It's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a brand-new, late summer roundup of crime drama news:
THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES
The first teaser trailer was released for Rian Johnson's Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, introducing a new cast of potential murder victims (or murderers) played by Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline, Kate Hudson, and Dave Bautista. The one holdover from the Knives Out cast is Daniel Craig as Detective Benoit Blanc, who has joined the ensemble on a Greek island in order to solve a mystery. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery had its world premiere at the 47th Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, and is scheduled to be released in select cinemas in November before its streaming release on December 23 by Netflix.
Patricia Highsmith, the celebrated mid-20th century American author known for novels like Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley, lived a troubled life and held controversial views while struggling with her own identity. A new documentary, Loving Highsmith, is screening at Film Forum this month and is based on Highsmith's journal entries and accounts by friends, lovers and family. Director Eva Vitija was interviewed by WNYC about the film.
Oscar nominee Catherine Keener has landed a major role opposite Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga in Todd Phillips’s Joker sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, for Warner Bros. and DC Films. Deadline recently reported that Brendan Gleeson would be joining the ensemble as well as Zazie Beetz. Phillips is returning to direct and also co-wrote the script with Scott Silver, who penned the original pic. Not much is known about the sequel, though insiders believe it will have musical elements and will be set in Arkham Asylum, which is where the first film leaves off after Arthur Fleck (Phoenix) has been sent there. It is also unknown who Keener will be playing. The Batman series from which "The Joker" character evolved was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in the 27th issue of the comic book, Detective Comics, on March 30, 1939.
TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES
In a competitive situation, Peacock has landed The Show Must Go On, an hour-long murder mystery anthology, which would mark the first time Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera musical is used as part of a TV series. Written by Austin Winsberg, The Show Must Go On is a darkly comedic murder mystery anthology series, with each season taking place in the days leading up to a big, live, televised event and tackling a new murder with a refreshed cast. Season 1 is set behind the scenes during the making of a fictitious version of Lloyd Webber’s worldwide mega-hit, The Phantom of The Opera Live!, with endless production problems, warring stars, mounting network pressures—and the gruesome and untimely death of one of the leads. The original The Phantom of the Opera (French: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra) was a novel by French author, Gaston Leroux, first published as a serial in 1909-1910.
BBC Three is to adapt Holly Jackson’s New York Times bestselling teen crime thriller, A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder. Poppy Cogan, who has also written the BBC Three horror project, Red Rose, will pen the adaptation. A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder follows the murder of schoolgirl, Andie Bell, a crime that everyone in the quintessentially English town decided was carried out by Sal Singh five years ago. But Pippa Fitz-Amobi—the smart, slightly square heroine—isn’t so sure, and she’s determined to prove it, with many trying to prevent her from finding the truth.
Paramount+’s upcoming Criminal Minds revival now has an official title, Criminal Minds: Evolution, and is set to premiere this fall exclusively on the streamer. Zach Gilford also has been tapped to recur in a season-long arc. CBS’s original Criminal Minds series, which ran from 2005-2020, followed the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, the best of the best who profiled the worst of the worst. In Criminal Minds: Evolution, the FBI’s elite team of criminal profilers come up against their greatest threat yet, an UnSub who has used the pandemic to build a network of other serial killers. Original cast members reprising their roles include Joe Mantegna, A.J. Cook, Kirsten Vangsness, Aisha Tyler, Adam Rodriguez, and Paget Brewster.
Margo Martindale (The Americans), Molly Parker (House of Cards), Rachel Bilson (The O.C.), and Jack Davenport (The Morning Show) are among the new cast members that have been added to Fox’s upcoming anthology drama series, Accused, from Howard Gordon, the co-creator of 24 and Homeland. Accused is described by the network as a "fast-paced provocative thriller, exploring a different crime, in a different city, with an entirely original cast" in each episode. Based on the BBC’s BAFTA-winning crime anthology, Accused opens in a courtroom on the defendant, with viewers knowing nothing about their crime or how they ended up on trial.
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO
The latest episode of the Crime Cafe podcast featured Debbi Mack's interview with screenwriter and documentarian, Eva Vitija, whose latest film is a documentary of the life of crime writer Patricia Highsmith.
Speaking of Mysteries featured Deanna Raybourn and her new thriller, Killers of a Certain Age. Four women, who happen to be sixty-something professional assassins, are celebrating their recent retirement—except when they board a luxury ship for a celebratory cruise, they realize that someone wants to "retire" them...permanently.
My Favorite Detective Stories chatted with Boston-based author, Dave Zeltserman, whose novel, Small Crimes, was made into a Netflix film starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Molly Parker, Gary Cole, Robert Forster, and Jacki Weaver. His Julius Katz mystery stories have won a Shamus, Derringer, and two Ellery Queen Readers Choice awards.
Freelance writer, editor, author, and all around storyteller, Troy Lambert, stopped by Meet the Thriller Author, to talk about writing mysteries, history, and dogs of all kinds. His latest novel, Teaching Moments, is the second book in the Max Boucher Mystery Series.
On Queer Writers of Crime, Philip discussed Greg Herren's latest, Murder in the Rue Chartres.
On Book Riot's Read or Dead podcast, Katie McClain and new co-host, Kendra Winchester, discussed some of their recent favorites.
David Lagercrantz spoke with Craig Sisterson for Crime Time FM about Dark Music (translated by Ian Giles); the influence of Zlatan Ibrahimovic; a contemporary Holmes and Watson; the social novel; what is genius; and not having the luxury to be weak (class and privilege).
On the latest Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine podcast, we enter the world of crime, Oklahoma-style, as author Bret Jones reads his story "Not My First Rodeo," from the March/April 2022 issue.
It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club featured On A Quiet Street by Seraphina Nova Glass.
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