Media Murder for Monday

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

After starring together in the upcoming film, The Suicide Squad, Idris Elba and John Cena are re-teaming for the drama, Heads of State, from Amazon Studios. Specifics are being kept under wraps, but the project is said to be a "’90s style two-hander, a high-octane premise that has a bit of Air Force One meets Hobbs and Shaw, bringing together an odd couple in a high stakes situation."

A film chronicling the tumultuous making of the landmark 1972 movie, The Godfather, has found its stars in Oscar Isaac and Jake Gyllenhaal. The pair have signed on to play director Francis Ford Coppola and former Paramount Pictures executive Robert Evans in the indie drama, Francis and The Godfather. Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson (Rain Man) has been tapped to helm the project. According to Hollywood lore, the making of The Godfather was chaotic, mostly due to the epic behind-the-scenes battles between Coppola and the studio on everything from shooting locations to casting.

Aisling Walsh (Maudie) will direct Oscar-winner Anthony Hopkins and rising Brit actor Johnny Flynn (Emma) in the feature film, One Life, scripted by Lucinda Coxon and Nick Drake. The project tells the story of Sir Nicholas Winton, whose unheralded endeavors on the eve of World War II saved the lives of more than 600 European refugee children who otherwise would have perished in the Nazi death camps. His actions were relatively unknown for nearly fifty years until, aged 88, he found himself driven to publicly reveal the past—with which he had never fully reconciled—in order to remind the world of the need for tolerance and humanity.

The musical-chairs scheduling and rescheduling of movie premieres continues at a frantic pace. The latest victims are the James Bond movie, No Time to Die, now slotted for Easter Weekend in April 2021. That, in turn, prompted the latest Fast and the Furious franchise installment, F9, to move to May 28, 2021, which is Memorial Day weekend. As Deadline reported, this is proving problematic for a certain cinema chain.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Acorn TV is set to adapt Julie Wassmer’s Whitstable Pearl Mystery novels into a six-part series. Kerry Godliman stars as big-hearted local restaurant owner, Pearl Nolan, who sets up a local detective agency after undergoing police training in an earlier career. She is soon embroiled in her first case when she discovers the body of close friend, Vinnie. Pearl forms an unlikely partnership with DCI Mike McGuire, a new local police chief who has transferred from London to escape his past. And when a second body shows up, Pearl finds herself pulled into the dark underbelly of the picturesque town she calls home.

Heyday Television is adapting Peter McLean’s fantasy crime novel, Priest of Bones, for the small screen. The book, described as "Peaky Blinders with swords," revolves around Tomas Piety, a nefarious crime lord turned priest. After being away at war for many years, Tomas comes back to find that his city of Ellinburg has changed: his people have lost their wealth, and the town is overrun by a foreign power. With his gang of Pious Men, Tomas embroils himself in cutthroat politics and epic barroom brawls to win back the city that once was his.

Netflix has ordered Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, a limited series about the real-life serial killer, from Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan. Richard Jenkins will co-star on the show as Dahmer’s father, Lionel, a chemist, who showed him how to bleach and preserve animal bones as a child. The roles of Dahmer himself and Glenda Cleveland, a neighbor who tried to warn police about Dahmer’s behavior, have yet to be filled. The project will consist of 10 episodes and span the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s and end with Dahmer’s arrest in the early ’90s, with a focus primarily on the victims.

NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime, featuring Chris Meloni’s return as Elliot Stabler, is no longer part of NBC’s fall schedule, due to the departure of showrunner Matt Olmstead. The newest Law & Order series was supposed to air Thursday nights at 10 p.m. following the 22nd season of SVU at 9 p.m. It was NBC’s only new show slotted for this fall, and is still expected to debut at some point during the 2020-2021 TV season.

Nearly four months after Cops was canceled by Paramount Network amid the nationwide protests against police brutality, the show has quietly resumed production in Spokane County, Washington. The episodes will not air in the U.S. but are being produced to fulfill international contractual commitments.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

Debbi Mack interviewed journalist and crime writer, Tom Vater, who's based in Bangkok, on the Crime Cafe podcast.

Writer Types host, Eric Beetner, welcomed four authors with three books for a discussion of their new releases, including co-authors Smith Henderson and Jon Marc Smith (Make The Cry); Heather Young (The Distant Dead); and debut author, Micah Nemerever.

Meet the Thriller Author chatted with Paul Levine, who worked as a newspaper reporter, a law professor, and a trial lawyer before becoming a full-time novelist. They discussed his latest book, Cheater's Game, an Amazon bestseller based on the college admissions scandal that is sending Aunt Becky from Full House to jail.

David Housewright joined host John Hoda of the My Favorite Detectives Stories podcast. David is a past President of the Private Eye Writers of America, an Edgar Award winner, and author of the Rushmore McKenzie and Holland Taylor private eye novels.

Wrong Place, Write Crime host, Frank Zafiro, spoke with Chris Mooney about his new book, Blood World.

Historical mysteries were the focus of the latest podcast from It Was a Dark and Story Book Club.

Greg Herren stopped by The Gay Mystery Podcast. His novel, Murder in the Rue Chartres, won a Lambda Literary Award, and he's also won several other awards, including an Anthony. He is currently the Executive Vice President of Mystery Writers of America.

The Tartan Noir Show featured bestselling author, Max Brooks, talking about World War Z and zombies.

On the latest Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine podcast, Barb Goffman read her tale "Dear Emily Etiquette" from the current September/October 2020 issue. Barb has won the Agatha, Macavity, and Silver Falchion awards for her short fiction.