It's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a brand-new roundup of crime drama news:
THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES
Screen Gems has preemptively acquired the spec script, Sabine, written and produced by author Gregg Hurwitz (Orphan X) and screenwriter, Philip Eisner (Event Horizon). Sabine centers around an ambitious young female detective who hunts down a determined serial killer and begins to see the world through the killer’s eyes. Hurwitz and Eisner recently also wrote the thriller, Sweet Girl, which is in post-production for Netflix starring Jason Momoa.
Apple Studios has acquired the rights to adapt Snow Blind, a thriller based on a graphic novel of the same name that will star Jake Gyllenhaal. Gustav Möller (The Guilty) will direct the film based on the story by Ollie Masters and published by BOOM! Studios in 2017. Snow Blind tells the story of a high school student in Alaska whose life is turned upside down when he posts a photo of his dad online. He soon thereafter learns that he and his family are in the Witness Protection Program and are now being hunted by not only the FBI but also a man out for revenge who invades their small town.
Brad Pitt is set to star in Bullet Train, the Sony Pictures action movie that also recently announced the hiring of director David Leitch (Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw). Zak Olkewicz wrote the script, based on the 2010 Japanese novel, Maria Beetle, by Kotaro Isaka. In the novel, five assassins find themselves on a fast-moving bullet train from Tokyo to Morioka with only a few stops in between. They discover their missions are intertwined, and the question becomes—who will make it off the train alive and what awaits them at the terminal station?
The Nacelle Company, Stone Canyon Entertainment, and producer Devon Shepard have optioned the rights to the life story of former Philadelphia police officer, Jeffrey Walker. Walker, an African-American, spent his 20-year career as a narcotics officer in a system that harasses, unfairly arrests, and often kills those in the very community from which he came. The project would tell the story of Walker’s redemption, as he hits bottom and then begins the courageous work of helping dismantle that unjust system—one he once helped to thrive.
The IRA thriller, Borderland, has rounded out its cast, which will include John Boyega (Star Wars), Jack Reynor (Midsommar), Jodie Turner-Smith (Queen & Slim), and Felicity Jones (The Theory Of Everything). The film follows an Irish paramilitary, Michael (Reynor), who witnesses the shooting of his pregnant wife at the hands of an SAS sergeant named Tempest (Boyega) when a border ambush goes wrong. When Tempest is sent back to London to lead a covert counter-terrorist operation, Michael joins a ruthless active service unit (ASU) wreaking havoc in the capital. For Michael, the mission is personal – to hunt down Tempest – and he’ll stop at nothing to avenge his wife’s death.
Chinese megastar Donnie Yen is set to star in and produce the crime thriller, Golden Empire, in which he will play a notorious drug kingpin who hits the top of the most wanted list for both the U.S. and Mexican governments. The film will explore the complexities of the character, showcasing the inner turmoil of one of the world’s most successful multinational drug lords.
TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES
Mad Men creator, Matthew Weiner, has a new series in the works. Although plot details are being kept under wraps, the project is being described as a "mystery dramedy." Weiner is writing the series and will also executive produce and direct. Should it move forward, the show would mark Weiner’s return to the world of basic cable, though the project could potentially end up on FX and Hulu as well.
HBO Max has given a series commitment to Gotham City, a spinoff of Matt Reeves's upcoming film, The Batman (starring Robert Pattinson). The series on HBO Max will be set inside the Gotham City Police Department and “will build upon the motion picture’s examination of the anatomy of corruption in Gotham City.” The series would be the second to focus on the Gotham police following Fox’s Gotham, which starred Ben McKenzie as Commissioner Gordon in the days before Bruce Wayne became Batman.
HBO Max has also put in development Rip Crew, a crime drama from Code Black creator Michael Seitzman, executive producer Mike Weiss, and ABC Signature Studios. Written by Weiss, the story follows a disgraced ex-FBI agent turned criminology professor who discovers that his most gifted students are planning a massive heist. He then decides to scoop their score and become the type of criminal he used to chase.
Damian Lewis and Dominic West are in negotiations to headline and executive produce a limited series adaptation of Ben Macintyre’s bestselling Cold War espionage thriller, A Spy Among Friends, for Spectrum Originals and UK streamer BritBox. The six-episode project comes from former Homeland executive producer Alexander Cary, Sony Pictures Television and ITV Studios. It follows the defection of notorious British intelligence officer and KGB double agent, Kim Philby (West), through the lens of his complex relationship with MI6 colleague and close friend, Nicholas Elliott (Lewis).
Showtime is developing La Bravura, a one-hour psychological thriller dramedy from veteran showrunner Tad Quill, S.W.A.T. co-creator Shawn Ryan, and Sony Pictures Television. Quill will serve as writer on the series, which is about a husband whose marriage comes under strain after he films a behind-the-scenes documentary of his wife's elaborate heist of the Getty Museum.
Elisabeth Moss will star as infamous Texas murderer, Candy Montgomery, in the Universal Content Productions limited series, Candy. The project comes from Robin Veith and Nick Antosca, the duo behind Hulu's true-crime limited series, The Act. Candy is set in 1980 Texas, when Candy Montgomery (Moss) seemingly had it all – loving husband with a good job, a daughter and a son, a nice house in the brand new suburbs. So why did she kill her friend from church with an ax?
Orange is the New Black alum, Dascha Polanco, is set as a lead opposite Tate Donovan and Melissa Leo in the Fox pilot, Blood Relative. Tracie Thoms (Truth Be Told) and Sarah Catherine Hook (Conjuring 3) also have been cast as series regulars in the forensic genealogy-themed crime drama from writer-producer Chris Levinson and producer Liza Chasin.
Vienna Blood, the adaptation of Frank Tallis’ novels, has been renewed for a second season by Germany’s ZDF and Austria’s ORF, while BBC Two and PBS will also air the series. The new three feature-length episodes will be written by Sherlock's Steve Thompson and directed by Robert Dornhelm (Anne Frank: The Whole Story). The first series starred Matthew Beard as central character Max Liebermann, the protégé of Sigmund Freud, and was set in 1900s Vienna. When Liebermann comes into contact with Oskar Rheinhardt (played by Tatort’s Juergen Maurer), a detective struggling with a strange murder case, he is called to help him solve the investigation.
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO
A new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast is up featuring an excerpt from Clean Up on Aisle Six by Daniel Stallings, as read by actor Ian Jones.
Writer Types host, Eric Beetner, was joined by authors Lee Matthew Goldberg (The Ancestor), Lydia Kang (Opium and Absinthe). and Timothy Jay Smith (Fire on the Island).
Suspense Magazine's Beyond the Cover welcomed Leslie Lutz to talk about her debut thriller, Fractured Tide.
Meet the Thriller Author featured broadcaster-turned-author Glenn Dyer, discussing the first two books in his historical Conor Thorn thriller series, The Torch Betrayal and The Ultra Betrayal.
The Spybrary podcast reviewed three Charles McCarry spy novels in the author's Paul Christopher series.
Mugshots: My Favorite Detective Stories welcomed Rick Pullen, an award-winning investigative reporter, magazine editor, and author of the Naked City series of thrillers as well as The Apprentice, about a rookie reporter thrust into the Washington political nightmare.
Writer's Detective Bureau, hosted by veteran Police Detective Adam Richardson, discussed what happens when a cop gets injured on duty; who handles the civil and criminal aspects of an insider trading investigation; and what kind of data is available to a detective investigating the homicide of a foreign national.
It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club chatted with Heather Young, author of The Lost Girls, which won the Strand Award for Best First Novel and was nominated for an Edgar Award.
If you're a fan of true-crime podcasts, Parade published a listing of "32 True Crime Podcasts Worthy of an Immediate Binge-Listen."
