THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES
Josh Hartnett is set to star opposite Jason Statham, Cary Elwes, and Aubrey Plaza in the latest Miramax/STX feature spy thriller from Guy Ritchie, which originally went by the title Five Eyes. The movie, which is now temporarily untitled, follows MI6 guns-and-steel agent (Statham) who is recruited by a global intelligence agency to track down and stop the sale of a deadly new weapons technology that threatens to disrupt the world order. Reluctantly paired with a CIA high-tech expert, Fortune sets off on a globe-trotting mission where he will have to use all of his charm, ingenuity and stealth to track down and infiltrate a billionaire arms broker's network.
In other "Five Eyes" news, Hugh Grant is also in preliminary talks to join Guy Ritche’s action thriller, although the deal has not been finalized. One would think that would have to happen soon, though, since preliminary filming is already underway in Qatar and Turkey.
Four actors have been added to the cast of the Michael Bay-directed action thriller, Ambulance, with Garret Dillahunt, A Martinez, Keir O’Donnell, and Moses Ingram coming on board. The four join current cast members Jake Gyllenhaal, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Eiza Gonzalez in a feature that’s based off the original Danish film, Ambulancen. While the plot is being kept under wraps, the pic is said to be in the same vein as such 1990s action pictures, Speed and Bad Boys.
This isn't exactly crime drama, but interesting nonetheless; in an interview with People magazine, actor Liam Neeson said he'd been approached by Seth McFarlane and Paramount Studios to maybe resurrect the Naked Gun films, adding "It'll either finish my career or bring it in another direction. I honestly don't know." The original Naked Gun film series was from the late '80s and early '90s (based on the Police Squad! TV show) and followed Detective Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen), a bumbling official who always seems to figure out the crime despite wisecracking hijinks.
TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES
Sony-backed Eleventh Hour Films has signed up The Crown star Lesley Manville to lead the cast of its PBS/BritBox crime series, Magpie Murders, with Peter Cattaneo (The Full Monty) set as the director. Manville will star as Susan Ryeland, an editor who is given an unfinished manuscript of author Alan Conway’s latest novel but has little idea it will change her life. The six-part series is based on Anthony Horowitz’s bestselling novel of the same name, with the author adapting his own work for the screen.
Don DeLillo’s novel, Libra, a speculative account of the plot to assassinate John F. Kennedy interwoven with the life story of his assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, is being adapted for television. First published in 1988, Libra blends fact and fiction to tell the story of the JFK assassination, one of the most mythologized events in American history, and explores the U.S.’s obsession with and relationship to conspiracy. The book was shortlisted for the National Book Award, and the New York Times called it "DeLillo’s richest novel."
Channel 5 and Acorn TV have jointly commissioned new six part thriller, The Reluctant Madame Blanc (working title), written by Sally Lindsay and Sue Vincent. The new six-part series follows Jean White, a renowned and respected antiques dealer, running a successful business in leafy Cheshire with her husband, Rory. Jean learns that Rory has tragically died on his way home from their vintage treasure-trove stomping grounds in the South of France. Things take a darker turn when she discovers all of their money has disappeared, their shop re-mortgaged to the hilt, and their assets pawned off...except for their cottage in French antiques hub, Saint Victoire. She quickly realizes something is amiss and heads to Saint Victoire, but will Jean get the answers she's seeking?
Swedish crime drama, Bäckström, has been renewed for a second series. The series is based on the books by Leif GW Persso and premiered in Sweden before being picked up by Acorn TV for UK broadcast. It will once again see Kjell Bergqvist play the titular character of homicide detective, Evert Bäckström.
Hit BBC drama, Peaky Blinders, will end after its sixth and final season, but creator and writer Steven Knight has promised the story will "continue in another form." The series follows the story of Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) and his notorious family’s rise to power against the backdrop of working class, post-WWI Birmingham.
AMC has acquired six-part British revenge thriller, The Beast Must Die. Based on the novel by Nicholas Blake (pen name of Poet Laureate Cecil Day-Lewis, CBE), it stars Jared Harris and Cush Jumbo and tells the story of a grieving mother who infiltrates the life of the man she believes killed her son.
Matt Hamilton, Paul Campbell, and Cristina Rosato are set for recurring roles in Turner & Hooch, Disney+’s reboot of the classic 1989 buddy-cop comedy feature. The TV series, which has a 12-episode order, centers on Scott Turner (Josh Peck), who now is a U.S. marshal, versus the police detective played by Tom Hanks in the film. When the ambitious, buttoned-up marshal inherits a big, unruly dog, he soon realizes the dog he didn’t want might be the partner he needs.
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO
Crime Cafe host, Debbi Mack, chatted with crime writer Cathi Stoler about her latest novel, Bar None, from the Murder on the Rocks mystery series.
Speaking of Mysteries welcomed Cecilia Ekbäck to discuss her new historical mystery, The Historians. The book is set in a Sweden rife with dangerous crosscurrents that young, well-connected Laura Dalgren gets caught up in when Britta Hallberg—her best friend from university—is found murdered. Did Britta sign her own death warrant with the subject of her post-grad thesis?
Meet the Thriller Author spoke with David Rohlfing about his debut crime novel, Deliberate Duplicity.
Queer Writers of Crime chatted with Timothy Jay Smith, who has turned his thrilling life into thrilling fiction.
Robert McCaw was the featured guest on Wrong Place, Write Crime, discussing his Hawaii-based series starring Detective Koa Kane, including the newest release, Death of a Messenger.
Robert Dugoni stopped by the My Favorite Detective Story podcast. The multiple-award-winning Dugoni is the author of the Tracy Crosswhite police series set in Seattle, the Charles Jenkins espionage series, and the David Sloane legal thriller series, among many more novels.
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