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
Stampede Ventures Productions has optioned the rights to screenwriter Ward Parry’s spec script, Mr. Croup, described an original spy-thriller with franchise potential, inspired by the likes of James Bond and Liam Neeson’s Taken character, Bryan Mills. The script follows a mysterious recluse on a desolate island who finds himself in the company of a 10-year-old girl after her boat capsizes offshore and he is called to save her. With her in his possession, he must come out of hiding and face his past as a secret agent for the British government.
Saoirse Ronan, Sam Rockwell, and David Oyelowo have signed on to star in a new untitled murder mystery thriller from Searchlight Pictures. Tom George is on board to direct the film from a script by Mark Chappell. The story is set in 1950s London, where a desperate Hollywood film producer sets out to turn a popular West End play into a film. When members of the production are murdered, world-weary Inspector Stoppard (Rockwell) and overzealous rookie Constable Stalker (Ronan) find themselves in the midst of a puzzling whodunit within London’s glamorous Theatreland and sordid underground.
Michael Shannon is set to join Sony’s action thriller, Bullet Train, also starring Brad Pitt, Joey King, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Zazie Beetz, and Andrew Koji. Hobbs & Shaw director David Leitch will direct and also supervise the script, which will be written by Zak Olkewicz. The film is based on the Japanese novel, Maria Beetle, by bestselling author Kotaro Isaka and involves five assassins aboard a fast moving bullet train who find out their missions have something in common.
TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES
A Dial M for Murder anthology series from Alicia Vikander and Terence Winter is in development at MGM/UA Television. Based on the 1952 Frederick Knott play and subsequent Alfred Hitchcock film adaptation, the series is said to retell the crime drama from a female perspective. Vikander (Danish Girl, Ex Machina, Tomb Raider) is set to star, with potential follow-up installments in the suspense thriller genre also planned. The original Dial M For Murder centers on a retired tennis champion who discovers that his wife has had an affair and hires an acquaintance to murder her. When the plan backfires and the wife kills her assassin, her husband frames her for the man’s murder, with his elaborate plot only uncovered with the help of his wife’s lover hours before she was to be executed.
Silverprint Pictures, the ITV Studios-owned production label behind the long-running series, Vera, is turning its attentions to its next Ann Cleeves adaptation. The production outfit will reimagine The Long Call as a four-part series, penned by Kelly Jones in what will be her first standalone series. The Long Call was published last year and is the first in a series of Two Rivers novels set in the English county of Devon. It follows detective Matthew Venn as he returns to the evangelical community in which he grew up to attend his father’s funeral. He is soon embroiled in the investigation of a murder close to his new home when the body of a man with a tattoo of an albatross on his neck is found on the beach. It draws Venn back into a community where murder and intrigue bubble beneath the surface, all set against the stunning backdrop of Devon’s coastline.
Lifetime has ordered the Meagan Good-led thriller, Death Saved My Life, as the next movie in its "Ripped From the Headlines" franchise. Along with Meagan Good, the small-screen film also stars Chiké Okonkwo and Good’s real-life sister, La’Myia Good. The Good sisters will portray siblings in the project, which is inspired by the true story of a woman who faked her own death in order to trap her husband after he hires a hitman to kill her. Lifetime’s lineup of upcoming "Ripped from the Headlines" movies also includes Girl in the Basement, starring Stefanie Scott, Judd Nelson, and Joley Fisher, and The Long Island Serial Killer: A Mother’s Hunt for Justice, lead by Kim Delaney and executive produced by Deborah Norville.
ABC has firmed up its midseason schedule, setting up early 2021 premiere dates for its scripted series. That includes ABC’s returning police procedural, The Rookie, starring Nathan Fillion, which is slated to return on January 3, and Big Sky, based on the 2013 novel The Highway by C. J. Box, scheduled to premiere January 26.
Coyote, the Border Patrol drama starring Michael Chiklis, is the latest high-profile Viacom scripted series to move to streaming. The series, which is produced by Sony Pictures Television, is moving from Paramount Network to CBS All Access. Coyote, which stars Juan Pablo Raba alongside Chiklis, is the story of Ben Clemens (Chiklis), who after 32 years as a border patrol agent is forced to work for the very people he spent his career trying to keep out of America. Now exposed to life on the other side of the wall, Ben will start to question his black and white views of the world, challenging his ideology and his loyalties.
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO
Jeffery Deaver was the special guest on The Tartan Noir Show, talking about his latest books and plans for both the Lincoln Rhyme and Colter Shaw series, as well as the thrill of hearing his words spoken by Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie in the film version of The Bone Collector.
All About Agatha Christie chatted with Tana French about her latest book, The Searcher.
Meet the Thriller Author sat down with Jennifer Graeser Dornbush, a screenwriter, author, speaker, and forensic specialist.
In GAD We Trust discussed the new book from Mark Aldridge, Agatha Christie’s Poirot: The Greatest Detective in the World.
The Gay Mystery Podcast welcomed Anne Laughlin, author of six novels for Bold Strokes Books. She is the recipient of four Goldie Awards and has been short-listed three times for a Lammy Award.
My Favorite Detective Stories chatted with Norman Brewer, an award-winning reporter and editor, about his latest work, Killer Politics, the sequel to Blending In: A Tale of Homegrown Terrorism.
Writers Detective Bureau host, veteran Police Detective Adam Richardson, talked about fingerprints, vigilantes, fiction writing, technical advising, and more in the latest episode.
The latest topic on the forensic podcast, Criminal Mischief, hosted by Dr. D.P. Lyle, was "Gunshot Wound Analysis."
Wrong Place, Write Crime spoke with Eric Campbell about the founding of Down and Out Books and his experiences as a publisher of hard boiled crime fiction.
Read or Dead geared up for the holiday season with a giant pile of books that you could give to someone (or yourself).
GAMES
After eight years, fans of the James Bond franchise will finally get a new video game, and it will tell the superspy’s origin story. Details about "Project 007" are sparse so far, but IO Interactive said the game will not be based solely on Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale novel or the 2006 film adaptation (or the prequel novels by Anthony Horowitz). Instead, it's a "wholly original Bond story developed exclusively as a video game." IO Interactive said the game will be released on modern systems and platforms, most likely playable on both current consoles and PCs.
Comments