Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

Gone Girl's Rosamund Pike will star opposite Christian Bale for the big-screen adaptation of John D. MacDonald's The Deep Blue Good-by (with Dennis Lehane penning the first draft of the script), centering on Travis McGee (Bale), the self-described “salvage consultant” private eye who lives on a houseboat.

Leonardo DiCaprio is joining the cast of The Crowded Room to take on the role of Billy Milligan, the first person to successfully use multiple personality disorder as a defense when he went on trial in the 1970s after being accused of raping three women.

Screenwriter Nick Schenk is adapting Sam Dolnick’s article from the New York Times Magazine “The Sinaloa Cartel’s 90-Year-Old Drug Mule” for Imperative Entertainment. Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland) is attached to direct the film, based on the real-life tale of Leo Sharp, an award-winning horticulturist who secretly spent years working as one of the most trusted drug courier for Mexico’s powerful Sinaloa cartel.

Lionsgate set a September 18 limited-release date for Sicario, the drug-runner drama from director Denis Villenueve (Prisoners), with a wide release a week later. Emily Blunt stars as an idealistic FBI agent exposed to the brutal world of international drug trafficking by members of a government task force (Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro).

A trailer was released for Cymbeline, starring Oscar nominees Ethan Hawke and Ed Harris in an update of William Shakespeare's classic set in the drug gang underworld of the present.

Did you know there's an official James Bond website (007.com)? You can catch details on the upcoming Spectre film, as well as other news and tidbits related to Bond-land.

TELEVISION

ITV is rebooting the 1960s series The Saint, which was based on the iconic character from the mystery novel series by Leslie Charteris. The dapper amateur slueth was originally played on TV by Roger Moore in his pre-007 days, but no word has been leaked about casting the role this time around.

Blade star Wesley Snipes is heading to TV for the NBC pilot Endgame. The Las Vegas-set drama stars Philip Winchester as a former sniper-turned-security expert drawn into a mysterious conspiracy forcing him to complete a series of challenges to save innocent lives. Snipes will play the pit boss for "The Game."

Dougray Scott (Hemlock Grove) has joined the cast of ABC drama pilot Quantico, a show that centers on a group of young FBI recruits who battle their way through training at the Quantico base in Virginia.

Rush star Tom Ellis has been cast as the title character in Fox’s comic book drama Lucifer, from Warner Bros. and Jerry Bruckheimer TV. Based on the characters from the DC Entertainment’s Vertigo, the TV series centers on Lucifer (Ellis) who abandons his throne as Lord of Hell for the alluring insanity of Los Angeles, where he gets his kicks helping the LAPD punish criminals.

Margo Martindale (of The Millers) is returning to CBS to co-star in the drama pilot Sneaky Pete, written and executive produced by Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston and House creator David Shore for Sony TV. The series centers on a formerly jailed con man who takes cover from his past by assuming the identity of a cellmate.

Adam Rodriguez (CSI: Miami) has joined the cast opposite Paula Patton in ABC‘s drama pilot Runner. The project centers on Lauren, who discovers the husband she thought dead is alive and traveling with a woman who uses Lauren's stolen identity, but Lauren's search for the truth leads into the middle of Mexican cartels and people from her past she hoped to forget.

ITV renewed the crime drama Broadchurch for a third season, with David Tennant and Olivia Colman reprising their roles as detectives Alex Hardy and Ellie Miller.

AMC is slating the second season of its original program Turn: Washington’s Spies to follow the first season of Better Call Saul, meaning a new night for the historical spy drama. Turn will return for its second season on Monday, April 13.

CBS is hoping to put CSI: Crime Scene Investigation into the record books by declaring March 4 “World CSI Day,” and break the Guinness World Record for “Largest Ever TV Drama Simulcast.”

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

The latest Crime & Science Radio features hosts Jan Burke and D.P. Lyle welcoming Louisiana Police Chief Scott Silverii.

THEATER

Oscar winning actor Robert De Niro and Jerry Zaks will serve as directors for the The Paper Mill Playhouse production of the musical A Bronx Tale, based on a book by Chazz Palminteri (with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Glenn Slater). It's described as a "complex love story set against the backdrop of racial strife and organized crime in the 1960s. It is the story of an Italian-American teenager finding his path in lif
e as he must choose between the father who raised him and a mob-boss father figure who fascinates him."