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
Robert Duvall and Garret Hedlund are set to star in The Ploughmen, the third film to be directed by actor Ed Harris, who also wrote the screenplay adaptation of Kim Zupan’s 2014 debut novel of the same name. The Ploughmen centers on a killer, John Gload, awaiting trial in Montana, and a troubled young deputy, Valentine Millimaki, sitting across from each other during the nightshift, talking through the bars of a county jail cell. With a disintegrating marriage further collapsing under the strain of his night duty, Millimaki finds himself seeking counsel from Gload, whose troubled past shares something essential with his own. Their uneasy friendship takes a startling turn with a brazen act of violence that yokes together two haunted souls by the secrets they share.
Dermot Mulroney, Katherine McNamara, Rhys Coiro, Annie Ilonzeh, and Oscar-winner Mel Gibson have signed on for the indie spy thriller, Agent Game, which is being directed by Grant S. Johnson (Nighthawks). The plot follows Harris (Mulroney), a CIA officer involved in missions to detain and relocate foreign nationals for interrogation. When a political shift in Washington turns his allies into enemies, Harris finds himself the scapegoat for a detainee’s murder and must run from a team of operatives sent to bring him in (McNamara and Coiro), led by a ruthless double agent (Ilonzeh). Gibson plays an intelligence official running the unsanctioned covert operation to hunt down the disgraced spy.
Aisha Tyler (Criminal Minds) is set to direct a psychological thriller called Silent John that will begin filming this summer. The film follows a young couple who visit a rustic B&B in County Galway, Ireland, ahead of the birth of their first child, only to discover that their host and his mute groundskeeper share a viciously harrowing secret. Emmett Hughes wrote the script for the socially conscious thriller, which focuses on the historic abuses of the Catholic church against unwed mothers, and explores how a man gets lost between his faith, the church, and his own sanity.
Paul Mescal (Normal People) and Tom Burke (Mank) have been set to lead the Irish thriller, Bring Them Down. Set in the wild landscape of the West of Ireland, the film follows an Irish shepherd who is drawn into violent conflict with a neighboring farm when his sheep are massacred by unknown men.
Magic Mike star Alex Pettyfer is attached to star in The Chelsea Cowboy, based on the colorful life of British actor, tough guy, and lothario, John Bindon. The project will chart the rise and fall of underworld hard-man-turned-actor Bindon, who, despite a successful acting career and passionate romantic liaisons with various socialites, was unable to leave his criminal past behind.
Billy Bob Thornton, Alfre Woodard, and Regé-Jean Page have rounded out the cast of the Russo Brothers’ The Gray Man starring Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans and Ana De Armas. The Gray Man is based on the debut novel by Mark Greaney, published in 2009 by Jove Books, the first novel to feature the Gray Man, freelance assassin and former CIA operative Court Gentry. The action thriller will follow Gentry (Gosling) as he’s hunted across the globe by Lloyd Hansen (Evans), a former cohort at the CIA.
TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES
The Wire's David Simon and George Pelecanos are returning to Baltimore for a new series based on the book, We Own This City: A True Story of Crime, Cops and Corruption, by investigative journalist Justin Fenton. The story takes place in 2015 against the backdrop of rising crime rates and riots as citizens demand justice for a 25-year-old Black man who died under suspicious circumstances in police custody. Facing pressure from the mayor’s office and a federal investigation, Baltimore police commanders turn to a rank-and-file hero, Sergeant Wayne Jenkins, and his elite plainclothes unit to help get guns and drugs off the street. Instead, Jenkins and his team skimmed from drug busts, pocketed thousands in cash found in private homes, and planted fake evidence to throw Internal Affairs off their scent.
After Amazon announced the end to the Bosch series following its seventh season, IMDb-TV has scooped up the rights and the show's creative team for a spinoff. Based on Michael Connelly's novels, the untitled series follows Harry Bosch, once again played by Titus Welliver, as he embarks on the next chapter of his career and finds himself working with his one-time enemy and top-notch attorney Honey "Money" Chandler (Mimi Rogers). With a deep and complicated history between this unlikely pair, they must work together to do what they can to find justice.
Ray Liotta will return to series television as a lead opposite Taron Egerton and Paul Walter Hauser in Apple’s limited series, In With The Devil, an adaptation of James Keene and Hillel Levin’s 2010 novel titled In With The Devil: A Fallen Hero, A Serial Killer, and A Dangerous Bargain for Redemption. The six-episode series, written by bestselling author Dennis Lehane and directed by Michael R. Roskam, is told through the lens of an intimate relationship between two prisoners (Egerton, Hauser), exploring the lengths that people will go to in order to seek redemption, if true absolution is ever really possible. Liotta will play the father of one of the prisoners, a popular former ranking officer in the Kankakee police and fire departments who had influential friends in the highest reaches of state and local government.
Emmy-nominated David Oyelowo has signed on to star alongside Gugu Mbatha-Raw in The Girl Before, a four-episode limited series for HBO-Max and the BBC based on JP Delaney’s best-selling psychological thriller. Created, written and executive produced by Delaney, The Girl Before tells the story of Jane (Mbatha-Raw), who gets the chance to move into a beautiful, ultra-minimalist house designed by an enigmatic architect (Oyelowo). There’s just one catch: occupants have to abide by his list of exacting rules. Jane starts to feel the house changing her in unexpected ways but, when she makes the shocking discovery that her predecessor Emma died in the house, she’s forced to confront unnerving similarities. As the two women’s timelines interweave, Jane begins to question if her fate will be the same as the girl before.
The Good Fight is getting a high-profile new cast addition for Season 5. Emmy and Tony winner Mandy Patinkin is joining the Paramount+ drama series as a regular with a one-year deal. Patinkin will play Hal Wackner, a layman with no legal training who spontaneously decides to open a court in the back of a copy shop. Against all odds, the court catches on, and the team at Reddick, Boseman & Lockhart find themselves contending with judgements that mean nothing legally, but are honored by much of the entertained public.
Paul Marquess and Susanne Farrell, who worked together on long-running British cop drama, The Bill, have teamed up on a new British crime drama for the BBC and BritBox North America. Hope Street, set in the fictional town of Port Devine on the Northern Ireland coast, stars Amara Khan as English Detective Constable Alimah Kahn, the first Muslim police officer in the town’s history. Combining a long-running serial narrative with self-contained crime stories in each episode, the cast also includes Brid Brennan, Des McAleer, and Ciaran McMenamin.
Constance Wu is returning to series television as the female lead opposite Chris Pratt in Amazon’s conspiracy-thriller series, The Terminal List, based on Jack Carr’s bestselling novel. The show follows James Reece (Pratt) after his entire platoon of Navy SEALs is ambushed during a high-stakes covert mission. Reece returns home to his family with conflicting memories of the event and questions about his culpability. However, as new evidence comes to light, Reece discovers dark forces working against him, endangering not only his life but the lives of those he loves. Wu will play Katie Buranek, a risk-seeking war correspondent who uses her byline to speak truth to power.
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO
The Poisoned Pen podcast featured Barbara Peters in conversation with C.J. Box, author of the Joe Pickett series.
On the latest Writer's Detective Bureau, veteran Police Detective Adam Richardson tackled the topics of when double jeopardy attaches to an investigation; forensic artists; search patterns; and he finally shared "that bloodhound story."
Crime Cafe's Debbi Mack interviewed Frank Zafiro, author of more than 30 novels, including the River City series and the Charlie-316 series. He also hosts his own podcast, Wrong Place, Write Crime.
On Writer Types, Eric Beetner was joined by TV writer Lindsey Allen, winner of the show's co-host for a day contest. They chatted with authors JA Jance and Steve Berry, as well as novelist and screenwriter Daniel Pyne.
Bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman made his debut on Suspense Radio's Beyond the Cover, talking about his latest book, Serpentine, the 36th book in the Alex Delaware series. Like his fictional protagonist, Alex Delaware, Jonathan received a Ph.D. in psychology at the age of 24, with a specialty in the treatment of children.
Meet the Thriller Author welcomed Dana Stabenow, author of science fiction, mystery/crime fiction, suspense/thriller, and historical adventure novels. They discussed the fifth book in her Liam Campbell series that's set in her home state of Alaska.
Wrong Place, Write Crime's Frank Zafiro spoke with Jonathan Brown about his novella, Travel Money, and his latest Lou Crasher novel, Don't Shoot the Drummer.
Jack Dickson was the featured guest on Queer Writers of Crime. Born in a small town on Scotland's West Coast, Dickson is the author of nine novels and a variety of short stories, including the "Jas Anderson Investigates" series of crime thrillers set on the mean streets of Glasgow, his adopted city.
My Favorite Detective Story's latest guest was David Stever, a novelist, screenwriter, and film producer. Stever writes the Johnny Delarosa mystery-thriller series, which pays homage to the great detective fiction of the past and has been called “noir for the 21st Century.”
It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club chatted with Jennifer Dornbush, a screenwriter, author, international speaker, and forensic specialist. As she says, "I grew up around death," as the daughter of a small town medical examiner whose office was in their home. She created an Amazon top-selling mystery novel series, The Coroner’s Daughter.
As part of EQMM's 80th-year anniversary celebration this year (2021), the magazine's podcast offered a seasonally appropriate history-laden mystery by the multitalented writing team of Ellery Queen: "The President's Half Disme [an American silver coin]," originally published in EQMM in February 1947.
The latest topic on the Listening to the Dead podcast, hosted by Lynda LaPlante, was "Cause of Death – Terrorism & Mass Disaster." The show was joined by former anti-terrorism branch and SO13 officer, David Alexander, as he discussed his extraordinary experiences working on IRA bombings, the 7/7 attacks and investigating war crimes in Kosovo.
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