn’t commit. It is inspired by the life of Isaac Wright Jr., who was wrongfully convicted as drug kingpin but got his conviction overturned while in prison and became a licensed attorney.
Alex Rider, Eleventh Hour Films’ TV adaptation of Anthony Horowitz’s best-selling teen spy novels and starring Otto Farrant, is heading for a second season after the first season was picked up by Amazon in the UK. Producers have also said that the show, which was penned by Guy Burt (Bletchley Circle), is close to finding a home in the U.S., Australia, and China after the 12 books on which it is based sold more than 20M copies worldwide. Stephen Dillane and Vicky McClure also feature in the series as members of The Department, an underworld offshoot of MI6.
The CW has acquired four more series to debut this summer and has also nailed down the rest of its summer premiere dates. Among the new series is a whodunnit competition reality series, titled Killer Camp, which debuts July 16. The Investigative drama, Coroner, will also have its U.S. premiere on August 5.
NBC announced its fall schedule, lining up Christopher Meloni’s new Law & Order spinoff for a Thursday debut. Titled Law & Order: Organized Crime, the new drama will be led by Meloni reprising his role as Elliot Stabler and will air Thursday nights at 10 pm, following the 22nd season of SVU at 9. Many of the returning crime drama series will keep their previous year's slots, including the "Chicago trio" of series on Wednesdays.
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO
Two Crime Writers and a Microphone welcomed author Alex North, bestselling author of The Whisper Man, to talk about garden centres; social media; the Russo brothers optioning his book; "being two people," and more.
Writer Types host, Eric Beetner, chatted with Scottish author Peter May (Lockdown), mystery author Jill Orr (The Full Scoop), and SW Lauden (Good Girls Don't).
Read or Dead hosts, Katie McClean Horner and Rincey Abraham, discussed new award nominees that have been recently announced and picked out books featuring LGBTQ+ characters for Pride Month.
The latest guest on Speaking of Mysteries was Craig Robertson. He discussed his new novel, Watch Him Die, in which someone from Glasgow is watching someone else dying on a live video stream in Los Angeles, prompting police departments in both cities to find out where the victim is—and who is watching.
Beyond the Cover welcomed author Lori Radar-Day to talk about her latest book, The Lucky One.
Write Place, Wrong Crime had its Season 3 finale In which host Frank Zafiro and Colin Conway talked about their new book, Never the Crime (a Charlie-316 novel), the impending release of the rest of the books in that story arc by year's end, and also included a discussion about world-building and writing yourself into a corner.
It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club chatted with Montreal-based author Liz Freeland about An Orphan of Hell's Kitchen, the third in the Louise Faulk Mystery Series.
Great Information,
Thank you for sharing..
Posted by: james | June 23, 2020 at 04:41 AM