AWARDS
The Director's Guild of America handed out their annual awards, with the top film nod going to The Revenant's' Alejandro Inarritu. Director Matthew Heineman was also honored for his work on the documentary Cartel Land, which profiled vigilantes in both Arizona and Mexico who find their own separate motivations for battling the relentless violence of drug cartels.
MOVIES
Michael Pena will star in The Worker, described as a "Taken-meets-Bourne action project," to be directed by Dan Bradley. The project tells of a Mexican special ops agent (Pena) working to take down the drug cartels who is forced to leave the country and enter a protection program in Los Angeles with his family - but when his wife and son are kidnapped by the cartels, his unique set of skills come in handy as he seeks revenge.
Last week, it was announced that CBS was creating a TV reboot of the MacGyver series (1985-92) that followed a former Special Forces who used science to help him escape dangerous situations while defeating bad guys. Now comes word that Lionsgate will produce a film version of MacGyver with Fast And Furious producer Neal Moritz working with the original MacGyver creator Lee David Zlotoff on the project.
Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive and Only God Forgives) has signed on to direct a new project from James Bond writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. Specific details about the project have been kept under wraps but the film will be an action thriller set in Asia.
Ethan Hawke has signed on to star in the thriller 24 Hours to Live, playing a career assassin who is given a chance at redemption after his employer brings him back to life temporarily, just after being killed on the job.
Scott Mann (Heist) has nabbed the director's chair for the action thriller Final Score. The film is set during a major sporting event when the stadium is seized by a group of heavily armed criminals demanding ransom, where an ex-soldier must save the 35,000 in the crowd — one of which is the daughter of his fallen comrade.
George Clooney revealed more plot details for the movie he's producing, based on a script by Joel and Ethan Coen and starring Matt Damon and Julianne Moore. Suburbicon is a noir drama in the vein of the Coens’ breakout film Blood Simple and is set in the 1950s quiet family town of Suburbicon. The plot is described as "the best and worst of humanity is hilariously reflected through the deeds of seemingly ordinary people. When a home invasion turns deadly, a picture-perfect family turns to blackmail, revenge, and betrayal."
A24 has released the first trailer for Jeremy Saulnier’s siege thriller Green Room, which stars Patrick Stewart, Anton Yelchin and Imogen Poots. Stewart plays a diabolical club owner who squares off against an unsuspecting but resilient young punk band in the backwoods of Oregon who are trapped backstage after witnessing an act of violence they weren’t meant to see.
TELEVISION
Spike TV is teaming with The Walking Dead producer Gale Anne Hurd to adapt Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's best-selling book series Relic and Cabinet of Curiosities. The scripted series, titled Pendergast after its central special FBI agent, is set in a contemporary New York City with Pendergast investigating a present-day crime mimicking a century-old mystery — that links to his own family's dark past.
Stephanie Sigman (Spectre, FX’s The Bridge) has landed the lead role in John Ridley’s drama pilot Presence for ABC. It's described as a stylish update of the classic detective genre which follows Presence Foster (Sigman), "a former Army veteran who finds herself interacting with a widely divergent, and highly colorful cross-section of Los Angeles as she unintentionally begins a career as an unlicensed Private Investigator."
Jason Patric has come on board the second season of Fox's psychological thriller Wayward Pines, playing Dr. Theo Yedlin, a confident, driven surgeon whose leadership skills will prove invaluable to the residents of the Pines.
The BBC plans to launch a Netflix-style streaming service offering programming including recent popular shows like Doctor Who and Sherlock, but they would also include many of their extensive vault of programs from the past. Although there isn't an official catalog listed yet, you might expect such programs as Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, Prime Suspect and much, much more.
The Beeb also announced an order for the three-part crime drama Rillington Place, based on a series of murders that took place in the 1940s and 50s in London’s Notting Hill neighborhood.
CBS is adding another reboot to its pilot roster with an adaptation of the 2001 feature film Training Day (that starred Ethan Hawke and Denzel Washington). Described as a reimagining that begins 15 years after the film left off, CBS' Training Day centers on an idealistic young African-American police officer appointed to an elite squad of the LAPD where he is partnered with a seasoned, morally ambiguous Caucasian detective. Former LAPD detective Will Beall (Castle, Gangster Squad) will pen the script and exec produce alongside Antoine Fuqua.
Law & Order: SVU and Chicago Med have been renewed by NBC for their 18th and second seasons, respectively. Dick Wolf, creator of the the two franchises, has extended his overall deal with NBC, so expect more procedurals until at least 2020.
The NBC drama Shades of Blue, starring Jennifer Lopez, has landed a second-season renewal five episodes into its freshman run. Shades of Blue stars Jennifer Lopez as Harlee Santos, a charismatic single mother and resourceful detective at the heart of a tight-knit crew of Brooklyn detectives, led by enigmatic Lt. Matt Wozniak (Ray Liotta). But when the FBI catches Harlee in the act and pits her against her own unit, she struggles to safeguard her on-the-job family and avoid arrest in order t
o stay with her daughter.
Netflix announced Friday that it has ordered three additional seasons of the prison drama Orange is the New Black, created and executive-produced by Jenji Kohan, who has committed to stay on as showrunner for the additional seasons.
FX released a trailer for the upcoming season 4 of The Americans, starring Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys as two Russian KGB agents acting as married suburban couple in Washington, D.C.
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO
The Authors on the Air podcast welcomed Polis Books publisher and thriller author Jason Pinter.
Attorney and author Ethan Jones joined the Meet the Thriller Author podcast to chat about his Justin Hall spy thriller series.
CrimeFictionFM sat down with award-winning author Michael Sears to discuss his series featuring former Wall Street hotshot Jason Stafford who turns to investigating financial crimes after he's released from jail for fraud.
The latest Suspense Radio podcast featured four thriller authors, JJ Hensley, Lisa Gardner, Barry Eisler, and Samuel Marquis.
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