Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

Relativity Media has closed its deal for Act of Valor, which Deadline says "shapes up as arguably the biggest money paid for a finished film with an unknown cast." The film is directed by ex-stuntmen and documentary filmmakers Mike "Mouse" McCoy (Dust to Glory) and Scott Waugh (Step Into Liquid) and written by Kurt Johnstad (300) and follows a Navy Seal squad on a covert mission to recover a kidnapped CIA agent, in the process taking down a web of terrorist cells determined to strike America at all costs.

Vigilante Entertainment has optioned bestselling true-crime author Gregg Olsen's book Starvation Heights. The book is set in the Pacific Northwest in 1911 and tells the story of a egotistical woman doctor who took advantage of the popularity of Dr. Kellogg's health sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan. But unlike Dr. Kellogg's comparatively gentle method of diet plus enemas, Dr. Hazzard's method was to literally starve her patients to death—and then defraud them of their valuables.

Don Winslow is having a good run. Just as Oliver Stone starts filming an adaptation of Winslow's novel Savages—about pot growers in Southern California who get in over their heads, starring John Travolta and Uma Thurman—comes word that Stone has asked Winslow to write a prequel. That book will be published to coincide with the film's release some time in 2012.

Sylvester Stallone is set to star in a film adaptation of the graphic novel Bullet to the Head written by Matz and illustrated by Colin Wilson. The thriller centers on a New Orleans hitman (Stallone), who teams up with a New York City cop to form an alliance to bring down the killers of their respective partners. Sung Kang (Fast Five) has been cast in a supporting role in the production, due to start filming in Louisiana later this month.

CBS Films had already announced it acquired the film rights to Vince Flynn's thriller series featuring the character of Mitch Rapp and were planning on starting off with Consent to Kill. However, they seem to be leaning instead toward the most recent book in the series, American Assassin, which is a prequel and tells the story of how Rapp came to join the CIA. Ed Zwick is adapting the screenplay and will also serve as director. (Hat tip to Omnimystery News.)

TV

CSI is the most-watched TV show in the world—again. Show creator Jerry Bruckheimer was presented with the International Television Audience Award, based on stats from Eurodata TV Worldwide, at the 51st Monte Carlo TV Festival. This is the fourth time in six years CSI has had that honor.

Speaking of CSI, Laurence Fishburn is leaving the cast after only two and a half seasons starring in the show. The Oscar-nominated actor wants to return to film, quelle surprise.

In other casting news, Thomas Gibson's status for next season on Criminal Minds is still up in the air; Mark Pellegrino (Being Human) will have a recurring role in the final season of TNT's The Closer, playing a gay attorney in a firm that specializes in defending police officers and has never lost a case; Jennifer Love Hewitt is out as a half-replacement for Mariska Hargita in L&O: SVU when Hargitay cuts back on her role next season, but Ice T is back in at SVU—for another two years.

For a little bit of fun, check out this YouTube take on Law & Order UK: Lessons in British Justice.

PODCASTS

Authors on Tour has several podcasts of, well, authors on tour promoting their latest books. One of the more recent features is Donna Leon talking about Drawing Conclusions. (Hat tip to EuroCrime.)

THEATER

Variety has a review of the new play The Detective's Wife, a one-woman murder mystery starring Barbara Robertson. She plays the 52-year-old wife of a Chicago police detective who has been killed while investigating a decades-old triple murder, and decides to investigate his death on her own. It's the first in a planned trilogy of plays set within the world of Chicago law enforcement by playwright Keith Huff.