Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

Jim Sturgess has signed on to star opposite Kate Beckinsale in Eliza Graves, the psychological thriller loosely based on one of Edgar Allan Poe’s early works.

Kimberly Peirce, director of Boy’s Don’t Cry and the soon to be released Carrie reboot, has signed on to direct the film The Brand, an adaptation of a New Yorker article on the Aryan brotherhood in prisons. 

Chloe Moretz is in talks to join Charlize Theron in the cast of the upcoming adaptation of Gillian Flynn's novel Dark Places, about a woman forced to re-face the massacre of her family after twenty years.

Benedict Cumberbatch has a jam-packed schedule these days. His latest commitment is the upcoming project from Guillermo Del Toro, Crimson Peak. The details of the plot are being kept under wraps, but it is said to be a haunted house thriller and co-stars Emma Stone and Charlie Hunnam.

Susan Sarandon and Topher Grace are set to star in the indie thriller, The Calling, directed by Jason Stone. The story, written by Scott Abramovitch, follows a small-town Canadian detective (Sarandon) who tracks down a serial killer with the help of an ambitious police officer from Toronto (Grace)

The confusing casting for the outlaw film Jane Got a Gun continues. On the first day of shooting, Lynne Ramsay exited the project, causing Jude Law to leave, as well. Bradley Cooper has now stepped in to take Law's role as the antagonist, joinng other stars Natalie Portman and Joel Edgerton

Jason Clarke and Omar Sy are set to star in Stephen Gaghan’s film Candy Store. The plot follows a former covert operative (Clarke) teams up with a disgraced local cop to investigate a king pimp (Sy), a Cold War consigliere and a beautiful woman, all wrapped up in a terror plot against Manhattan.

TV

Cinemax has ordered a pilot for a period crime drama based on the Max Allan Collins books featuring Quarry, a military marksman veteran recruited into a network of contract killers. (Hat tip to Omnimystery News.)

Syfy has bought an untitled drama spec written by Alfonso H. Moreno (NCIS), about two survivors of a plane crash who wake up with no memory of their actions and have to prove their innocence when they're suddenly on the run from the government.

Steven Weber has joined the cast of TNT's Murder In The First drama pilot co-created by Steven Bochco and Eric Lodal. The show is billed as a murder mystery set in contemporary San Francisco that centers on two SFPD homicide detectives, Terry Seagrave (Taye Diggs) and Hildy Mulligan (Kathleen Robertson), as they take on a case that seems more like a maze.

The CBC announced its renewing Murdoch Mysteries, based on a character created by Maureen Jennings, for an expanded seventh season. It's also giving a second-season order for Cracked, about a detective and psychiatirst in a Psych Crimes Unit, and an expanded fifth-season order for Republic of Doyle, featuring the rogue PI Jake Doyle. (Hat tip to Omnimystery News.)

If you're a fan of true-crime documentaries, Investigation Discovery is adding 15 new series to its 22 returning series next season. The new projects include Southern Fried Homicide, about crime south of the Mason-Dixon Line; Darkness Out of Town, which chronicles murder that takes place in the countryside; The First Kill, about initial murders that inspired killing sprees; and The Bad Old Days, about real-life killings from the 1950s and 1960s.

The USA Network announced summer premiere dates including Burn Notice (which will hit its landmark 100th episode this season) on June 6, followed immediately by the new series Graceland, starring Daniel Sunjata and Aaron Tveit as part of a group of undercover agents who live together. Other shows given broadcast dates include Season 4 of Covert Affairs and Suits.

Omnimystery News reported that BBC One has commissioned a second season of Shetland, based on the crime novels by Ann Cleves.

Pilot season is heating up and Deadline has an analysis of the "early buzz" for the various networks.

PODCASTS/RADIO/VIDEO

This week on KCRW's Bookworm: Joyce Carol Oates, author of The Accursed and an incredibly prolific bibliograhy of stories and books that includes many crime fiction titles.

The British Library posted a podcast from its panel on the history of literary female detectives, held in conjunction with the exhibition "Murder in the Library." The event featured Lindsey Davis, Natasha Cooper, and former Clues executive editor Margaret Kinsman. (Hat tip to Elizabeth Foxwell.)

THEATER

The Innocence of Father Brown, adapted by Patrick Rieger and based on stories by G.K. Chesterton about the clerical sleuth, is having its wor
ld premiere at the Fremont Centre Theatre in South Pasadena, California. Performances are Thursday through Sunday, running through April 28.

GAMES

Looking Glass Studios released a full trailer for the upcoming Thief game, in which players will take on the role of Garrett, a criminal with a Robin Hood streak who only steals from the city's wealthiest aristocrats.