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
A new adaptation of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, based on the Alan Moore graphic novels, is in the works at 20th Century Studios. The film will be written by Justin Haythe, who wrote the Jennifer Lawrence spy thriller, Red Sparrow. The new incarnation will be faithful to the original graphic novel, which involves famous fictional characters like Allan Quatermain, Mina Harker from Dracula, The Invisible Man, Dr. Henry Jekyll, Fu Manchu, Captain Nemo, and Professor Cavor teaming up to thwart a deadly attack on London from the air in Victorian times. The original 2003 film was the last appearance of Sean Connery on the big screen.
A new Ocean’s Eleven film starring Margot Robbie is in "active development" at Warner Bros., with four-time Emmy winner Jay Roach looking to direct the project. Deadline reported that the film, scripted by Carrie Solomon, will be set in Europe in the 1960s, but further details with regard to its plot are being kept under wraps. Warner Bros. is eyeing a production start in spring of 2023.
Saban Films has taken global rights to the John Travolta and Stephen Dorff feature, American Metal. Writer and first-time feature director Nicholas Maggio’s film tells the story of a desperate and struggling family man who robs a pill mill. However, when the theft turns violent, he finds himself hunted by both the police and the Dixieland mafia. Shiloh Fernandez, Ashley Benson, and Kevin Dillon also star.
Dree Hemingway is the latest addition to the cast of Yale Entertainment’s darkly comedic thriller, The Kill Room, from writer Jonathan Jacobson and director Nicol Paone. She joins an ensemble that also includes Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson, Joe Manganiello, Maya Hawke, Debi Mazar, and Larry Pine. The Kill Room centers on hitman, Reggie (Manganiello), his boss (Jackson), an art dealer (Thurman) and their money laundering scheme that accidentally turns the hitman into an overnight Avant-Garde sensation, forcing the dealer to play the art world against the underworld. Hemingway will portray Anika, the owner of a successful art gallery that rivals Thurman’s.
Malin Åkerman is set to star alongside Jack Donnelly, Wayne Gordon, Nicole Bartlett, Celine Arden, and Sam Cassidy in the action-thriller, Us Or Them. Directed by Tom Paton (Black Ops), the film is written by Nicole Bartlett from a story by Paton. The story follows childhood best friends Jude (Donnelly) and Andy (Gordon) who are enjoying a luxury holiday won on a mobile game app. While there, they agree to play another game despite the foreboding caveat that once the game begins, they must play to the end. As the game progresses, the penalties for disagreement escalate along with the prize money. The pair soon realize that failure to agree will have dire consequences not just for them, but also for their family members.
Netflix has greenlit A Day and a Half, a Swedish action film directed, written, and starring Chernobyl and Westworld 's Fares Fares. The story follows Artan (Alexej Manvelov) and Louise (Alma Pöysti), a divorced couple on an emotionally charged road trip where Artan holds Louise hostage in order to reunite with his daughter. The journey takes them through rural Sweden during a hot summer with police officer Lukas (Fares) on their heels. One Netflix executive called it "an intimate story about loss, lies, betrayals, love, prejudice and family."
Fate of the Furious alum, Scott Eastwood, will return to the Fast & Furious franchise as part of the cast of Fast X. He joins an ensemble that also includes Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Jason Momoa, Charlize Theron, Brie Larson, Alan Ritchson, Nathalie Emmanuel, Michael Rooker, Daniela Melchior, Jordana Brewster, Sung Kang, Ludacris, and Cardi B, as previously announced. Eastwood will reprise his role as Little Nobody, the right-hand man of Kurt Russell’s Mr. Nobody, who helped Dominic Toretto (Diesel) track down cyberterrorist Cipher (Theron) in the franchise’s eighth film, Fate of the Furious, released in 2017. Whether Russell will also return to the franchise is not yet clear
Oscar winners Jamie Foxx and Robert De Niro, along with Scott Eastwood and John Leguizamo. are set for the action movie, Tin Soldier, which begins filming next week in Greece. Tin Soldier tells the story of "The Bokushi" (Foxx), who preaches to hundreds of veterans who have been drawn to the promise of protection and purpose under him. Surrounded by his devout military-trained followers, he has built an impenetrable fortress and amassed an arsenal of weapons. After several failed infiltration attempts, the government – in the form of military operative Emmanuel Ashburn (De Niro) – recruits Nash Cavanaugh (Eastwood), an ex-special forces asset, who was once a disciple of The Bokushi. Nash agrees to use his vulnerable past and insider knowledge of the enigmatic leader to finally get revenge on the man who took everything from him, including the love of his life.
TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES
HBO has renewed Barry for a fourth season. Production will begin in Los Angeles in June, with series star Bill Hader directing all eight episodes. Barry follows the misadventures of the titular character, a hired assassin who dreams of becoming an actor. The more he tries to move away from L.A.’s seedy underbelly, the deeper it consumes him — and affects everyone around him. In Season 3, Barry is fully committed to untangling himself from the murder business to follow his passion to act full time. But that proves to be a job in and of itself because he knows too much. The cast also includes Henry Winkler, Stephen Root, Michael Irby, Anthony Carrigan, and Sarah Goldberg.
Hulu has acquired the rights to the graphic novel, A Calculated Man, and is in the early stages of developing a series based on the crime story, which is set to be published in June. Peter Calloway, exec producer on HBO’s The Nevers and co-exec producer on Freeform’s Marvel series Cloak & Dagger and FX’s Legion, has signed to write and serve as showrunner on the project. The comic comes from writer Paul Tobin (Bunny Mask) and artist Alberto Albuquerque (The Amazing Spider-Man) and is a math-inspired crime series that follows Jack Beans, an accountant living in a witness protection program after betraying his former employers, the Pinafore crime family. After three years, Jack decides to reclaim his old life. What follows is a journey full of murder, mayhem and mathematics.
AMC has thrown its hat into the ring of video game adaptations, with a series based on the action-adventure game, Alan Wake. Published by Microsoft Studios, the game follows thriller novelist, Alan Wake, who seeks to uncover the truth behind his wife’s mysterious disappearance in the fictional town of Bright Falls, Washington. While investigating, Alan finds key events from his latest work coming to life.
James D’Arcy is set to star alongside Noomi Rapace and Jonathan Banks in Constellation, an eight-episode conspiracy-based psychological thriller drama series at Apple TV+. Oscar-nominated Oliver Hirschbiegel (Downfall) and Joseph Cedar (Footnote) are set as directors on the series, joining previously announced director/EP Michelle MacLaren. Created and written by Peter Harness (The War of the Worlds), Constellation stars Rapace as Jo, a woman who returns to Earth after a disaster in space — only to discover that key pieces of her life seem to be missing. The action-packed space adventure is an exploration of the dark edges of human psychology, one woman’s desperate quest to expose the truth about the hidden history of space travel, and her efforts to recover all that she has lost.
Lupita Nyong’o has exited Lady In The Lake, Apple TV+’s limited series adaptation of Laura Lippman’s book. Nyong’o was to star and executive produce alongside Natalie Portman, who remains in the series. The project is currently in production and a search is underway for a new actress to take over her role. The limited series takes place in '60s Baltimore, where an unsolved murder pushes housewife and mother, Maddie Schwartz (Portman), to reinvent her life as an investigative journalist. That decision sets her on a collision course with Cleo Sherwood, a hard-working woman juggling motherhood, many jobs, and a passionate commitment to advancing Baltimore’s Black progressive agenda.
Maahra Hill, who played the title role in the OWN series, Delilah, has been tapped as the female lead opposite Jesse L. Martin in NBC’s drama pilot, The Irrational. Written by Arika Mittman, The Irrational is based on bestselling author Dan Ariely’s book, Predictably Irrational. The show follows Alec Baker (Martin), a world-renowned professor of behavioral science, who lends his expertise to an array of high-stakes cases involving governments, law enforcement, and corporations with his unique and unexpected approach to understanding human behavior.
Amazon Prime Video’s Alan Ritchson-fronted series, Reacher, will see a familiar face as Maria Sten returns for the second season, reprising her role of Frances Neagley. Here’s the logline for Season 2, which will be based on Bad Luck and Trouble, the 11th book in Lee Child’s Reacher series: "When the members of Reacher’s old military unit start turning up dead, he has just one thing on his mind—revenge."
Last week, Fox announced the bulk of its programming slate for 2022-23 but not a fall schedule, although the network indicated it would soon be forthcoming. The lineup will include the return of 9-1-1 Lone Star and the mob drama, The Cleaning Lady; the new crime anthology series Accused, from Homeland and 24 producers, Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa, and House creator, David Shore; and also Alert, the character-driven police procedural about the LAMPU, the Los Angeles Police Department’s missing person’s unit.
Reba McEntire has joined Big Sky, David E. Kelley’s ABC drama, as a series regular for the upcoming third season. McEntire will play Sunny Brick, the mercurial matriarch of the Brick Family, a successful backcountry outfitter with a secret history of missing customers. McEntire will join new series regular cast members Jensen Ackles, who guest-stars in the upcoming Season 2 finale and will continue his role as Beau Arlen in Season 3, and Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who recurred as Tonya in Season 2 and was promoted to series regular for the upcoming season. Based on the books by C.J. Box, Big Sky follows private detective Cassie Dewell (Kylie Bunbury) and her former partner, Undersheriff Jenny Hoyt (Katheryn Winnick), as they investigate local crimes, taking on drug syndicates, notorious kidnappers, crime dynasties, and more along the way.
Yasha Jackson is set as a lead opposite Michaela McManus in ABC’s national parks drama pilot from Rashad Raisani and A+E Studios. Written and executive produced by Raisani, the as-yet-untitled drama revolves around the tangled, messy lives of the agents who work for the ISB — an elite law-enforcement unit responsible for solving all serious crimes that occur in our country’s 81,000 square miles of protected land. Jackson will play Tiffany, a brassy, funny Park Service Agent and helicopter pilot. She's also fellow Park Service Agent Audrey’s (McManus) close friend.
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO
A new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast is up featuring the mystery short story, "Death on the Rocks," written by Guy Belleranti and read by actor Larry Mattox.
It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club celebrated their patrons by letting them run the show and tell us about their favorite books.
On Read or Dead, Katie and Nusrah discussed mysteries featuring some kind of time or inter-dimensional travel.
Meet the Thriller Author welcomed A.M. Adair, an active duty Chief Warrant Officer in the United States Navy and author of action-packed spy/military thrillers. Her latest novel, Shadow War, was published in March.
Queer Writers of Crime's Laury recommended the first novel in a grim psychological series by Val McDermid.
Wrong Place Write Crime chatted with Neely Tucker about his Sully Carter novels and his career as a journalist.
My Favorite Detective Stories interviewed Brooklyn-born dancer and author, Lori Robbins, whose debut novel, Lesson Plan for Murder: A Master Class Mystery, won the Silver Falchion for Best Cozy Mystery and was a finalist in the Readers’ Choice and Indie Book Awards.
Crime Time FM welcomed authors Caz Frear and William Shaw to discuss procedurals, the rise of the armchair detective, and riding in Peter James's police car.
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