THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES
Meryl Streep and Sigourney Weaver are teaming up to star in Useful Idiots, a New York-set thriller from director Joseph Cedar, Fifth Season, and Black Bear. The story follows Diane Castle (Streep), a veteran journalist who covers the New York luxury property market. She’s disillusioned with writing puff pieces about the wealthy elite and regretful she might not have lived up to her potential. When a record-breaking sale of a new penthouse hits her desk, Diane’s questions about the buyer’s identity lead to what could be the story of a lifetime. At its center is a mysterious oligarch whose influence stretches across Manhattan and beyond—protected by a network of fixers, enablers and a brilliant young strategist. Out of her depth, Diane digs deeper into the investigation, her determination to uncover the truth revealing a web of corruption and danger at the highest levels, ensnaring Diane, her family, and all those around her. Cedar also co-wrote the script with 60 Minutes producer Shachar Bar-On. Weaver's role in the project has not yet been disclosed.
A remake of the hit 1974 United Artists action-comedy, Thunderbolt & Lightfoot, is in the works at Amazon MGM Studios with Deadpool & Wolverine‘s Ryan Reynolds looking to star and produce under his Maximum Effort banner. Shane Reid is making his feature directorial debut. The original dark-comedy heist movie was written and directed by the late Michael Cimino in his own feature helming debut. The original project followed a bank robber (Clint Eastwood) and his irreverent sidekick (Jeff Bridges) who reassembled their old posse for a daring new heist.
Aggregate Films and August Night are producing the true crime film, Evil Genius, with Patricia Arquette and David Harbour starring and Courteney Cox directing. Inspired by the acclaimed true-crime documentary series by Barbara Schroeder and Trey Borzillieri, the script was penned by WGA Award nominee Courtenay Miles. The project explores the story of the infamous “pizza bomber” case —that delves into the more deeply human story of deception, desperation, and the line between victim and villain. Also joining the cast are Michael Chernus, Garrett Dillahunt, Danielle Macdonald, Tom McCarthy, Gregory Alan Williams, Ryan Eggold, Owen Teague, and Harlow Jane.
Lucas Bravo (Emily In Paris) has been set to star opposite Emma Roberts (We’re the Millers) in A Murder Uncorked with Ari Sandel (When We First Met) directing and Vincent Newman (We’re the Millers) producing from a script by Legally Blonde screenwriter Karen McCullah. Bravo will play the handsome Derek, who has recently inherited a prestigious Napa Valley winery and meets Nikki, a recently fired TV actress working as a waitress in a restaurant where he's dining. With sparks immediately flying, Derek offers Nikki a dream job working at the winery. But when a murder rocks the winery, the police suspect Derek and it is up to him and Nikki to find the real murderer and keep their budding romance alive. The project is based on the seven-book murder mystery romance series by author Michele Scott.
Visit Films has sold Keep Quiet, which premiered at the Locarno Film Festival and won the German Independence "Spirit of Cinema" audience award, to Saban Films for distribution in the U.S. and Canada. The film is directed by Vincent Grashaw, known for his work on What Josiah Saw and Bang Bang. The story follows a weathered tribal cop and his new trainee, who must find a ruthless fugitive after his return to their rural Indigenous reservation exposes its darkest secrets and could ignite a violent gang war. The thriller stars Lou Diamond Phillips (Longmire), Nick Stahl (Sin City), Dana Namerode (Bang Bang), Elisha Pratt (True Detective), Irene Bedard (Pocahontas) and Lane Factor (Reservation Dogs).
TELEVISION/STREAMING
Luke Evans is leading an ITV adaptation of the political thriller, The Party, based on a novel from Elizabeth Day, the host of the hit How to Fail podcast. Sarah Solemani (Him & Her) is penning and starring in the adaptation, which also features Joanna Scanlan (Riot Women), Tom Cullen (House of the Dragon) and Lydia Leonard (Wolf Hall). The 2017 novel follows Martin Gilmour (Evans), a journalist shaped by his lifelong friendship with the wealthy and charismatic politician Ben Fitzmaurice (Cullen). Having met at an elite boarding school, Martin and Ben have an unbreakable bond. Three decades on, Martin is invited to Ben’s lavish birthday party at the Fitzmaurice’s country estate, but Martin fears that the publicity of Ben’s bid for Conservative leader will dredge up secrets of their past with tragic consequences.
Diane Kruger (Inglourious Basterds) and César Award nominee Raphaël Personnaz (The French Minister) are leading an Apple TV series about a French president whose life is turned upside down when an eight-year-old girl goes missing. In the race-against-the-clock seven-episode series, the French President (Personnaz) searches for a girl who is his illegitimate daughter, born of a secret affair unknown to his wife and confidante Nora (Kruger). When the kidnapping becomes a matter of state, the entire French government apparatus intervenes to find the little girl. Kruger and Personnaz star alongside Sami Bouajila (Ganglands), Marina Hands (Lady Chatterley) and Fanny Sidney (Call My Agent!).
Leila George has joined the cast of Netflix's All the Sinners Bleed. She joins the previously announced leading cast of Murray Bartlett, Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù, John Douglas Thompson, Nicole Beharie, Daniel Ezra, and Andrea Cortes. From Joe Robert Cole, who adapted S.A. Cosby’s novel of the same name for TV, All the Sinners Bleed follows Titus Crown (Dìrísù), the first Black sheriff in a small Bible Belt county. Haunted by his devout mother’s untimely death, he must lead the hunt for a serial killer who has been preying on his Black community for years in the name of God. George will play the role of Marlow Stoner.
A trailer was released for Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials. Helena Bonham Carter stars in Netflix‘s new Christie adaptation, which premieres on January 15, 2026. Bonham Carter plays Lady Caterham alongside Mia McKenna Bruce (How to Have Sex) as Lady Eileen “Bundle” Brent; Martin Freeman (Sherlock) as Battle; Corey Mylchreest (Queen Charlotte) as Gerry Wade; Ed Bluemel (Killing Eve) as Jimmy Thesinger; and Nabhaan Rizwan (KAOS) as Ronnie Devereux. The story is set in 1925 at a lavish English country house party, where a practical joke appears to have gone horribly, murderously wrong. It will be up to the unlikeliest of sleuths—the fizzingly inquisitive Lady Eileen "Bundle" Brent—to unravel a chilling plot that will change her life and crack open wide the country house mystery.
PODCASTS/RADIO/AUDIO
On Crimetime FM, RWR McDonald chatted with Craig Sisterson about his new novel, The Nancys and the Case of the Missing Necklace; child narrators in adult stories; fictionalizing a small town in Otago, New Zealand; teaching creative writing, and more.
On Murder Junction, podcast host Abir Mukherjee discussed his latest bestselling Wyndham and Banerjee mystery, The Burning Grounds, and there was also a look at the true crime case of the Tri-State Cemetery Scandal.
The Poisoned Pen's podcast featured recent interviews with Alex DeMille, who took over the family crime fiction reins after his father Nelson DeMille passed away, to discuss his latest book, The Tin Men; and Jesse Kellerman, who also has a father-crime fiction connection, co-writing books with his father, Jonathan Kellerman, discussed his latest title, Coyote Hills.
Authors on the Air spoke with Sylvia Mercedes, who writes cozy mysteries with a fairy tale twist, about her new book, The Seventh Champion; coziness versus darkness; plotting versus pantsing; and the romantic power of foam noodles.
On the Spybrary podcast, Sam Guthrie, ex-Australian trade envoy and senior government official, sat down with award-winning journalist Tim Shipman to discuss The Peak, a gripping, character-driven espionage novel set across Hong Kong, Beijing, and Canberra.
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