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
In a bidding war, Neon has acquired the North American rights to The Actor, a film noir based on Donald E. Westlake's bestselling book, Memory. Directed by Duke Johnson, the project is set in the 1950s and stars Ryan Gosling as Paul Cole, who has been stranded in Ohio after a brutal attack. As he finds himself suffering from severe memory loss, he struggles to find his way back to his life in New York and reclaim what he has lost.
Netflix has acquired Corey Mead’s true crime article, "The Poet," for a feature film adaptation. The article tells the story of Ruth Finley, who escaped a murderer as a teen, only to find herself on the run again decades later as the killer terrorizes her hometown. With a team of police investigators and her devoted husband intent on saving her, the identity of her tormentor is too chilling to believe.
Guy Pearce and Monica Bellucci are set to co-star opposite Liam Neeson in the indie crime thriller, Memory (not related to the Neon/Westlake project above). The project is based on the book, De Zaak Alzheimer, by Jef Geeraerts as well as the Belgian film, The Memory of a Killer, directed by Erik Van Looy. The story follows Alex Lewis (Neeson), an expert assassin with a reputation for discreet precision. When Alex refuses to complete a job for a dangerous criminal organization, he becomes a target and must go on the hunt for those who want him dead. Veteran FBI agents Vincent Serra (Pearce), Linda Amistead (played by Taj Atwal), and Mexican intelligence liaison Hugo Marquez (Harold Torres) are brought in to investigate the trail of bodies, leading them closer to Alex, but also drawing the ire of local tech mogul Davana Sealman (Bellucci).
Killers of the Flower Moon has added four more to the cast: Tatanka Means, Michael Abbott Jr., Pat Healy, and Scott Shepherd have joined Martin Scorsese’s film based on David Grann’s bestseller. Set in 1920s Oklahoma, the long-in-the-works Killers of the Flower Moon depicts the serial murder of members of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation, a string of brutal crimes that came to be known as the Reign of Terror. Previously announced cast members include stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, as well as Indigenous actors, Tantoo Cardinal, Cara Jade Myers, JaNae Collins, and Jillian Dion.
Likewise, the cast of the film adaptation of Delia Owens's book, Where the Crawdads Sing, has recently increased with the additions of Garret Dillahunt, Michael Hyatt, Ahna O’Reilly, Sterling Macer Jr., and newcomer Jojo Regina. Set against the backdrop of the mid-20th century South, the story centers on a young woman named Kya who, abandoned by her family, raises herself all alone in the marshes outside of her small town. However, when her former boyfriend is found dead, Kya is thrust into the spotlight, instantly branded by the local townspeople and law enforcement as the prime suspect for his murder
Renegade Entertainment, the production company co-founded by Courtney Lauren Penn and Thomas Jane, has optioned Chuck Hustmyre’s feature screenplay, Relentless, and will develop and produce the project as a starring vehicle for Jane. The action thriller follows a former U.S. Army Green Beret who gets caught between warring crime gangs as he fights to save the life of a young girl. Screenwriter Hustmyre spent 22 years in law enforcement and retired as a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). During his career he specialized in violent crime, narcotics, and fugitive investigations.
TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES
Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress, Jane Seymour, will star in and exec produce the Irish mystery thriller, Harry Wild, for Acorn TV. Seymour will play a recently retired English professor who cannot help but take an active interest in the criminal cases assigned to her police detective son, Charlie. She displays her flair for investigation by interfering in her son’s baffling murder case, noticing the murderer has followed a pattern from a well-known play. When she successfully catches the killer by putting herself at great risk, she finds a new lust for life.
NBC has greenlighted two pilot orders, a wedding island disaster thriller exec produced by The Blacklist duo of John Davis and John Fox, and a bank heist drama exec produced by Julie Plec. Getaway centers on a destination wedding at an isolated luxury resort that quickly descends into chaos after a group of dangerous criminals takes the island hostage. The small group of guests, led by a fearless female Army vet, will do everything they can to stay alive. The second untitled project is described as "a high-stakes two-hander featuring two women – a recently captured brilliant criminal mastermind who orchestrates a number of coordinated bank heists for a mysterious purpose, and the principled, relentless and socially outcast FBI agent who will stop at nothing to foil her ambitious plan."
Disney+ has unveiled a slate of UK scripted originals, teaming on projects with the producers behind Killing Eve, Gentleman Jack, and The Night Manager. Two of these have crime-related themes including The Ballad of Renegade Nell, which follows Nell Jackson who is forced into a life of highway robbery, along with her two orphaned sisters Roxanne and George. Aided by a plucky little spirit called Billy Blind, Nell realizes that fate has put her on the wrong side of the law for a reason, "a reason much bigger than she could’ve ever imagined, a reason that goes right up to Queen Anne and beyond, to the struggle for power raging across the battlefields of Europe." The other project is titled Culprits and described as a "whip smart thriller" that follows what happens after a heist when the crew have gone their separate ways but are being targeted by a killer one-by-one.
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO
James Ellroy, the "Demon Dog" of American literature, is teaming up with the podcast firm, Audio Up, for a five-part podcast series to launch in August. The author of L.A. Confidential and The Black Dahlia will produce and narrate the podcast, titled Hollywood Death Trip, which takes listeners on a nocturnal tour of murder and mayhem in Los Angeles with period music, archival radio, and cinematic sound design.
A new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast is up featuring the first chapter of Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun by Lois Winston, read by actor Julie Lucido.
Complicit is a new true-crime anthology podcast that follows the story of 29 year old Lauren Dumolo, who vanished from her home in Cape Coral, FL, on June 19, 2020. Her disappearance has baffled her family, friends, and even the police investigating her case. When Lauren's belongings mysteriously begin appearing in a nearby park, the investigation is escalated, and the community rallies to search for the missing woman.
Writer Types host, Eric Beetner, and guest co-host, Erica Ruth Neubauer (Death At Wedgefield Manor), spoke with the creator of the Maisie Dobbs series, Jaqueline Winspear; debut author and criminal defense attorney, Nadine Matheson; and thriller writer, Ell Marr.
Meet the Thriller Writer welcomed author, Frank H Jordan. Trained in martial arts, and an ex-weekend warrior (Army reservist) with the Australian Defence Force, Frank showcased his interests in combat and all things military in the high-action Jo Modeen series.
The featured guest at Queer Writers of Crime was Joseph R.G. De Marco, author of the Marco Fontana Mysteries including the latest installment, The Vermilion Pursuit.
Wrong Place, Write Crime heard from Tennessee author Sandra Wells; super reader and blog reviewer Colman Keane; and Hawaii-based author Scott Kikkawa, whose Kona Winds is set in the islands' pre-statehood era. There were also book recommendations from Joe Reid, Ryan Sayles, and T.G. Wolff, and Lance Wright had an April update on new releases from Down and Out Books.
My Favorite Detective Stories podcast host, John Hoda, spoke with screenwriter Simon McCleave about his bestselling DI Ruth Hunter crime thriller series.
E.A. Barres (a/k/a E.A. Aymar) stopped by It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club to talk about his most recent thriller, They're Gone. Two women's husbands are murdered on the same night in the same way, and the investigation the women undertake to find answers uncovers a terrifying connection.
Anthologist, novelist, and historian, Nick Rennison, spoke with Paul Burke on Crime Time FM about the latest anthology of short stories in the rivals to Sherlock Holmes series, American Sherlocks.
NPR's David Bianculli took a look at Mare of Easttown, the new mini-series starring Kate Winslett as Mare Sheehan, an office police investigator in a small Pennsylvania town, who investigates a brutal murder as she tries to keep her life from falling apart.
Forensic psychiatrist and author of The Mind of a Murderer, Dr. Richard Taylor, was featured on the podcast All in the Mind.
Comments