Media Murder for Monday

Happy Monday to all, and welcome to the weekly roundup of the latest crime drama news:

MOVIES

Nicole Kidman is set to star in Destroyer, a modern Los Angeles crime thriller directed by Girlfight helmer Karyn Kusama. The story follows the moral and existential odyssey of LAPD detective Erin Bell (Kidman) who, as a young cop, was placed undercover with a cult-like gang in the California desert with tragic results. When the leader of that gang re-emerges many years later, she must work her way back through the remaining members and into her own history with them to finally reckon with the demons that destroyed her past.

The Fast & Furious spin-off with Dwayne Johnson’s Luke Hobbs and Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw character has been given a July 26, 2019 release in advance of the ninth installment of Fast & The Furious which Universal has slated for Easter weekend 2020. The spinoff centers around once-upon-a-time villain Deckard Shaw teaming with U.S. Diplomatic Security Agent Luke Hobbs.

Amazon Studios has released the trailer for Woody Allen’s new mob drama Wonder Wheel, starring Kate Winslet, James Belushi, Juno Temple and Justin Timberlake. Set at Coney Island in the 1950s, Wonder Wheel stars Winslet as Ginny, a former actor whose life is turned upside down by the appearance of her carousel operator husband Humpty’s (Belushi) estranged daughter (Temple), who is on the run from the mob. Timberlake plays Mickey, a young lifeguard.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

ABC has put in development the crime drama Suspects, based on the critically praised British series Unforgotten. Written by The Blacklist executive producer Carla Kettner, Suspects blends a cop drama procedural and a multi-generational soap with a compassionate, intelligent female detective at the center.

Best-selling author Robert Harris is having another of his novels adapted for the screen, his latest book Munich, a spy-thriller set in the days leading up to WWII as the British government tried to negotiate peace with Germany. Munich features real-life characters — including Adolf Hitler, Neville Chamberlain, Benito Mussolini and Edouard Daladier — and "spins a story of treason and conscience, loyalty and betrayal, as the paths of two old friends cross again as the future of Europe hangs in the balance."

Fox has given a script commitment plus penalty to The Dime, a crime drama with a lesbian cop at the center that's based on bestselling author Kathleen Kent’s new novel, from Hell on Wheels creators Tony Gayton and Joe Gayton, feature director Matt Reeves (War for the Planet of the Apes) and 20th Century Fox TV. Written and executive produced by the Gayton brothers, The Dime follows Brooklyn cop Betty Rhyzyck, a tough-as-nails firebrand who moves with her girlfriend to Dallas to lead a group of detectives. Their more traditional sensibilities are a far cry from her blue-state mentality, and in order to survive, Betty and her team will have to put aside their differences.

Fox has given a second script commitment plus penalty to the legal drama Midnight Lawyer from Empire co-creator Danny Strong. The project is about a lawyer who gets his clients out of trouble they get into after dark. He used to live the NYC after-hours life and now he’s always striving to save people the way he saved himself— but this business comes with temptations. His clients are colorful night owls (often celebrities with paparazzi on their tails), thrill-seeking partiers, and mobsters who will prove time and time again that nothing good happens after 2 AM.

Busy-bee Fox also has given a script commitment plus penalty to Headshot, an hourlong drama executive produced by Empire executive producer/director Sanaa Hamri and Homeland's Howard Gordon. Written and executive produced by producer Sonny Postiglione (Bloodline), Headshot is described as "a fun, heartfelt, character-driven procedural centering on a tenacious, by-the- book FBI agent who puts his career on the line by hiring a mouthy yet charming struggling actress for the role of a lifetime: undercover operative." Together, this law enforcement odd couple join forces to take down the Bureau’s most dangerous and high-profile criminals.

Actress Maya Dunbar has come aboard an untitled legal drama that centers around the country’s most successful African American civil rights attorney and his family-run law firm. When tragedy strikes they’re forced to dive into their own dark pasts, walking the murky line between the law and self-preservation to save their future and the legacy of their powerful family name.

Anna Paquin is the latest big name to join the cast of Netflix’s The Irishman for director Martin Scorsese. The Oscar winner will play the daughter of Robert De Niro’s title character, Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran, a reputed hitman suspected of involvement in the 1975 disappearance of Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa.

The upcoming sixth season of Major Crimes will be its last, after TNT announced the show's cancellation. TNT's crime drama will return on Halloween for a final run that will include its hundredth episode on Dec. 19th, with the two-part series finale airing on Jan. 16th. Major Crimes is a spin-off of TNT's hugely successful series The Closer, and stars Mary McDonnell as Sharon Rayder, commanding officer of the LAPD's Major Crimes Division.

One of the remaining original cast members of NCIS is leaving after the end of this season - after 15 seasons on the popular crime drama, fan favorite Pauley Perrette announced she is leaving the CBS series. Perrette plays the resident forensic specialist Abby Sciuto on the series about agents of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

Fans will see more of Lenny Cohen in Season 2 of Bravo’s Imposters, with Uma Thurman returning in the role of Lenny, the ultimate fixer. When the reclusive ring-leader of a group of con artists needs to keep his employees in line, eliminate an enemy, or whip up a world class omelette, there is only one person for the job – the lethal, articulate and mysterious Lenny Cohen.

Lord of the Rings star Dominic Monaghan is set to star in Bite Club, a new miniseries from Sony Pictures TV and Channel Nine Australia, playing a troubled police officer and dog handler in the eight-part unconventional procedural that follows ex-lovers who survive a terrifying shark attack and are thrown together by fate to hunt down murderers.

The BBC revealed a first look at the upcoming period thriller The Woman in White, a new adaptation of the classic Wilkie Collins novel, starring Ben Hardy and also featuring Apple Tree Yard's Olivia Vinall as Laura Fairlie/The Woman in White.

The first footage has dropped for Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan with John Krasinski as the titular character getting into full interrogation mode for the new Amazon series, which is set to debut on Prime Video in 2018.

The first footage from the Psych reunion movie has Shawn (James Roday) pissing off a high-end fence (Robert LaSardo) while working a case without Gus (Dule Hill) who's taken a full-time pharmaceutical job, and also introduces the film's main villain, Zachary Levi's Thin White Duke, who shows up with a bang - literally - when he and his assistants break into Juliet's (Maggie Lawson) partner's apartment and nearly kill him.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

Denise Mina spoke to Australian Broadcasting's Kate Evans about her crime novels, true crime, and the role of the "shadow self' in Scottish fiction.

The Australian Broadcasting Corp's Michael Cathcart also discussed historical crime fiction Sulari Gentill and Stewart King.

The Murder Monday podcast welcomed bestselling crime and thriller writer Harlan Coben to discuss crime fiction that is explicitly about the past or imbedded in the past, and the show also "met" the protagonists of the novels of Scottish crime writer Denise Mina.

Crime Cafe host Debbi Mack spoke with Ellen Byrum, former reporter and author of the Crime of Fashion mysteries.

Two Crime Writers and a Microphone hosts Steve Cavanagh and Luca Vest welcomed Craig Sisterson with his latest book reviews as well as author Jenny Blackhurst who talked about her latest novel, psychology and its influence on her books.

Suspense Radio Inside Editon featured D.P. Lyle, back with some friends talking about their latest anthology, as well as bestselling authors Tasha Alexander and Michael Brandman.