Neil Cross's Blog, page 4
September 15, 2012
Mama trailer is now online
Universal has released the trailer for Mama, the horror movie executive produced by Guillermo del Toro, scripted by Neil, and starring Jessica Chastain and Game of Thrones star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.
The film is schedule for release in January 2013. The trailer can be viewed on the official Mama website, Apple iTunes, or YouTube:
Mama the movie expands on director Andy Muschietti’s terrifying 2008 Spanish-language short. Neil rewrote an original script by Andy and Barbara Muschietti.
Read more about Mama and watch the original short here.
September 1, 2012
Luther: The Calling wins the 2012 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel
A BOOK that tells the gripping story behind a critically acclaimed television character’s fall from grace has scooped New Zealand’s crime writing award for 2012. Wellington-based novelist and screenwriter Neil Cross was announced as the winner of the prestigious Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel, for his “unflinching, brutal, and brilliant” book Luther: The Calling, at the conclusion of the lively Great New Zealand Crime Debate event at the Christchurch Writers Festival on Saturday, 1 September.
“DCI John Luther, wonderfully played onscreen in the BBC series by Idris Elba, is one of the most compelling characters to hit television screens in recent memory, but Neil Cross adds even more layers and intrigue to the hulking, volatile policeman in Luther: The Calling,” said Judging Convenor Craig Sisterson. “While screen adaptations from popular books are relatively common, the reverse is rare – usually for good reason. Luther: The Calling, however, is a magnificent tale, tautly written yet lyrical, a prequel that hurls readers onto a dark and traumatic rollercoaster that reveals how Luther found himself standing on a precipice at the beginning of the TV show’s first season.”
It was a tough decision for the international judging panel, given the high quality of the finalists and the wider longlist, said Sisterson. “New Zealand authors have produced some truly world class crime, mystery, and thriller novels in the past year. Crime writing certainly seems to be experiencing something of a renaissance here, as readers, publishers, critics, and others begin to realise and appreciate the quality crime writers we have on these shores.”
It was a case of third time’s the charm for Cross, the British-born writer who writes his novels, as well as a variety of projects for British and American film and television, from his suburban Wellington home. Previously a finalist for the Ngaio Marsh Award in both 2010 and 2011, he finally got his hands on the distinctive Gina Ferguson-designed and sculpted trophy, which depicts Dame Ngaio’s visage on an open book, following Saturday night’s event.
The judging panel, consisting of crime fiction experts – authors, publishers, reviewers, and event organisers – from the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, and New Zealand, said Luther: The Calling was “outstanding” and “a stand-out novel”. One international judge didn’t think a prequel could possibly stand on its own, but “was very pleasantly surprised”, noting Cross’s “writing, plotting, and voice” was so strong that “he could write a fresh, new book” based on a well-known TV character. Luther: The Calling is “a superbly crafted, brilliant stand-alone novel”, said another judge. Cross creates “such real, credible characters, a complex plot, with brilliant dialogue,” noted another.
The Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel, established in 2010, is named for Dame Ngaio Marsh, who is renowned worldwide as one of the four Queens of Crime of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. Dame Ngaio published 32 novels featuring Inspector Roderick Alleyn between 1934 and her death in 1982. With sales in the millions, and her books still in print to this day, Dame Ngaio is one of New Zealand’s most successful authors in history. Dame Ngaio’s closest living relative, John Dacres-Manning, gave his blessing for a New Zealand crime writing award to be named in her honour, saying that “I know Dame Ngaio would be so proud … to know that her name is associated with the award”.
In addition to the handcrafted trophy, Cross wins a full set of Dame Ngaio’s novels, courtesy of HarperCollins, and a cheque for $1,000 from the Christchurch Writers Festival Trust.
July 19, 2012
Luther is nominated for Four Primetime Emmy Awards!
Luther is up for four awards at this year’s Primetime Emmys, including one for Neil’s screenwriting.
Neil has been nominated for Best Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special for Luther Series 2.
Idris Elba has been nominated for Best Lead Actor in a Miniseries Or A Movie for his role as DCI John Luther.
Luther Series 2 has also been nominated for Best Miniseries or Movie.
Sam Miller has been nominated for Best Director for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic special.
The nominations in full in those categories, announced today, are:
Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special
Game Change – Danny Strong (written by)
Hatfields & McCoys – Ted Mann (story and teleplay by), Ronald Parker (teleplay by), Bill Kerby (story by)
The Hour – Abi Morgan (written by)
Luther – Neil Cross (written by)
Sherlock: A Scandal In Belgravia – Steven Moffat (written by)
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
Game Change – Woody Harrelson as Steve Schmidt
Hatfields & McCoys – Kevin Costner as ‘Devil’ Anse Hatfield
Hatfields & McCoys – Bill Paxton as Randall McCoy
Hemingway & Gellhorn – Clive Owen as Ernest Hemingway
Luther – Idris Elba as John Luther
Sherlock: A Scandal In Belgravia – Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes
Outstanding Miniseries or Movie
American Horror Story
Game Change
Hatfields & McCoys
Hemingway & Gellhorn
Luther
Sherlock: A Scandal In Belgravia
Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special
Game Change – Jay Roach
Hatfields & McCoys – Kevin Reynolds
Hemingway & Gellhorn – Philip Kaufman
Luther – Sam Miller
Sherlock: A Scandal In Belgravia – Paul McGuigan
The awards will be screened on September 23. You can read BBC America’s item on the nominations here and see the full list of categories and nominations here.
June 14, 2012
Crossbones
Neil is writer and executive producer for a new action adventure series for NBC about the golden age of pirates.
Read the recent announcement of the show from the network:
NEW YORK CITY — May 14, 2012 — From the award-winning creator of “Luther,” Neil Cross, and successful producing team of Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald (“Gladiator,” “Men in Black,” “The Ring”) comes an extraordinary action-adventure series “Crossbones” — with an unexpected moral center where one can’t be sure whether the pirates or the British crown are the villains.
Ten episodes of “Crossbones” have been ordered and production will begin in the fall.
The announcement was made today by Robert Greenblatt, Chairman, NBC Entertainment.
It’s 1715 on the Bahamian island of New Providence, the first functioning democracy in the Americas, where the diabolical pirate Edward Teach, aka Blackbeard, reigns over a rogue nation of thieves, outlaws and miscreant sailors. Part shantytown, part marauder’s paradise, this is a place like no other on earth – and a mounting threat to international commerce.
To gain control of this fearsome society, Tom Lowe, a highly skilled undercover assassin, is sent to the pirates’ haven to take down the brilliant and charismatic Blackbeard. But the closer Lowe gets, the more he finds that his quest is not so simple. Lowe can’t help but admire the political ideals of Blackbeard, whose thirst for knowledge knows no bounds – and no law. But Lowe is not the only danger to Blackbeard’s rule. He is a man with many villainous rivals and one great weakness – a passionately driven woman whom he cannot deny.
Parkes and MacDonald serve as executive producers. Cross will write and also executive-produce the series. Ted Gold (“Three Rivers”) also is an executive producer. The series will be produced by Parkes/MacDonald Productions; Georgeville Television (GVTV), Reliance Entertainment/Motion Picture Capital’s new TV Studio; and Universal Television.
You can follow the series progress at NBC.com‘s official show site, on Facebook and Twitter.
The Calling is longlisted for the British Theakston Old Peculiar crime writing prize
Neil’s novel Luther: The Calling has been longlisted for British Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award.
The longlist was revealed this month on the Theakson Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival website this month:
A mix of writers old and new will do battle in this year’s Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, one of the most prestigious crime writing prizes in the country. Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London which imagines magical mayhem in the Metropolitan police force goes head to head with SJ Watson’s smash hit debut Before I Go To Sleep and Tom Rob Smith’s Agent 6, the final in the trilogy about a former MGB agent, Leo Demidov. Power-house authors John Connolly, Ian Rankin, Robert Harris, and Val McDermid are represented by The Burning Soul, The Impossible Dead, The Fear Index, and The Retribution respectively and former journalist and screenwriter Belinda Bauer makes the longlist for the second year running with Darkside, following her critically acclaimed debut, Blacklands. Neil Cross, who will be discussing the hit TV series Luther at this year’s Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, also makes the list with The Calling.
Now in its eighth year, the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, in partnership with Asda, and in association with the Daily Mirror, was created to celebrate the very best in crime writing and is open to British and Irish authors whose novels were published in paperback from 1st June 2011 to 31st May 2012.
The longlist in full:
Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch (Gollancz)
Darkside by Belinda Bauer (Corgi)
Now You See Me by SJ Bolton (Corgi)
Where the Bodies Are Buried by Chris Brookmyre (Abacus)
The Burning Soul by John Connolly (Hodder Paperback)
The Calling by Neil Cross (Simon & Schuster)
The Hanging Shed by Gordon Ferris (Corvus)
Bryant and May and the Memory of Blood by Christopher Fowler (Bantam)
Blue Monday by Nicci French (Michael Joseph)
The Fear Index by Robert Harris (Arrow)
The Retribution by Val McDermid (Sphere)
The End of the Wasp Season by Denise Mina (Orion)
Black Flowers by Steve Mosby (Orion)
Collusion by Stuart Neville (Vintage)
The Impossible Dead by Ian Rankin (Orion)
Mice by Gordon Reece (Pan Books)
Agent 6 by Tom Rob Smith (Simon & Schuster)
Before I Go To Sleep by SJ Watson (Black Swan)
The longlist will then be whittled down to a shortlist of six titles which will be announced on Thursday 5th July.
The overall winner will be decided by a panel of experts which this year comprises of DI Tom Thorne actor David Morrissey, Festival chair Mark Billingham, journalist and crime novelist Henry Sutton, Ruth Lewis, Fiction Buyer at Asda, and Simon Theakston, Executive Director of T&R Theakston Ltd; as well as members of the public. The public vote opens on Thursday 5th July and closes on Tuesday 17th July at www.theakstons.co.uk.
The winner of the prize will be announced by broadcaster and festival regular Mark Lawson on Thursday 19th July, opening night of the tenth annual Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate. The winner will receive a £3,000 cash prize, as well as a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by Theakstons Old Peculier.
June 13, 2012
Luther nominated for Critics’ Choice Television Award
Series 2 of Luther has been nominated for the 2012 Critics’ Choice Television Award in the United States.
From BBC America’s website:
The loyalties of Anglophiles will be torn at this year’s Critics’ Choice Television Awards, which announced their nominations this morning (June 5). BBC America is part of this year’s British Invasion, with Luther and The Hour both competing in the Best Movie/Miniseries categories and their respective stars, Idris Elba and Dominic West, competing for Best Actor in a Movie/Miniseries.
Sherlock‘s Benedict Cumberbatch and Page Eight‘s Bill Nighy were also nominated in the Best Actor in a Movie/Miniseries categories, with their shows also recognized. Lara Pulver received a Best Actress in a Movie/Miniseries nomination for Sherlock, but sadly there was no Andrew Scott. Sob.
Downton Abbey is up for Best Drama, reflecting its category change at the Primetime Emmys. Shockingly, Dame Maggie Smith was snubbed in the drama supporting actress field, but Michelle Dockery received a surprise Best Actress nod.
Sons of Anarchy‘s Charlie Hunnam and Homeland‘s Damian Lewis, both of whom fake American accents on their series, are up for Best Actor in a Drama Series.
Luther: The Calling is longlisted for the Ngaio Marsh Best Crime Novel Award
Neil’s novel, Luther: The Calling, has been included on longlist for New Zealand’s Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel.
The longlist for the award, which will be presented at a ceremony at the upcoming The Press Christchurch Writers’ Festival in September, was announced this week (June 11). The award is made for the best crime, mystery, or thriller novel written by a New Zealand citizen or resident, published in New Zealand or overseas during the past year.
A panel of seven local and international judges is currently considering the longlisted titles. This year the judges are from the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, and New Zealand. The three finalists for the 2012 Ngaio Marsh Award will be announced in July.
The longlisted titles are:
COLLECTING COOPER by Paul Cleave (Simon & Schuster)
LUTHER: THE CALLING by Neil Cross (Simon & Schuster)
FURT BENT FROM ALDAHEIT by Jack Eden (Pear Jam Books)
TRACES OF RED by Paddy Richardson (Penguin)
BY ANY MEANS by Ben Sanders (HarperCollins)
BOUND by Vanda Symon (Penguin)
THE CATASTROPHE by Ian Wedde (Victoria University Press)
The longlist reflects the growing depth and breadth of contemporary New Zealand crime and thriller writing, said Judging Convenor Craig Sisterson. “This year’s longlist features everything from dark serial killer tales to the latest books in popular detective series, ‘ripped from the headlines’ psychological suspense, and a prequel to one of the most compelling TV crime series of recent years. We have the mysterious tale of a narcissistic restaurant critic’s kidnapping, penned by New Zealand’s poet laureate, and an engaging debut thriller written under a nom de plume.”
It will be a tough decision for the judging panel to narrow the field to three finalists and pick a winner, said Sisterson. “There was some exceptional crime, mystery, and thriller fiction penned by New Zealanders last year. It is great to see one of the world’s most popular forms of writing starting to flourish a little more on our own shores, though it makes our job harder.”
The Award, established in 2010, is named for Dame Ngaio Marsh, who is renowned worldwide as one of the four Queens of Crime of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. Dame Ngaio published 32 novels featuring Inspector Roderick Alleyn between 1934 and her death in 1982. With sales in the millions, and her books still in print to this day, Dame Ngaio is one of New Zealand’s most successful authors in history.
For more information visit Craig Sisterson’s crime writing blog Crime Watch.
June 11, 2012
Neil to write action adventure series about the golden age of pirates for NBC
Read the NBC announcement:
NBC PICKS UP ‘CROSSBONES,’ NEW ACTION-ADVENTURE SERIES ABOUT GOLDEN AGE OF PIRATES
NEW YORK CITY — May 14, 2012 — From the award-winning creator of “Luther,” Neil Cross, and successful producing team of Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald (“Gladiator,” “Men in Black,” “The Ring”) comes an extraordinary action-adventure series “Crossbones” — with an unexpected moral center where one can’t be sure whether the pirates or the British crown are the villains.
Ten episodes of “Crossbones” have been ordered and production will begin in the fall.
The announcement was made today by Robert Greenblatt, Chairman, NBC Entertainment.
It’s 1715 on the Bahamian island of New Providence, the first functioning democracy in the Americas, where the diabolical pirate Edward Teach, aka Blackbeard, reigns over a rogue nation of thieves, outlaws and miscreant sailors. Part shantytown, part marauder’s paradise, this is a place like no other on earth – and a mounting threat to international commerce.
To gain control of this fearsome society, Tom Lowe, a highly skilled undercover assassin, is sent to the pirates’ haven to take down the brilliant and charismatic Blackbeard. But the closer Lowe gets, the more he finds that his quest is not so simple. Lowe can’t help but admire the political ideals of Blackbeard, whose thirst for knowledge knows no bounds – and no law. But Lowe is not the only danger to Blackbeard’s rule. He is a man with many villainous rivals and one great weakness – a passionately driven woman whom he cannot deny.
Parkes and MacDonald serve as executive producers. Cross will write and also executive-produce the series. Ted Gold (“Three Rivers”) also is an executive producer. The series will be produced by Parkes/MacDonald Productions; Georgeville Television (GVTV), Reliance Entertainment/Motion Picture Capital’s new TV Studio; and Universal Television.
You can follow the series progress at NBC.com‘s official show site, on Facebook and Twitter.
May 31, 2012
Geronimo! Neil Writes for Doctor Who
” target=”_blank”>BBC Doctor Who Magazine has announced that Neil has written an episode of Doctor Who. Neil is a passionate, lifelong devotee of the show … and the chance to write his first episode for Matt Smith — the greatest Doctor ever — is like every Christmas has come at once. Geronimo!
March 15, 2012
Luther: The Calling is out now in paperback
The stand-alone novel featuring DCI John Luther is out this week in paperback in the UK. Visit the Simon & Schuster (UK) Luther web page for a competition, clips, and exclusive new character material.
Neil Cross's Blog
- Neil Cross's profile
- 213 followers
