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 competitive situation, Colombia Pictures has acquired the rights to Teddy Wayne’s upcoming dark thriller, The Winner, with Wayne adapting his own book for the big screen. The story follows law school graduate Conor, who takes a job as a tennis pro in a gated community near Cape Cod, only to find himself torn between an arrangement with a sharp-tongued divorcée and falling in love with her outspoken daughter. He manages to find a way through this tangled web until he makes one irreversible mistake.
Jennifer Garner is set to star with fellow Golden Globe winner Paul Walter Hauser in the movie, Fruitcake. Max Winkler (Flower, Jungleland) is directing the true story about Sandy and Kay Jenkins, a seemingly upstanding middle-class couple who went on to embezzle millions from popular Texas-based business Collin Street Bakery. Hauser will play Sandy, an unassuming accountant who was funneling large sums of money into his accounts and credit card bills to support a lavish lifestyle, with Garner set to play his wife, Kay. The project is based on the Texas Monthly article, "Just Desserts" by Katy Vine, who will serve as a consultant.
Grantchester actor Tom Brittney, Corestar Media, and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel author Deborah Moggach are adapting the true story of Mavis Eccleston, who was accused of murder after entering into a suicide pact with her terminally ill husband. The feature, Goodnight Darling, will follow how the 79-year-old Mavis was arrested and tried for murder, only to be unanimously found not guilty, and then began a campaign with her family to change the law to allow people to take the choice of assisted dying. Moggach, whose mother served time in prison in an assisted dying case, is writing the script.
Noir City Hollywood 2024 is headed to the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles March 22-31. The festival, which is co-presented by the Film Noir Foundation, celebrates its 25th anniversary at the American Cinematheque with a killer lineup of twenty-three films. Alongside its classic lineup, the festival will present a series of allegorical double features, pairing international films with more familiar English-language ones. Hosted by the Foundation’s Eddie Muller and Alan K. Rode, the event will include twelve 35mm prints (including a "glorious" Nitrate print) and special guests for a splashy, sinister trip back in time, beginning with a duo of suspense stories from the pen of Cornell Woolrich, Never Open That Door (Argentina, 1952) and The Window (USA, 1949).
TELEVISION/SMALL SCREEN
Steven Lightfoot has been tapped to develop a series adaptation of bestseller Brad Thor's Scot Harvath series. Kicking off with The Lions of Lucerne in 2002, the book series is fast approaching over 20 million copies sold worldwide. The novels follow ex-Navy SEAL and intelligence operative, Scot Harvath, as he protects the United States and the world through any means possible. Of the 23 books, 20 are New York Times bestsellers with several debuting at #1, as well as being voted Best Book and Best Thriller of the Year.
Emmy nominee Jurnee Smollett is set to lead the new Apple Original drama series, Firebug, loosely inspired by events surrounding notorious California arsonist John Leonard Orr. She will star alongside Taron Egerton in the project, which is being developed, written, and executive produced by author Dennis Lehane. Firebug will follow a troubled detective and an enigmatic arson investigator as they pursue the trail of two serial arsonists. Orr, the inspiration for the podcast, worked for the Glendale Fire Department in Southern California as a fire captain and arson investigator who later was convicted of being a serial arsonist and mass murderer.
Amanda Peet is set as a lead opposite Jon Hamm in Your Friends and Neighbors, Apple TV+’s upcoming drama series from Warrior creator Jonathan Tropper and Apple Studios. Craig Gillespie (Physical) is set to direct the first two episodes and executive produce. Based on an original idea by Tropper, the project stars Hamm as Coop, a recently divorced hedge fund manager who, after being fired, resorts to stealing from the wealthy residents in his tony upstate New York suburb in order to keep his family’s lifestyle afloat. These petty crimes begin to reinvigorate him until he breaks into the wrong house at the wrong time.
Amazon Prime Video has greenlit the psychological thriller series, Fear, starring Anjli Mohindra and Martin Compston. Excited to make a fresh start away from London, Martyn (Compston) and Rebecca (Mohindra) move into a beautiful house in Glasgow with their two young children. At first the new home seems idyllic, but when neighbor Jan (Solly McLeod) makes unnerving comments to Rebecca, it turns out to be the start of something far more intimidating.
DeVon Franklin, the founder of Franklin Entertainment, is developing the detective drama, Grace, for CBS. Grace follows a true-blue detective, known for his brash, cynical style, and a passionate community-focused pastor who wears her heart on her sleeve. They reluctantly partner to solve complex crimes as they debate their divergent beliefs while attempting to ignore their growing chemistry. It is being written by Devon Greggory and Corey Moore, who has written for series including NCIS: New Orleans.
Jessica Plummer, Richard Armitage, Lenny Henry, Steve Pemberton, Paul Kaye, Samantha Spiro, Lisa Faulkner, and Mary Malone have joined the cast of Netflix‘s Harlan Coben adaptation, Missing You, currently filming in the UK. Missing You tells the story of detective Kat Donovan (Rosalind Eleazar) who stumbles across her estranged fiancé on a dating app, forcing her to delve back into the mystery surrounding her father’s murder, uncovering long-buried secrets from her past.
Unforgotten, the critically acclaimed crime drama created and written by Chris Lang, has started filming a sixth season. Sinéad Keenan and Sanjeev Bhaskar reprise their roles as DCI Jess James and DI Sunil "Sunny" Khan as their dynamic on-screen partnership returns to investigate emotionally charged cold cases from the past, unraveling secrets and unearthing buried truths along the way. The new season will be directed by Andy Wilson (Ripper Street, Spooks) who has been the sole director for each of the previous 30 episodes across five seasons of the successful drama.
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO
Linwood Barclay (No Time for Goodbye) talked about the art of writing crime fiction on the CBC Books: Why I Write series.
Amina Akhtar, author of Almost Surely Dead, was interviewed by Robert Justice on Crime Writers of Color.
On Crime Time FM, Tess Gerritsen chatted with Paul Burke about her new spy crime thriller, The Spy Coast; Maggie Bird; living in a CIA retirement town; MK Ultra; standing up for older characters; and British TV.
The latest episode of The Red Hot Chili Writers featured a chat with barrister and thriller writer Tony Kent, as well as a discussion of great legal thrillers, and a peek into the world's most famous courtroom at the Old Bailey.
On Wrong Place, Write Crime, Frank Zafiro welcomed Gabriel Valjan to discuss his multiple series – Shane Cleary, The Company Files, and Roma – as well as his fascination with history and relationships.
The Pick Your Poison podcast took a look at the favorite poison of Agatha Christie, which is also used as a performance enhancer; and a compound used as rat poison and also in doping during the Tour de France.
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