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

Olivia Cooke (House of the Dragon) has joined the cast of Anton Corbijn’s thriller, Switzerland, starring Helen Mirren as crime novelist and Tom Ripley creator, Patricia Highsmith. The movie was adapted by Australian writer Joanna Murray-Smith from her play of the same name, revolving around Patricia Highsmith’s encounter with an ambitious young literary agent, played by Alden Ehrenreich (Oppenheimer). Set in 1995, an aging Patricia Highsmith is living a secluded existence in the Swiss Alps with only her cats for company. When a pushy young man turns up at her residence, sent by her New York publisher to persuade her to write a final book in her best-selling Tom Ripley series, it becomes clear he is on a more sinister mission.

Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired North American rights to the action-caper, Killing Mary Sue, starring Sierra McCormick (American Horror Stories), Dermot Mulroney (My Best Friend’s Wedding), Sean Patrick Flanery (The Boondock Saints), Jason Mewes (Clerks), Martin Kove (Cobra Kai) and Kym Whitley (Rango). Written and directed by James Sunshine, Killing Mary Sue is about a corrupt senator who arranges for the murder of his biggest liability, his erratic burnout stepdaughter, only for her to unwittingly discover her natural talent as an untouchable killer.

In the wake of Den Of Thieves: Pantera grossing close to $50M globally, talks are already underway for a Den of Thieves 3. Right now, Gerard Butler is expected to return to both star in and produce the third installment, and Lionsgate is in talks with franchise creator Christian Gudegast to return to write and direct as well. The plan is for actor O’Shea Jackson Jr. to also return in the proposed follow-up. The original film centered on the clash between an elite unit of the LA County Sheriff's Department and the state's most successful bank robbery crew as the outlaws plan a seemingly impossible heist on the Federal Reserve Bank.

Sony Pictures has set a release date for Darren Aronofsky’s upcoming thriller, Caught Stealing, for August 29. Based on the book of the same name by Charlie Huston, the film stars Austin Butler as Hank Thompson, a burned-out former baseball player, who is unwittingly plunged into a wild fight for survival in the downtown criminal underworld of '90s NYC. Zoë Kravitz, Regina King, Liev Schreiber, Matt Smith, and Bad Bunny also star.

TELEVISION/STREAMING

Just a week after Rupert Murdoch's apology and settlement with Prince Harry, ITV has unveiled a phone hacking drama series starring David Tennant as investigative journalist Nick Davies. ITV and Australian streamer Stan have spent the past year quietly filming, editing, and laying the groundwork for The Hack, which comes from the storied creative trio of multi-BAFTA Award winner Jack Thorne, director Lewis Arnold (Sherwood) and producer Patrick Spence (Mr Bates vs the Post Office). Set between 2002 and 2012, The Hack interweaves two real-life stories, the work of Davies, who uncovered evidence of phone hacking at Murdoch’s now-defunct News of the World, and the story of the investigation into the unsolved murder of private investigator Daniel Morgan, led by former Met Police Detective Chief Superintendent Dave Cook (played by Robert Carlyle).

Paramount+ dropped a new trailer for its upcoming crime drama series, Happy Face, and set a premiere for March 20. The drama is inspired by the true-life story of Melissa Moore and taken from her podcast and the autobiography, Shattered Silence. At 15, Moore discovered her beloved father was the prolific serial killer known as Happy Face, and the series follows Melissa (played by Annaleigh Ashford) and her incarcerated father, known as the Happy Face Killer (Dennis Quaid). After decades of no contact, he finally finds a way to force himself back into his daughter’s life. In a race against the clock, Melissa must find out if an innocent man is going to be put to death for a crime her father committed. Throughout, she discovers the impact her father had on his victims’ families and must face a reckoning of her own identity.

Lesley Manville and Tim McMullan are set to reprise their roles as Susan Ryland and Atticus Pünd in Marble Hall Murders, an adaptation of the third and final installment in Anthony Horowitz’s Susan Ryeland series. The story picks up with Susan (Manville) returning to England where she is drawn into a new Atticus Pünd mystery — this time written by a new, young writer. "Pünd’s Last Case” is a story set in 1955 in a villa in Corfu – but the identity of a real killer is hidden in the book. McMullan (The Crown) plays Atticus, the literary detective who steps out of the books to help Susan unravel the real-life mystery of who killed Miriam Crace, the most famous children’s author in the world.

Annette Bening (Apples Never Fall) is set to star alongside Anya Taylor-Joy in Lucky, Apple TV+’s limited series from creator/executive producer Jonathan Tropper and executive producer Reese Witherspoon. Based on Marissa Stapley’s bestselling novel and Reese’s Book Club pick of the same name, Lucky stars Taylor-Joy as the eponymous heroine, a young woman who left behind the life of crime she was raised in years ago, but must now embrace her darker, criminal side one final time in a desperate attempt to escape her past. Bening will play Priscilla, a dangerous mob leader.

Suranne Jones and Jodie Whittaker are teaming on an ITV heist thriller about two skilled confidence tricksters separated by a 10-year prison sentence. Jones will play Bert, who has spent the last decade in a Spanish prison cell with a burning desire to pull off one final job that will prove her worth. Whittaker is Sam, her partner, who for the past decade has been content to live a life of quiet anonymity in the hills of Southern Spain. The story begins as Sam anxiously waits for Bert to be released from a maximum-security prison on grounds of compassionate discharge. On the pretext of one final, multi-million-pound art heist, Bert attempts to lure Sam out of retirement, but at what cost?

Peacock has given a series order to a new crime drama called Superfakes from the Emmy Award-winning Alice Ju (Beef). Superfakes follows a small-time Chinatown counterfeit luxury item dealer who enters a dangerous black market underworld in order to fund a life of suburban respectability for her family. Ju will serve as showrunner, writer, and executive producer

PODCASTS/RADIO

On the Crime Wave podcast, Scott Turow talked about life, writing, and Presumed Guilty, the long-anticipated third thriller in his Rusty Sabich series.

Crime Cafe host Debbi Mack welcomed internationally bestselling crime writer Gregg Hurwitz to discuss his writing and his Orphan X series.

Crime Time FM host Paul Burke chatted with Stella Rimington about the zeitgeisty new thriller, The Hidden Hand; the Chinese threat; MI5; sexism, and more.

Murder Junction (formerly The Red Hot Chili Writers) hosts Vaseem Khan and Abir Mukherjee spoke with journalist and crime writer Jonathan Whitelaw about his latest book, The Garden Club Murders; discussed some fun facts about bingo; and delved into the true crime case of a stolen Churchill painting taken from an Ottawa hotel.

On the Spybrary podcast, The Sunday Times chief political commentator and spy fiction fan, Tim Shipman, interviewed David McCloskey, ex-CIA analyst turned award-winning spy novelist. They discussed McCloskey's journey from a promising debut author to an international expert on espionage; his new podcast, The Rest Is Classified; and his reflections on Syria and the fall of Assad. They also talked about the development of McCloskey's protagonist, Artemis Proctor, in his latest book, The Seventh Floor, and McCloskey revealed more about the actual Seventh Floor at the CIA's HQ in Langley.

Meet the Thriller Author's Alan Peterson interviewed Jerri Williams, a former FBI special agent turned bestselling author of FBI Myths and Misconceptions: A Manual for Armchair Detectives and host of the popular podcast, FBI Retired Case File Review.

The Michael Shermer Show welcomed Dr. Rachel Toles, a licensed forensic psychologist, as they delved into the psychology of criminals, addressing the motivations behind some of the world’s most notorious killers. Her expertise spans trauma, addiction, and impulse control, culminating in her upcoming U.S. theater tour, The Psychology of a Murderer. Through captivating case studies, Toles sheds light on the dark corners of human behavior.

On Thinking Allowed, Laurie Taylor explored the fascination for true crime stories, joined by Jennifer Fleetwood, Senior Lecturer in Criminology at City, University of London, whose latest book, What We Talk About When We Talk About Crime, considers the remarkable rise in the number of people who speak publicly about their experience of crime.

On the Pick Your Poison podcast, Dr. Jen Prosser featured the antidote that has caused more deaths than the toxin itself and the type of bite that has been mistaken for appendicitis.