Media Murder for Monday

Welcome to Monday, my friends! Start off your week with the latest in crime drama news from stage and screen:

MOVIES

Lotus Entertainment and Paperchase Films are adapting Rick Bowers’ 2012 YA nonfiction book Superman vs. the KKK for a general audience. Bowers’ book (full title: Superman Versus The Ku Klux Klan: The True Story of How the Iconic Superhero Battled the Men of Hate) chronicled the creation of a real-life 1946 radio drama in which Superman took on a thinly-veiled version of the actual Klan. The book will be adapted for the screen by Katherine Lindberg.

PalmStar Media has optioned a pair of novels about legendary gunslinger Doc Holliday to be developed as a starring vehicle for two-time Oscar nominee Jeremy Renner, who will also produce the untitled film. PalmStar optioned Mary Doria Russell’s books Doc and Epitaph: A Novel of the O.K. Corral, which  chronicle the life and times of John Henry “Doc” Holliday, an Atlanta dentist-turned-Wild West gunfighter who sealed his place in Old West lore by making a stand alongside Wyatt Earp in a famed gunfight at the O.K. Corral in the Arizona territory in 1881.

Triple Frontier has been in development for years, with Paramount, director Kathryn Bigelow, and various actors all leaving the project at one time or another. The most recent departures were Tom Hardy and Channing Tatum, leaving only Mahershala Ali, fresh off winning the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance in Moonlight, attached to the film. But it appears the project may have new life in the form of Ben Affleck and Casey Affleck who are being eyed as the new leads, with J.C. Chandor on board to direct after Bigelow's departure. The thriller is set in the notorious border zone with Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil where the Iguazu and Parana rivers converge — making "la triple frontera" difficult to monitor and a haven for organized crime.

Sam Claflin is set to star in the upcoming crime thriller Semper Fi, playing Hopper, a straight-laced cop who fills his downtime as a sergeant in the Marine Corps Reservists alongside a close-knit team of lifelong friends. The rowdy but inseparable group look out for each other, including keeping an eye out for Hopper’s younger, reckless brother Oyster. When Oyster accidentally kills a man in a bar-room brawl and tries to flee town, Hopper stops him and forces him to face the music. But, after being deployed to Iraq, Hopper feels wracked with guilt when he returns home, and he and his friends hatch a plan to break Oyster out of jail.

Chris Pine and Michelle Williams are in negotiations to star in All The Old Knives, a spy thriller that would be directed by James Marsh (The Theory Of Everything). The movie is based on the 2015 novel The Tourist by author Olen Steinhauer, who will also adapt the screenplay. The story revolves around a pair of CIA spies once romantically involved who reconnect in Carmel-by-the-Sea six years after a failed mission and both have moved on — or so it seems.

Jacki Weaver is the latest to join the all-star cast of Steve McQueen's heist thriller Widows. The two-time Oscar nominee will share the screen with Viola Davis, Liam Neeson, Collin Farrell, Robert Duvall, and Michelle Rodriguez. Based on the 1980s British TV series, Widows centers on the wives of armed robbers gunned down, who decide to finish the job their spouses started.

A trailer was released for action thriller The Hunter's Prayer, based on the 2004 novel For the Dogs by author Kevin Wignall. The film centers on a professional assassin (Sam Worthington) who finds out that his latest mark is none other than a young girl and reluctantly goes from Terminator to her protector.  

Epic Pictures has acquired North American rights to Dwight Little’s true-crime thriller Last Rampage, which stars Robert Patrick, Heather Graham, and Bruce Davison, and will release the film wide on September 22. Patrick takes on the role in the true story pic, portraying psychopath Gary Tison.

20th Century Fox screened footage from the Kenneth Branagh-directed adaptation of Agatha Christie classic Murder On The Orient Express in London recently for a group of execs, talent and press. Branagh, who also stars as Hercule Poirot, revealed there would be "some surprises" in his feature film version. For more on how this version is different from previous incarnations, check out this report from Cinema Blend.

TELEVISION

ION Television has closed a deal with Entertainment One for a new original crime drama series, The Detail. The cast includes Shenae Grimes-Beech as street-smart Detective Jacqueline "Jack" Cooper, Angela Griffin as Detective Stevie Hall, a sharp, quick-witted interrogator who is Jack’s mentor, and Wendy Crewson as Staff Inspector Fiona Currie, the homicide unit’s formidable boss, who works overtime to secure justice no matter what the cost.

SundanceTV announced Monday that it has renewed its buddy-crime anthology series Hap and Leonard, starring James Purefoy and Michael K. Williams, for Season 3. The third season will take inspiration from The Two-Bear Mambo, the third book of author Joe Landsdale's Hap and Leonard series, similar to how Seasons 1 and 2 were based on the first two novels, Savage Season and Mucho Mojo.

Fox's reality TV series You the Jury was pulled after only three episodes due to "very low ratings."  Fox News’ Jeanine Pirro hosted each episode where six top attorneys who’ve represented some of the nation’s biggest celebrities argued their cases for America’s vote.

Just as the popular BBC police procedural series Line of Duty was finishing its fourth season, the Beeb announced the show would return for not one, but two new series. Although the cliff-hanging events of the dramatic fourth series suggested that a fifth round of Line of Duty was likely to be in the works, a sixth series is somewhat of a surprise for viewers. The show revolves around AC-12, the police anti-corruption unit lead by superintendent Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar).

Showtime has released a new promo for its Twin Peaks revival that finally reveals some of the characters who will be returning to David Lynch’s iconic mystery drama later this month, including Big Ed Hurley (Everett McGill), Sarah Palmer (Grace Zabriskie), Deputy Andy Brennan (Harry Goaz), Deputy Tommy “Hawk” Hill (Michael Horse), and of course, FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan).

RADIO/PODCASTS/VIDEO

Thrillseekers host Alex Dolan welcomed Jill Orr, whose first novel in the Riley Ellison mysteries series will be released by Prospect Park Books.

The new A Stab in the Dark podcast features guest host Paul Hirons taking a closer look at the Nature Vs Nurture debate when it comes to the development of criminals. As part of that discussion, he homed in on the new series Born to Kill and talked to writer Kate Ashfield and series star, Daniel Mays, to try to understand the nuances of portraying a teenage psychopath in a TV setting.

Authors on the Air host Pam Stack welcomes Joe Ide to talk about his critically-acclaimed crime fiction novel, IQ.

Beyond The Cover was joined by special guest Steve Hamilton, who chatted about the follow-up to the New York Times bestseller The Second Life of Nick Mason.

Kings River Life had a behind-the-scenes view of the new mystery online author Q&A web series, Solved! Hosted by Libby Fischer Hellmann, the show originates out of the Author’s Voice studio, with author interviews featured on their website and then archived via YouTube.

The Great Detectives website posted a listing of the "Top Ten Greatest American Radio Detective Performances, Part Two."

THEATER

Calgary, Canada's Vertigo Theatre continues its Mystery Series with The Drowning Girls beginning May 13. The play centers on Bessie, Alice, and Margaret, three women who thought George Joseph Smith was the man of their dreams - but now all three are dead. The Drowning Girls is described as "a lyrical exploration of a trio of murdered wives who gather evidence against their murderous husband by reliving the shocking events leading up to their deaths."

Hitchcock’s masterpiece Dial M for Murder has a run at Newcastle's New Vic theatre in the UK until May 20. Set in post-war Britain, ex-tennis pro Tony Wendice (William Ellis) is married to wealthy socialite, Sheila (Nicole Bartlett), who has had an affair with crime writer, Mark Halliday (Daniel Eaton). Sheila sends the men off for a night out while she has an early night in. However, the previous night Tony had planned with a former acquaintance to murder Sheila in order for him to receive her fortune. Unfortunately for Tony, his plans turn awry and he is forced to come up with a new plan and cover his tracks.