Media Murder for Monday

Monday greetings! To celebrate, here's a roundup of crime drama news:

MOVIES

Emily Hampshire has landed the lead role in Never Saw It Coming, a suspense thriller to be directed by Gail Harvey that's based on Linwood Barclay’s 2013 novel. Hampshire will star as Keisha Ceylon, an opportunistic psychic, who finds herself too much in the middle of a murder case in a small town and must find a way out unscathed.

Fox Searchlight is closing a deal for distribution rights in the U.S., Canada and UK to Old Man And The Gun, the David Lowery-directed drama that stars Robert Redford and Casey Affleck. Based on a true story that originated in a 2003 New Yorker magazine feature written by David Grann, the story revolves around Forrest Tucker (Redford) who's been on the wrong side of the law since he was a teen and became a career bank robber who broke out of prison 18 times, including a daring escape from San Quentin at age 70. Wrapped up in the chase are a detective (Affleck) who becomes captivated with Forrest’s commitment to his craft, and a woman (Sissy Spacek) who loves him in spite of his chosen profession.

Robert Rodriguez has been hired to direct Escape From New York, the 20th Century Fox remake of John Carpenter’s iconic 1981 film, with hopes of launching a Planet Of The Apes-like franchise. The original version was set in a futuristic Gotham circa 1997 with Kurt Russell playing Snake Plissken, an eyepatch-sporting tough guy who is conscripted to rescue the President of the United States after Air Force One — en route to a summit that could head off World War III — goes missing after it crashes in New York, which has been relegated to a maximum security prison. Plissken, a former special forces operative convicted of trying to rob the Federal Reserve, is given 22 hours to liberate the president and a tape he carries which holds the key to peace, but if he fails, he’s wired to explode.

Fifty Shades Darker's Dakota Johnson is in talks to star in Sony Pictures’ adaptation of Suketu Mehta’s GQ article "Queens of the Stoned Age," which followed the Green Angels, a high-end weed delivery service that hired models to work as drug dealers. The group operated for nearly a decade without being busted, all while growing into a multi-million dollar operation.

Laura Dern has been tapped to play Liam Neeson character’s wife in the revenge thriller Hard Powder, joining Emmy Rossum, William Forsythe, Benjamin Hollingsworth, Domenick Lombardozzi, and Tom Bateman in the English remake of the 2014 Norwegian film In Order of Disappearance. The American adaptation follows snowplow driver Nels, whose son is murdered by the powerful local drug kingpin, and then seeks to dismantle the cartel and navigate a turf war between a local gangster and a Native American mafia boss.

Chris Evans will star in Red Sea Diving Resort, a true-life Mossad spy drama to be written and directed by Gideon Raff, which follows the Israeli spy agency’s effort to rescue and bring home Ethiopian Jews that were trapped in Sudan in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Evans will play Ari Kidron, an agent who puts together a team that took over a deserted resort in Sudan as they began their multiyear mission. Variety also reported that Girl on the Train’ Actress Haley Bennett is in talks to join the cast.

Julianne Nicholson, Emma Roberts, and Zachary Quinto have been set to star in Who We Are Now from writer-director Matthew Newton. The drama centers on convicted felon Beth (Nicholson), and her unlikely alliance with a young public defense lawyer Jess (Roberts), who does everything she can to get Beth’s young son back from her sister after Beth went into prison 10 years earlier for manslaughter. Beth finally lowers her guard enough to meet a former U.S. soldier (Quinto) unfazed by her checkered past.

Noir City: Hollywood returns to the American Cinematheque's Egyptian Theatre this week with a program that replicates the movie-going experience of the classic noir era – ten double bills, each featuring a major studio "A" paired with a shorter "B" movie. The full schedule and program notes can be found on the American Cinematheque's website. (HT to Mystery Fanfare)

Fox released the first official trailer for My Cousin Rachel, based on the dark psychological romance-thriller by Daphne du Maurier. Sam Claflin stars as a young Englishman seeking revenge against his cousin Rachel, believing that she is the one behind the murder of his guardian. But when the beautiful and alluring Rachel (Rachel Weisz) comes and visits his large estate, he starts to have a change of heart, leading to tragic consequences.

TELEVISION

CBS has renewed five freshman and eleven returning series, Including MacGyver, Hawaii Five-0, Bull, Blue Bloods, Scorpion, and the three NCIS franchises. Shows that are still on the bubble include Elementary, Criminal Minds, and Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders.

Last week, it was reported that Jim Caviezel would lead CBS' Navy SEAL pilot but this week, the network has replaced him with Bones star David Boreanaz after Caviezel left over "creative differences." For the still untitled project, David Boreanaz will play a character named Jason, a dedicated and talented commander of a team of Navy SEALs as they train, plan and execute their dangerous, high-stakes missions.

Chris Messina (Live by Night) will play the male lead, Kansas City Detective Richard Willis, opposite Amy Adams in HBO's eight-episode drama ser
ies Sharp Objects, which is based on the book by Gone Girl's Gillian Flynn. Taylor John Smith was also added to the cast playing John Keene, who has barely slept since the murder of his 13-year-old sister, Natalie, but his sensitive and temperamental nature raises eyebrows and causes him to become a prime suspect in the murder investigation.

John Leguizamo has been cast opposite Michael Shannon and Taylor Kitsch in Waco, a six-part event series produced by Weinstein TV, set to air on Paramount Network in 2018. The project tells the story of the 51-day Texas standoff in 1993 between the FBI, ATF and David Koresh’s spiritual sect (The Branch Davidians) which resulted in a deadly fire. Leguizamo will play ATF agent Robert Rodriguez who was sent into Koresh’s Mount Carmel to gather evidence and build a federal case against the Branch Davidians but forged a bond with the people inside.

Brian Stokes Mitchell is set for a series-regular role opposite Noah Wyle in Perfect Citizen, CBS’ legal drama pilot from The Good Wife executive producer Craig Turk. Perfect Citizen centers on Deck (Wyle), the former general counsel for the NSA who, after his involvement as a whistleblower in an international scandal, embarks on a new career at a storied law firm in Boston. Once there, he must face the reality that half the country thinks he’s our greatest patriot and the other half thinks he’s a traitor. Mitchell will play Deck’s best friend since law school and a powerful ally.

Penelope Cruz has landed a lead role in the third season of Ryan Murphy's American Crime Story, which centers on the murder of famous fashion designer Gianni Versace. Penelope Cruz will play Versace's sister Donatella and joins stars Edgar Ramirez and Darren Criss, who will play Versace and his murderer, Andrew Cunanan.

Eliza Dushku (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dollhouse) will join CBS’ Bull beginning Tuesday, May 9. Dushku will play J.P. Nunnelly, the savvy head of the best criminal defense firm in New York, who is hired by Dr. Jason Bull (Michael Weatherly) when a member of his Trial Analysis Corporation team faces prison time. She will appear in three episodes of Season 1 with an option to become a series regular in Season 2.

Rebecca Henderson (Mistress America) joins Discovery Channel’s upcoming anthology FBI crime drama series Manhunt: Unabomber, which tells the story about the hunt for Ted Kaczynski, who terrified the nation with a letter bombing campaign in the 1980s and early 1990s. Henderson will play Judy Clarke, Ted’s defense attorney and the object of Ted’s affection, a seasoned and savvy defense attorney who has made a career of defending high-profile death-penalty cases.  

Olivia Sandoval (Medium) has booked a key recurring role on the upcoming third season of FX’s Fargo that features Ewan McGregor (in dual roles), Carrie Coon, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and David Thewlis. The network recently released a trailer that has Ewan McGregor making his impressive debut as curly haired and successful Emmit Stussy and bald-headed and pot-bellied Ray Stussy.

Dick Wolf has another new show coming, but this one’s not an NBC procedural. The docuseries Inside the FBI: New York will premiere April 27 on USA Network, which also released the first promo for the series that takes an unprecedented look at the Bureau’s New York field office.

Fox is going to hold the final four episodes from the current second season of the supernatural procedural Lucifer for next season, which will air on top of the original Season 3 order of 22 newly produced episodes. Lucifer executive producer Joe Henderson said the four episodes can “stand on their own, but also pick up plots we’ve introduced and bring in new stuff we’ll play with season 3."

The premiere date of April 23 was set for El Chapo, the Univision series starring Marco de la O as drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán.

The first trailer was released for the docudrama Casting JonBenet, which is an unusual hybrid of a true crime drama and a "peek at the actors who auditioned for roles in a dramatic retelling of the world’s most sensational child-murder case."

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

Best-selling author CJ Box stopped by KGWN-TV to talk about his latest book, Vicious Circle, once again featuring Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett.

Jimmy Kimmel Live welcomed Noah Hawley, author of Before the Fall.

Authors on the Air host Pam Stack welcomed crime fiction author James L'Etoile to the studio talking about his writing and stories influenced by men doing life behind bars.

Hosts Steve Cavanagh and Luca Veste of Two Crime Writers and a Microphone profiled the London Book Fair and were joined by Russel D McLean, author of the new noir tale Ed's Dead, to talk about famous relatives, road signs, crime fiction, and B movies.

Suspense Radio's Inside Edition featured a Q&A with crime fiction authors Brad Parks (Say Nothing), Anthony Franze (The Outsider), and Dale Wiley (Southern Gothic).

The most recent Writer Types (Episode 3) included interviews with Johnny Shaw and Sue Ann Jaffarian and a special audio documentary from the latest Noir at the Bar in L.A. with Glen Erik Hamilton, John Lansing, Nolan Knight, Travis Richardson, and Sarah M. Chen.

John Lescroart (the Dismas Hardy series of legal thrillers) and Steph Broadribb (author of the debut novel, Deep Down Dead) stopped by Next Steps LIVE.

Award-winning author Elizabeth Heiter (the profiler series) joined Alex Dolan on Thrill Seekers.