Media Murder for Monday

Happy Monday to you! Here are some crime drama updates to start off your week:

MOVIES

Kevin Bacon is producing and starring in the horror-thriller You Should Have Left, with David Koepp directing from his own script for Jason Blum’s Blumhouse Productions. The project is based on Daniel Kehlmann’s 2017 novel, which centers on a screenwriter in a remote house in the Alps working on a sequel to his hit film, who begins to lose his bearings thanks to unexplained occurrences. Koepp has writing credits on Jurassic Park and Spider-Man and directing credits on The Trigger Effect and Secret Window. Blumhouse scored last year with Get Out and Split, both low-cost projects that became box office sensations.

Fresh off her Oscar-nominated role in I,Tonya, Margot Robbie returns to the screen as a fictional femme fatale in the official Terminal trailer. The neo-noir thriller follows the twisting tales of two assassins carrying out a sinister mission, a teacher battling illness, a mysterious janitor, and a curious waitress leading a dangerous double life. Deadly consequences unravel in the dead of night as their lives all intertwine at the hand of a mysterious criminal mastermind. Writer-director Vaughn Stein makes his feature directorial debut in the project, which also stars Simon Pegg, Mike Myers, Max Irons, and Dexter Fletcher. 

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES 

Netflix has acquired the live-action feature film rights to Carmen Sandiego and has attached Golden Globe winner Gina Rodriguez to star as the title character. The project is based on the book series produced by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt that centers around the fictional thieving villain of the same name, who is the ringleader of the criminal organization V.I.L.E. and must battle agents of the ACME Detective Agency as they try to thwart the crooks' plans to steal treasures from around the world - and ultimately capture Carmen Sandiego herself.

CBS has renewed its top two freshman dramas, SEAL Team and S.W.A.T., for second seasons. The military drama SEAL Team stars David Boreanaz and follows the professional and personal lives of the most elite unit of Navy SEALs as they train, plan and execute the most dangerous missions that our country can ask of them. S.W.A.T. stars Shemar Moore as the locally born and raised sergeant tasked with running a specialized tactical unit that is the last stop in law enforcement in Los Angeles.

Amazon’s upcoming TV series Homecoming has added a second Oscar-winning actress, with Sissy Spacek set to recur opposite Julia Roberts in the project from Universal Cable Productions, Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail, and Anonymous Content. The half-hour drama, which also stars Bobby Cannavale, Stephan James, and Dermot Mulroney, is based on Gimlet Media’s breakout psychological thriller podcast that centers on a caseworker at a secret government facility (Roberts) and a soldier (James) eager to rejoin civilian life.

Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston are set to star in the action comedy Murder Mystery at Netflix. Sandler will play a NYC cop who finally takes his wife (Aniston) on a long promised European trip. A chance meeting on the flight gets them invited to an intimate family gathering on the Super Yacht of elderly billionaire Malcolm Quince, but when Quince is murdered, they become the prime suspects in a modern day whodunit.

Alison Sweeney, who toplined the Murder She Baked franchise for Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, is returning as star and executive producer for a new movie franchise, The Chronicle Mysteries. Written by Melissa Salmons, The Chronicle Mysteries stars Sweeney as Roberta "Robbie" McPherson, a novelist and podcaster who’s researching the cold case of Gina DeSavio, a girl she knew while they were growing up together in a small town.

CBS All Access has rounded out the cast and begun production on its new mystery thriller drama series $1. Nike Kadri (Seven Seconds), Joshua Bitton (The Night Of) and Hamilton Clancy (Orange Is the New Black, Bridge of Spies) are set as series regulars and Ashlie Atkinson (Bull, Blue Bloods) will recur. They join previously announced series regulars John Carroll Lynch, Nathaniel Martello-White, Philip Ettinger, Chris Denham, Kirrilee Berger and Gracie Lawrence, along with recurring cast Leslie Odom Jr., Jeff Perry and Sturgill Simpson. Created by Jason Mosberg, $1 is set in a small Rust Belt town in post-recession America, where a one-dollar bill changing hands connects a group of characters involved in a shocking multiple murder. The path of the dollar bill, and point of view in each episode, paints a picture of a modern American town with deep class and cultural divides that spill out into the open as the town’s secrets get revealed. 

The Bravo network has tapped Connie Britton to star in the first season of its true-crime scripted anthology series, Dirty John. Written by Chance co-creator Alexandra Cunningham, Dirty John is based on the articles and breakout true crime podcast from Los Angeles Times reporter Christopher Goffard. Season 1 tells the story of Debra Newell (Britton), a successful interior designer and single mom from Orange County who falls in love with John Meehan, a romance that soon spirals into secrets, denial, and manipulation. 

Raymond J. Barry is set for a recurring role in Season 3 of USA Network’s popular drama series Shooter. Based on the best-selling novels by Stephen Hunter and the 2007 Paramount film starring Mark Wahlberg, Shooter follows the journey of Bob Lee Swagger (Ryan Phillippe), a highly decorated veteran who must confront a nemesis from his past in order to return to a life of normalcy. In Season 3, mysterious details are revealed surrounding his father Earl’s death, leading Bob Lee towards a startling conspiracy that hits close to home. Barry will play August Russo, formerly a member of Earl Swagger’s unit in Vietnam, who now uses the skills he developed in wartime to train operatives at a secret facility.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

SBS Radio has launched Noir Hear This, an original eight-part Nordic thriller podcast series that delves deep into the Scandinavian crime genre. Hosted by Johan Gabrielsson, each episode visits a different Scandinavian location and features conversations with novelists, screen writers, critics and thinkers, who discuss the psyche and craft behind this successful crime fiction genre. A new episode of Noir Hear will be available every Wednesday through May 16 across SBS Radio app; Android, iTunes and Pocketcasts.

The Virginia Festival of the Book was featured on C-Span's Book TV, including a live in-depth Q&A with Walter Mosley, author of the bestselling private eye Easy Rawlins crime novels and most recently, Down the River unto the Sea.

Two Crime Writers and a Microphone hosts Steve Cavanagh and Luca Veste journeyed to Belfast to interview ace writer Gerard Brennan for a live event in the legendary bookshop No Alibis. They discussed The Bone Keeper, research, lounge pants, the genesis of TCWAAM, and much more.

Beyond the Cover chatted with bestselling author Steve Berry about his iconic fictional hero, Cotton Malone, and also spoke with award winning author Kelli Stanley about her historical crime fiction and the Miranda Corbie series, set in Kelly's adoptive hometown San Francisco.

On the latest Read or Dead podcast, hosts Katie and Rincey talked about The Woman in the Window movie adaptation, a new Cormoran Strike book, and they also did a bit of a backlist dive.

THEATER

Michael Cera, Chris Evans, Brian Tyree Henry, and Bel Powley star in Lobby Hero, the inaugural production of Second Stage's new Broadway home at the Helen Hays Theatre. Lobby Hero is written by Kenneth Lonergan (2017 Oscar-winning writer of Manchester By the Sea) and is set in the lobby of a Manhattan apartment building, which is much more than a waiting area for four New Yorkers involved in a murder investigation. It’s a testing ground for what happens when personal and professional personas find themselves at odds. A young security guard with big ambitions (Cena) clashes with his stern boss (Henry), an intense rookie cop (Powley), and her unpredictable partner (Evans).

Sydney, Australia's Genesian Theatre is presenting Sherlock Holmes and the Speckled Band April 7-12, an adaptation of the Arthur Conan Doyle story by Max Gee. The story has Holmes and Watson trying to discover the mystery behind the death of a young woman who tragically dies under mysterious circumstances on the eve of her wedding, with the only clues being a low whistle and a heavy metallic clang. 

The Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre in Carmel, Indiana is presenting a stage version of the "The deliciously dark" Agatha Christie novel And Then There Were None through April 8. The iconic tale follows ten strangers who find themselves trapped on an English island with a killer in their midst, only to soon realize not all is as it seems when they are all accused of committing various murders.