THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES
Natalie Burn (Foster) is set to star in the cartel action-thriller, Dead Weight. Filming is being lined up for this fall in Guatemala with Andrés E. Díaz aboard to direct from a script by Dane Larsen. The film will follow a pregnant woman (Burn) trapped in the Guatemalan wilderness after a violent cartel ambush. As she races to escape the killers on her trail, she begins to uncover the dark secrets her husband has kept hidden from her. Additional casting is underway.
Panoramic Pictures has started filming the action thriller, Panic Button, starring Oscar nominee Alec Baldwin, Emmy winner Jeremy Piven (Entourage), David A. R. White (God’s Not Dead), and Leven Rambin (The Hunger Games, True Detective). The film, which is directed by Juan Boffill and written by Matthew Eason and Tommy Blaze, follows a meticulously cautious security chief (White) who wakes up one day to find a dead woman lying beside him. Framed for murder, he races to clear his name while evading relentless FBI agents (Baldwin and Rambin) and a ruthless Russian mob led by a character played by Steven Bauer. He's aided by his loyal friend and business partner (Piven) and his daughter (Ocean White), who join him in unravelling the case.
The Western crime drama, Blood On The Promontory, has added 5 actors to its growing cast: Kevin Rankin (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), Noel Fisher (Dark Winds), Tokola Black Elk (Happy’s Place), Dallas Roberts (3:10 to Yuma), and Spencer Jarman (The Promised Land). They join the previously announced cast, which includes Sam Worthington, Jai Courtney, Jack Quaid, Jaeden Martell, and LaMonica Garrett. Directed by Ray Mendoza and written by Evan Cooper, Blood On The Promontory finds five convicts trying to escape through the mountains following a violent train robbery, while shackled together by foot.
TELEVISION/STREAMING
Millie Bobby Brown and David Harbour, who both starred in the Netflix drama Stranger Things, are reuniting for the streamer in an upcoming spy drama series from Adolescence co-creator Jack Thorne and A24. The drama follows disgraced FBI agent-turned-security expert Matt Wolfe (Harbour) who is drawn back into the world he left behind when his estranged daughter, Rebecca (Brown) — now an FBI agent determined to follow in his footsteps — vanishes on a mission, forcing him to return to a field that has evolved beyond him.
Ron Perlman (Sons of Anarchy, Hellboy) has joined Prime Video's Cross for Season 3. In a recurring role, Perlman will portray Herschel Zamora, who is a cop first and everything else second. Following a series of troubling work-related incidents, Officer Zamora is referred to Dr. Alex Cross (Aldis Hodge) for therapy. As Cross digs deeper, he realizes Zamora may be concealing something far more troubling than PTSD. Cross is based upon characters created by James Patterson and follows Alex Cross (Hodge), a brilliant homicide detective and forensic psychologist, uniquely capable of digging into the minds of serial killers in order to identify and catch them. Season 2 followed Cross in pursuit of a ruthless vigilante who is hunting down corrupt billionaire magnates.
An upcoming ITV drama based on a devastating true story has added more stars to the cast. The project is toplined by Jill Halfpenny (EastEnders), Dame Penelope Wilton (Downton Abbey), and Jonathan Pryce (Game of Thrones). Titled Mavis Eccleston, the upcoming four-part series looks at the case of Mavis and Dennis Eccleston (Wilton and Pryce), a couple who agree to die by suicide — only for Mavis to survive and be charged with her husband's murder. The new cast additions include Blue Lights' Sian Brooke and Slow Horses' Chris Reilly, who will play Dennis and Mavis's children, Joy and Kevin. Jill Halfpenny and Darrell D'Silva take on the roles of Tracey and Kenton, the partners of Kevin and Joy. Black Mirror's Rhashan Stone and Waterloo Road's Emma Stansfield round out the central cast as Barrister Alex Wyatt and Joy's close friend, Paula.
BBC Daytime has unveiled first-look pictures and announced further casting for The Hairdresser Mysteries. Infused with an upbeat 1970s spirit, the nostalgic crime drama stars Sally Phillips as hairdresser, Lily Petal, who opts out of the competitive city scene to buy a small village hairdressing salon at the top of a cobbled street. Everyone tells their hairdresser everything and soon she becomes the hub of her new village’s secrets and revelations. Using her own brand of uncannily developed intuitition, empathy, and understanding, Lily begins to solve the mysteries of the village. Charlotte Jordan (Coronation Street) plays Clary Coombs, Lily’s bright and analytical assistant and the Watson to her Shear-lock Holmes. Ben Castle-Gibb (You) plays PC Adam Watson, an eager young copper in the local village who falls head-over-heels for salon assistant Clary. Sunetra Sarker (Ackley Bridge) plays Wincey Evans, the village’s local chit-chatter with a reputation as a known gossip. Clive Rowe (The Addams Family UK Tour) plays Lonnie, the flamboyant manager of the local charity shop and Guy Henry (Holby City) plays Race Runard, the local village’s eccentric antiques dealer with a penchant for priceless teacup and saucer sets.
Taiwan’s PTS Taigi TV station has started production on Gunshot, an eight-part police drama starring Kent Tsai (The Teenage Psychic), Chan Tzu-Hsuan, Cheng Chih-Wei, Golden Horse Award-winning actor Lu Hsiao-Fen, and Singaporean Golden Horse winner Mark Lee. Set against the intersection of policing, social media, and public accountability, the series explores the challenges facing modern law enforcement in an increasingly connected world where social media influence, performance metrics and public opinion increasingly shape law enforcement. Partly inspired by real-life experiences shared by police officers, the series is co-directed by acclaimed Taiwanese director Hsiao Li-Hsiu (Wake Up) and creator-director Chang Kai-Chih. The story follows three police officers with conflicting views of justice trying to navigate a system that rewards visibility over virtue, forcing them to confront what it truly means to be a good cop.
Marble Hall Murders premieres September 6 at 9/8c on PBS MASTERPIECE Mystery! Lesley Manville and Tim McMullan return for the third and final installment of the Susan Ryeland series based on the novels by Anthony Horowitz. In Marble Hall Murders, editor Ryeland is pulled into a new literary puzzle when she’s hired to work on a continuation novel in the Atticus Pünd series, penned by a troubled young writer. But when the assignment draws her into another very real murder case, Susan soon finds herself cast as a suspect. Meanwhile, within the world of the novel, the enigmatic detective Atticus Pünd travels to the Isle of Corfu where he becomes embroiled in the murder of Lady Margaret Chalfont.
A gripping new Swedish crime thriller series from George Kay (Lupin, Hijack) premieres on August 20 on Netflix. Blood Sacrifice stars Jakob Oftebro (Hamilton, Stenbeck) as lead investigator Thomas, and Peter Andersson (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) plays his father, former detective Alfred. The series follows the estranged duo as they’re forced into an uneasy alliance to hunt down a brutal killer targeting the police—before time runs out.
Acorn TV and ITV have picked up the cozy crime drama, Blue Murder Hotel, for broadcast in the U.S. and UK. The series follows married couple Vinny and Cole, who leave their cop careers behind to run a motel in a sunny beachside New Zealand town, only to have events take an unexpected turn when a dead body is discovered. That sets the tone, as the retired detectives find themselves drawn into investigating crimes, with a new case in each episode. Blue Murder Motel was created by Kate McDermott (Step Dave), and its directors include Lucy Lawless. Michala Banas (McLeod’s Daughters) stars as Vinny and Brett Tucker (The Americans) as Cole. The cast also includes Jayden Daniels, Stephanie Tauevihi, and Jaime McDermott. A second season is in production.
Peacock has opted not to renew its espionage thriller, Ponies, starring Emilia Clarke and Haley Lu Richardson, for a second season. Set in 1977 Moscow, Ponies follows Bea (Clarke) and Twila (Richardson), two “PONIES” (“persons of no interest) working as secretaries in the American Embassy who become CIA operatives after their spy husbands are killed in the USSR under mysterious circumstances. The series, co-created and executive produced by David Iserson and Susanna Fogel who spent seven years on it, ended on several cliffhangers, leaving many loose ends that now won’t be tied up.
NBC unveiled fall premiere dates for its returning programs and new series, which you can see via this link. The newly announced slate sticks mostly to what NBC revealed ahead of its upfront in May, with the One Chicago drama trio anchoring Wednesday nights and the veteran Law & Order duo on Thursdays.
PODCASTS/RADIO/AUDIO
On Crime Time FM, Paul Burke chatted with Crime Writers Association Diamond Dagger Winner, Mark Billingham, about agitprop, Maid Marian and Her Merry Men, standup comedy, TV writing, taking control with fiction, and much more.
A couple of podcasts noted some milestones, including Spybrary, which celebrated its 300th episode; while Wrong Place Write Crime host Frank Zafiro announced the podcast would be taking an indefinite (and hopefully not permanent) hiatus.
On the Pick Your Poison podcast, Dr. Jen Prosser investigated how someone goes from completely normal to unconscious in minutes with nothing around them; which drug was deemed too dangerous for medical use but is now a drug of abuse; and what new way contraband is being smuggled into prisons.
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