Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

The crime-thriller The Keys to the Street, based on Ruth Rendell's 1996 novel, is closer to reality. It was originally to be a Christopher Nolan project, but has been in limbo after Nolan took a pass. Czech film-maker Julius Sevcik has come on board to direct, with Gemma Arterton and Tim Roth in the lead roles. The story follows a young woman who moves into an exclusive central London home to escape her violent boyfriend but discovers that a series of murders are taking place in the surrounding area.

Dreamsworks acquired an untitled pitch to be penned by Matt Charman that tells the true story of James Donovan. Donovan was an American attorney thrust
into the center of the Cold War after being tasked by the CIA to slip
past the Berlin Wall and negotiate the release of downed
U-2 spy plane pilot Gary Powers.

20th Century Fox released a new trailer for the upcoming  drug trafficking thriller The Counselor, based on a Cormac McCarthy novel and starring Javier Barden and Michael Fassbender.

TELEVISION

AMC and Sony Pictures Television announced that a long-rumored spinoff of Breaking Bad is going forward. Better Call Saul will feature Bob Odenkirk reprising his role as Saul, the unethical lawyer who represented the meth dealers Walter White and Jesse Pinkman. The concept is seen as a prequel rather than a sequel to Saul's character in the Breaking Bad series.

It's barely been a month since the news that Katherine Heigl was cast in an untitled CIA drama pilot, and now comes word that NBC has picked up the project. Heigl will play a key CIA analyst whose job it is to debrief and strategize with the president on the most pressing global and national matters.

FX is developing an American Psycho sequel series, moving the film adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis's novel to the small screen. The series would center on a modern-day Patrick Bateman, now in his 50s, as he takes on a protégé to create a next generation American Psycho.

Ben Affleck is taking to the small screen to serve as director for a mob drama on Fox. The period drama The Middle Man is set in 1960s Boston and focuses on FBI agent Rudy MacAteer and his informant,
Irish-American mobster Mickey Flood, as MacAteer finds himself beginning to bend the
rules.

NCIS executive producer Gary Glasberg says that Cote de Pablo's character — Ziva David — will receive a "heart-wrenching" farewell that promises to resolve her storyline and be a "moment in television history." NCIS returns Tuesday, Sept. 24 at 8 p.m. on CBS.

Omnimystery News reported that Fox has ordered a pilot script for Frayed, a drama adaptation of the Dutch miniseries Bellicher (itself based on the novel The Power of Mr. Miller by Charles den Tex). The American version follows an arrogant corporate consultant who gets embroiled in a conspiracy forcing him to go on the run and turn for help to a paranoid former NSA agent.

USA renewed its summer crime drama Graceland for a second season. The show follows a group of undercover agents sharing a beach house and stars Aaron Tveit and Daniel Sunjata.

Grant Gustin of Glee fame has landed the role of Barry Allen in the CW Network's series Flash, which will also serve as a backdoor pilot and potential Flash spinoff for the character. Barry Allen is described a "Central City assistant police forensic investigator who arrives in Starling to look into a series of unexplained robberies that may have a connection to a tragedy in his past."

Danny Glover is set to guest star on the new Ironside series remake for NBC. He'll play the father of wheelchair-bound Detective Robert Ironside.

Endemol Studios has acquired the English-language rights for a US adaptation of the French crime drama Engrenages. The popular series, which is in its fifth season in France and has been renewed for a sixth, is centered on the lives of a prosecutor, police captain, judge, and lawyer.

TNT released a new teaser poster and trailer for its upcoming 1940s Los Angeles-set crime drama, Mob City, which premieres on December 4th at 10 PM ET/PT. (Hat tip to Omnimystery News.)

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

Sue Grafton appeared on NPR's On Point, talking about her latest book in the Kinsey Milhone series, W Is for Wasted.

This week on Pulped! The Official New Pulp Podcast, host Tommy Hancock interviewed author David Foster, the man behind the Permission to Kill blog, as they chatted about his writing, the spy genre, and a lot more.