THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES
David Fincher’s forthcoming Once Upon a Time in Hollywood sequel has a new title: The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth. Written by Once Upon a Time in Hollywood helmer Quentin Tarantino and directed by Fincher, the new film catches back up with Brad Pitt’s anti-hero eight years after the events of the 2019 hit as he works as a Hollywood studio fixer in 1977 Los Angeles. Like Pitt reprising his role as Booth, the new film will see Timothy Olyphant reviving his role as Western actor James Stacy. In addition to Pitt and Olyphant, the film’s all-star cast includes Elizabeth Debicki, Scott Caan, Carla Gugino, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Peter Weller, and Holt McCallany. In a rare show of theatrical interest on Netflix’s part, the streamer has also set the film to premiere exclusively in Imax theaters on Nov. 25.
Netflix has dropped the first trailer for its upcoming thriller, Unabomber, starring Jacob Tremblay. The film also stars Russell Crowe, Shailene Woodley, Annabelle Wallis, Alexander Ludwig, Steven Ogg, and Marc Menchaca. Januz Metz directs. The drama follows Ted Kaczynski, played by Tremblay, going from 16-year-old Harvard student to the infamous Unabomber. Subjected to controversial psychological experiments by Professor Henry Murray (Crowe), Kaczynski’s troubled past resurfaces decades later, when the manhunt for him led by FBI agent Joanne Miller (Woodley) brings to light the chilling consequences of ambition and isolation. Sam Chalsen and Nelson Greaves penned the script.
TELEVISION/STREAMING
Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey) will take on the titular role as Alex Murphy/RoboCop in the reimagining of the 1987 movie on Amazon Prime, which hails from showrunner, writer, and executive producer Peter Ocko. RoboCop follows a giant tech conglomerate that convinces the city to place a powerful robot on its police force – a robot implanted with the consciousness of a beloved, fallen officer. Ed Neumeier and Michael Miner, who co-created and co-wrote the original RoboCop film, also serve as executive producers for the eight-episode series.
Amazon MGM Studios has announced a series order for Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, a darkly comedic murder mystery based on the bestselling book series by Benjamin Stevenson. You's Penn Badgley will star, with David Hemingson (The Holdovers) set as showrunner and executive producer. Set deep in the dense mountains of Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone follows Ern Cunningham (Badgley), a mystery-writing expert who reluctantly attends a family reunion to welcome his brother Michael home from prison — the same brother Ern helped convict. When a frozen body appears and a snowstorm traps everyone inside, the deaths begin to mount. Everyone in his family has already killed someone — either by accident or otherwise.
Netflix renewed Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen for a third season, with Ritchie returning to direct, and also released the full trailer for Season 2, ahead of its September 3 premiere. The trailer features returning Theo James (The White Lotus), Kaya Scodelario (Senna), Ray Winstone (Sexy Beast), Joely Richardson (One Day), Vinnie Jones (Snatch), Jasmine Blackborow (Legends), Michael Vu (In The Grey), Daniel Ings (I Hate Suzie), Harry Goodwins (Sunset Drive), Ruby Sear, Pearce Quigley (Showtrial), and Giancarlo Esposito (The Residence). The upcoming season is set "from the country piles of England to the majestic Italian lakes" and follows aristocratic Eddie (Theo James) who inherits the family estate and discovers it's home to a huge weed empire. Embroiled in London's dark underworld, Eddie attempts to thrive and survive with the help of career criminal Bobby Glass (Ray Winstone), and his daughter Susie Glass (Kaya Scodelario).
Sam Waterston (Law & Order), Campbell Scott (Royal Pains), and Chris Chalk (It: Welcome to Derry) will guest star in the upcoming NBC drama series, Line of Fire. The series follows a family of law enforcement agents—headed by Mike (Peter Krause) and Jane (Hope Davis) Hollingsworth—who bridge personal differences and cross professional boundaries as they tackle cases for the FBI, US Marshals, Secret Service, and Department of Justice. After a seemingly cut-and-dried case turns into a deadly conspiracy, they must use the expertise from a lifetime of protecting civilians and politicians to protect one another and bring the killer to justice…even if it means betraying their sworn code. Waterston will play former President Thomas Barnes, Scott takes on the role of Terry, a U.S. Senator, and Chalk will play current President Kayana.
Oscar-winner Kate Winslet has signed up for her first major Netflix drama series, starring alongside Maxine Peake (Say Nothing) in The Unheard, which hails from the team behind Emmy-winning smash hit, Adolescence. Written by Jack Thorne, the limited series follows two sisters who go on the run after an act of vengeance goes wrong. As they are desperately pursued, we ask the question: "What pushed them to this reckless act, and was it ever their intention to get away with it?" The Unheard will go into production next year.
Barry Keoghan (Saltburn) is set to reprise his role as Jonny McGee for a five-part Netflix prequel series to Top Boy, which will be titled Jonny Boy. McGee was an antagonist in Season 5 of the drama, a high-ranking member of the Irish mob who distributed drugs in London for his uncle, Tadgh McGee. Jonny Boy is not the only expansion of the Top Boy universe, with Netflix also greenlighting Jaq (working title), a series that will focus on BAFTA-winner Jasmine Jobson’s character.
Clive Owen has joined Anya Taylor-Joy in How to Kill Your Family, the British Netflix drama based on Bella Mackie’s bestselling novel. Also cast in the show are Orlando Norman and David Shields. Anya Taylor-Joy plays the murderous Grace Bernard, the protagonist of Mackie’s book. Grace is the forgotten child of Simon Artemis, a merciless billionaire. After a heartbreaking rejection, Grace decides to exact revenge, but will this deadly scheme take even more from Grace than she’s already lost? The project had been subject to a lawsuit (with the studio alleging that Mackie infringed the copyright of Kind Hearts and Coronets, the Ealing Studios comedy it owns), but this was settled last year.
PODCASTS/RADIO/AUDIO
Robert Harris discussed his novel, Agrippa, an historical thriller set in ancient Rome, on NPR's Weekend Saturday.
David Fennell chatted with Paul Burke on Crime Time FM about his new crime thriller/comedy novel All Killers Aboard; Agatha Christie and Roger Ackroyd, and more.
On the latest episode of Murder Junction, hosts Vaseem Khan and Abir Mukherjee explored the fifty-year old killing of Sandra Rivett, nanny to the Lord Lucan household, and also chatted with author Hazell Ward who uses the mystery as a basis for her meta crime novel, The Game is Murder.
Liana de la Rosa discussed Mutual Discord with special guest host Tara DeWitt for the Poisoned Pen Bookstore podcast.
The Sisters in Crime podcast welcomed Stacey Horan to talk about her award winning Old City Mysteries, a paranormal mystery series set in historic St. Augustine, Florida.
