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

Jake Gyllenhaal is in talks to star in a remake of the 1989 Patrick Swayze movie, Road House, with Doug Liman also in discussions to direct. In the original film, Swayze played Dalton, a tough bouncer with a mysterious past who is hired to clean up one of middle America’s rowdiest bars and ends up taking down one of its most corrupt individuals in the process. It is currently unknown if Gyllenhaal would be playing Dalton or a new character.

Diane Kruger, Jessica Lange, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Alan Cumming, Danny Huston, Ian Hart, and Colm Meaney have joined Liam Neeson in the noir thriller, Marlowe, which is now filming in Ireland and Spain. The script from William Monahan is based on John Banville's novel, The Black-Eyed Blonde (a continuation of the Raymond Chandler iconic series featuring Philip Marlowe) with Oscar winner Neil Jordan (The Crying Game) aboard to direct. In Marlowe, when private detective Philip Marlowe (Neeson) is hired to find the ex-lover of a glamorous heiress, it looks to be open and shut case. But Marlowe soon finds himself in the underbelly of Hollywood’s film industry and unwittingly drawn into the crossfire between a legendary Hollywood actress and her subversive, ambitious daughter.

Roadside Attractions and Vertical Entertainment have co-acquired North American rights to The Forgiven, a thriller written and directed by John Michael McDonagh, which premiered at the 2021 Toronto Film Festival. The Forgiven is based on the novel of the same name by Lawrence Osborne and centers on wealthy Londoners David (Ralph Fiennes) and Jo Henninger (Jessica Chastain), who are involved in a tragic accident with a local teenage boy, after speeding through the Moroccan desert to attend an old friend’s lavish weekend party. Arriving late at the grand villa with the debauched party raging, the couple attempts to cover up the incident with the collusion of the local police. But when the boy’s father arrives seeking justice, the stage is set for a tension-filled culture clash in which David and Jo must come to terms with their fateful act and its shattering consequences.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Paramount+ has handed a series order to Happy Face, a crime drama series based on a hit podcast that tells the story of a notorious serial killer who was infamous for drawing smiley faces on letters to the media and prosecutors. The project centers on Melissa Jesperson-Moore, who at age 15 discovered that her father, Keith Hunter Jesperson, was the serial murderer known as the Happy Face Killer. As an adult, Melissa changed her name, guarded her secret, and cut off all ties to her father, who is currently serving life in prison. The scripted series will tell Melissa’s true-life story as her father contacts her to take credit for another victim, which pulls Melissa into an investigation of her father and his crimes.

The Apple TV+ limited series, The Last Thing He Told Me, has had a major recasting with Jennifer Garner taking over a role originally set for Julia Roberts, who had to depart due to scheduling conflicts. The Last Thing He Told Me is an adaptation of the bestseller of the same name by Laura Dave and follows a woman who forms an unexpected relationship with her 16-year-old stepdaughter while searching for the truth about why her husband has mysteriously disappeared.

Jeff Wilbusch is set to star in David E Kelley’s The Missing for NBC's Peacock streaming service. The adaptation of Israeli crime writer Dror A. Mishani’s The Missing File focuses on the unusually named Avraham Avraham, an NYPD detective with the 77th precinct whose belief in mankind is his superpower when it comes to uncovering the truth. Guided by a deep sense of spirituality and religious principles, Avraham is left to question his own humanity when a seemingly routine investigation turns upside down.

Lizzy Caplan will star in a Fatal Attraction TV series at Paramount+, playing the role of Alex that Glenn Close made famous in the 1987 movie. Described as a deep-dive reimagining of the classic psychosexual thriller and '80s cultural touchstone, the new series "will explore themes of marriage and infidelity through the lens of modern attitudes toward strong women, personality disorders and coercive control." As in the movie, Caplan’s Alex becomes obsessed with her lover after a brief affair. That role, which was played by Michael Douglas, is currently being cast.

Peter Greene, Ayomide Adegun, and Jeremy Bobb are set as leads opposite Colin Woodell and Mel Gibson in Starz’s The Continental, the prequel to the Keanu Reeves/John Wick film series. The Continental will be presented as a three-night special event and explore the origin behind the hotel-for-assassins, which increasingly has become the centerpiece of the John Wick universe. This will be told through the eyes and actions of a young Winston Scott (Woodell), who is dragged into the Hell-scape of a 1975 New York City to face a past he thought he’d left behind.

Ruth Wilson is teaming with Lena Dunham and Dennis Lehane for an HBO limited series based on the Stitcher podcast, Mob Queens. Wilson will play Anna Genovese (Wilson), the second wife of infamous crime boss Vito Genovese and a fixture in the Village’s drag bar scene in the 1930s who later broke Cosa Nostra law—when she spilled the illegal dealings of her husband in divorce hearings.

Jennifer Carpenter (Dexter) is set to star in and executive-produce the thriller series, Ballistic. Lihi Kornowski and Bosch's Jonathan Ohye will also star in the six-part series about a secret operative (Carpenter) who, after a mission is compromised, is forced into a psychological game of cat and mouse with her own mind while being hunted down by the very program that created her. Series creators Spenser Cohen (Moonfall) and Anna Halberg (Distant) will serve as showrunners and executive producers.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

A new Mysteryrat's Maze podcast is up featuring Part 1 of the mystery short story, "Harvey and the Redhead," written by Debra H Goldstein and read by actors Ariel Linn and Sean Hopper. (Part 2 will go up next week.)

Meet the Thriller Author chatted with H.Y. Hanna, who writes fun cozy mysteries "filled with humor, quirky characters, clever twists—and cats with big personalities."

On the Crime Writers of Color podcast, Midnight House anthology editors Abby Vandiver, Marla Bradeen, Steph Cha, and Alafair Burke were interviewed by Robert Justice; plus Carolyn Wilkins and Alex Segura read from their included short stories.

The Spybrary podcast welcomed the former director of the CIA’s Technical Service, Robert Wallace, to discuss his time in the CIA and the various non-fiction books he has co-authored since leaving the agency.

The Red Hot Chili Writers interviewed spy thriller writer, Charles Cumming and discussed his latest book, Judas 62; they also chatted with Vic Watson and Simon Berwick about the upcoming Bay Tales festival.

Wrong Place, Write Crime spoke with S.F. Kosa about her most recent book, The Night We Burned.

Writers Detective Bureau host, Det. Adam Richardson, talked about how police deal with teenagers as missing persons and as suspects in a murder.

Crime Time FM chatted with Dominic Nolan about his new novel, Vine Street; 1930s Soho; obsession; history versus the past; and believing in your work.