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
Oliver Trevena has signed on to star in and executive produce the indie feature film, Wire Room, which recently began principal photography in Birmingham, Alabama. Written by Brandon Stiefer and to be directed by Matt Eskandari, Wire Room features Trevena as Eddie Flynn, an infamous Irish arms dealer who smuggled high-powered Russian-made weapons for South American rebels. He ends up on the run after a bloody gang war and winds up in the U.S. where he’s a middleman for the Baja cartel. The film also stars Bruce Willis and Kevin Dillon.
After Paramount recently scheduled Tom Cruise’s long-awaited sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, for Memorial Day weekend this coming year, Lionsgate posted a teaser-video indicating it was moving John Wick: Chapter 4 from that same weekend to March 24 the following year (2023). However, the real reason may be due to shooting setbacks. Although principal photography wrapped up this summer in France, Germany, and Japan, production was recently halted due to unspecified reasons. John Wick: Chapter 4 stars Keanu Reeves, Donnie Yen, Laurence Fishburne, Bill Skarsgård, and Ian McShane.
A new trailer dropped for the Agatha Christie adaptation, Death on the Nile, Kenneth Branagh’s follow-up to Murder on the Orient Express. The project sees Branagh reprising his role as detective Hercule Poirot, this time investigating a murder aboard a glamorous river steamer boat in 1930s Egypt where Gal Gadot and her new husband, played by Armie Hammer, embark on an exotic honeymoon voyage. The current opening for the film is February 11, 2022.
TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES
A team that includes Academy Award-nominated Chocolat producer, Kit Golden, has secured the rights to Giles Milton’s non-fiction work, Churchill’s Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: The Mavericks Who Plotted Hitler’s Defeat. Netflix will air the 10-episode adaptation which follows the work of an international group of soldiers, spies, and saboteurs from all walks of life who devised unconventional new weapons and tactics to "set Europe ablaze" per Churchill’s orders. From their base in the Scottish Highlands, these resistance forces from across Europe led daring yet largely unknown missions throughout Europe that hastened the end of World War II. (Note that this project is different from Paramount Pictures’ forthcoming pic The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, which has Guy Ritchie attached to write and direct and is based on a different book by Damian Lewis.)
Author John Scalzi's The Dispatcher, which started life as an Audible original audiobook narrated by Zachary Quinto, is now being adapted for the small screen by producer Uri Singer, who's also behind Netflix’s feature film adaptation of Don DeLillo’s Underworld. The Dispatcher takes place in Chicago in a distant future in which it becomes almost impossible to murder anyone – 999 times out of a thousand, anyone who is intentionally killed comes back. The ongoing series follows Tony Valdez, a Dispatcher – "a licensed, bonded professional whose job is to humanely dispatch those about to die, so they can have a second chance to avoid the reaper. He teams up with Chicago PD detective, Nona Langdon, to help save those in death’s crosshairs and solve the crimes that put them there."
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO
The latest episode of the Crime Cafe podcast featured Debbi Mack's interview with Rod Sadler, who had a 30-year career in law enforcement before turning his hand to writing true crime.
The Pune International Literary Festival featured Dr. Mark Aldridge, an Agatha Christie historian and author, in conversation with Helen Smith about his "journey" with Dame Agatha.
On the most recent episode of Spybrary, Le Carré Cast host Jeff Quest tackled some of the most serious and silly questions faced by spy fans. He was joined by an all-star panel of guests – Jeremy Duns, Hannah Cooper and Spybrary host Shane Whaley – as they tackled a wide range of espionage enigmas.
Wrong Place, Write Crime welcomed Michael Penncavage to discuss his short stories and new novel, Person Unknown.
Crimetime FM had their season-ending show with a yearly wrap-up with Paul Burke, Victoria Selman, and Barry Forshaw.
The Red Hot Chili Writers chatted with Finnish crime writing superstar, Antti Tuomainen; spoke with Tracy Fenton of the Facebook group, The Book Club, about her five favorite recent reads; discussed the world pillow fighting championships, and more.
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