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
Aaron Eckhart will star in the action thriller, Scorpion, directed by Jesse V. Johnson (Chief of Station) and written by Corey Large (Detective Knight trilogy) and Ed Drake (Gasoline Alley). Scorpion follows a CIA assassin who goes into hiding after taking the rap for a failed mission. But when he re-emerges, the past also comes back to haunt him, and in order to protect his daughter, he needs to take down the agency boss who set him up. Further casting information is yet to be announced.
Sam Richardson is set to join the cast of the thriller, Sacrifice, joining Chris Evans, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Salma Hayek Pinault. Based on a script by Romain Gavras (co-written with Will Arbery) who will also direct, the story is set at a high-end charity gala that is raided by a violent group of radicals on a mystical quest to fulfill a prophecy.
Josh O’Connor is set to star in The Mastermind, written and directed by Kelly Reichardt. Production is expected to start sometime this year on the film, which centers on an audacious art heist amidst the backdrop of the Vietnam War.
TELEVISION/STREAMING
After being in the works since last year, Amazon Prime Video has officially ordered a series adaptation of Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta novels, with Nicole Kidman and Jamie Lee Curtis set for the lead roles. Amazon has greenlit two seasons of the series, titled Scarpetta, and added five additional cast members, Ariana DeBose (West Side Story) Bobby Cannavale (The Irishman), Simon Baker (Boy Swallows Universe), Rosy McEwen (Blue Jean), and Jake Cannavale (American Sports Story). Liz Sarnoff will serve as writer, executive producer, and showrunner. The mystery-thriller series follows Kay Scarpetta (Kidman), the Chief Medical Examiner, as she returns to Virginia and resumes her former position with complex relationships, both personal and professional – including her sister Dorothy (Curtis), with plenty of grudges and secrets to uncover.
ITV has greenlit the espionage thriller, Betrayal, starring and produced by Vigil’s Shaun Evans, which is set in the clandestine world of MI5. The story follows John Hughes (Evans), who joined MI5 during the war on terror and was at the forefront of averting the biggest terrorist plots on UK soil. Now in his mid 40s and married with two children, he’s struggling to adapt to the new MI5, where threats to national security have changed and he’s forced to confront the values of a progressive work environment.
Max has picked up for development an untitled a law enforcement drama loosely inspired by Geraldine Hart's experiences as an FBI agent and police commissioner. Eileen Myers (The Night Agent) is writing the pilot for the series, which follows a legendary FBI agent who returns to her hometown on Long Island to clean up mob corruption and quickly finds that the rot is even deeper and darker than she thought. Before long, she's facing down nefarious entities from all sides.
Monster series co-creator Ryan Murphy announced that Charlie Hunnam will star in Season 3 at Netflix as Ed Gein, the notorious serial killer. Gein, who also hailed from Wisconsin like Jeffrey Dahmer, became infamous in the 1950s when authorities discovered he'd not only killed multiple people, he'd dug up graves from a cemetery near his home and fashioned all manner of household items and clothing from human remains. Gein’s case served as an inspiration for several major pop culture characters later on, including Norman Bates in Psycho and Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs. Season 1 of Monster focused on serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, while Season 2 follows the Menendez brothers and the murder of their parents.
Max has canceled the latest iteration of the mystery-thriller series, Pretty Little Liars, after two seasons. The drama focused on a group of teenage girls enduring and investigating their own mysteries and starred Bailee Madison, Chandler Kinney, Zaria, Malia Pyles, Maia Reficco, Mallory Bechtel, Sharon Leal, Alex Aiono, Jordan Gonzalez, and Elias Kacavas. This was the fourth TV series in the Pretty Little Liars franchise, which are all based on or inspired by the book series written by Sara Shepard, with the others airing on Freeform (formerly ABC Family).
Hallmark's annual "Countdown to Christmas" lineup has been announced, with 47 all-new original movies spread across its networks including Hallmark Mystery.
PODCASTS/RADIO
Speaking of Mysteries welcomed Taylor Moore to discuss Cold Trail, the fourth installment in his series featuring Garrett Kohl, in which someone is blowing up natural gas facilities that may, or may not, have something to do with ecological demonstrators.
Spybrary Spy Podcast host Shane Whaley sat down with legendary actor Gary Oldman, who portrays the enigmatic Jackson Lamb in the hit TV adaptation of Mick Herron's Slow Horses. Oldman revealed how Jackson Lamb first appeared on his radar and the differences working with spy authors Mick Herron and John le Carré on Slow Horses and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
On Crime Time FM, Craig Sisterson chatted with Attica Locke about her new novel, Guide Me Home; screenwriting and TV; the Crime Writers of Color; and Texas.
Meet the Thriller Author spoke with David Ellis, a judge and an Edgar-award-winning author of ten novels of crime fiction, as well as eight bestselling books co-authored with James Patterson.
This week’s episode of the Crime Cafe podcast features Debbi Mack's interview with crime writer Tom Fowler, author of the John Tyler thrillers and the CT Ferguson crime fiction series.
The latest Cops and Writers podcast featured bestselling author, drummer, and former Police Chief Rick Porrello. His first nonfiction book on organized crime, The Rise and Fall of the Cleveland Mafia, was based on family research into the murders of his grandfather and three uncles, all of whom, he learned, were mob leaders killed in Prohibition-era violence. HIs second book, To Kill the Irishman—the War that Crippled the Mafia, was made into the movie Kill the Irishman, starring Ray Stevenson, Vincent D’Onofrio, Christopher Walken, and Val Kilmer.
On Read or Dead, Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester discussed mystery/thriller books for Hispanic Heritage Month.
A new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast is up, featuring the first chapter of Four Pieces of Evidence by Pamela Ebel, read by actor Sean Hopper.
Comments