Neil Cross's Blog, page 5

Neil to adapt Day of the Triffids for Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures

Ghost House Pictures announced today that Neil will write The Day of the Triffids, based on the classic sci-fi horror novel written by John Wyndam and the 1962 film Invasion of the Triffids. The film will be produced by Ghost House Pictures, Mark Gordon Productions and Preger Entertainment, LLC.

Read the Holloywood Reporter coverage here.

Neil to adapt Day of the Triffids for Sam Raimi's Ghost House Pictures

Ghost House Pictures announced today that Neil will write The Day of the Triffids, based on the classic sci-fi horror novel written by John Wyndam and the 1962 film Invasion of the Triffids. The film will be produced by Ghost House Pictures, Mark Gordon Productions and Preger Entertainment, LLC.

Read the Holloywood Reporter coverage here.

RTS nominates Luther as best drama series

Congratulations to the best cast and crew there is. Luther has been nominated Best Drama Series in the Royal Television Society programme awards shortlist announced yesterday. The awards will be announced on Tuesday 20 March. See the full shortlist here.

 

Idris Elba wins Golden Globe for Luther

Congratulations to Idris, who today won a Golden Globe for his stunning performance as DCI John Luther.

Winning best Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television award at the 2012 Golden Globes, Idris was up against Hugh Bonneville, (Downton Abbey), William Hurt, (Too Big to Fail), Bill Nighy, (Page Eight), and Dominic West (The Hour).

Visit www.goldenglobes.org for more information.

Idris is nominated for a Golden Globe for Luther

Congratulations to Idris, whose spectacular performance as DCI John Luther has once again been recognized with a Golden Globe nomination.

Idris has been nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Mini-Series or Motion Picture for his role in Luther Series 2.

Golden Globe winners will be announced on January 15. Visit the Golden Globes website here.

Neil Cross is one of Variety's 10 screenwriters to watch

Neil has been included in Variety magazine's prestigious list of "10 Screenwriters to Watch" for 2011.

The US film industry magazine publishes the list each year. Its feature on the list in the December 2 issue begins:

"There is no set path to bigscreen success, and Variety's list of scribes poised for a breakthrough proves that: the scripters come from TV, the theater, acting and even those who order food for the office." Click here to read the article on Neil.

 

Luther Series 1

Idris Elba stars in Neil Cross's first, thrilling, six-part series Luther, a dark psychological crime thriller that took a bold new look at the detective genre on BBC One in May 2010.

Elba, best known for his performance in the award-winning HBO series The Wire, playing drug kingpin Russell "Stringer" Bell, now finds himself on the other side of the law as John Luther, a near-genius murder detective whose brilliant mind can't always save him from the dangerous violence of his passions.

Ruth Wilson is Alice Morgan, beautiful, extraordinarily intelligent and a key witness in Luther's first investigation. Indira Varma is Zoe Luther, who's had the strength to walk away from the man she still loves. Paul McGann is Mark North, unafraid to compete with Luther for Zoe's love. Steven Mackintosh is DCI Ian Reed, a loyal friend. Saskia Reeves is DSU Rose Teller, Luther's risk-taking boss, and Warren Brown is DS Justin Ripley, Luther's loyal, awestruck new partner.

In each exciting and fast-moving story, the murderer's identity is known from the start – focussing the drama on the psychic duel between hunter and quarry, who sometimes have more in common than either would like to think.

Says Neil: "Luther is an intense psychological thriller which examines not only human depravity but the complex nature of love … and how it's often this – our finest attribute – that leads us into darkness."

Luther was commissioned by Ben Stephenson, Controller BBC Drama Commissioning, and Jay Hunt, then Controller of BBC One. The BBC executive producer was Phillippa Giles and the producer was Katie Swinden.

A second series of Luther was launched on BBC in June 2011. Series 3 will go into production in 2012. Check the BBC's Luther Facebook page for further updates.

Praise and Awards

Winner, Luther, Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best Teleplay in 2010 (Episode 1).

Nominee, Luther, Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best Teleplay in 2010 (Episode 4).

Nominee, Idris Elba, Golden Globe® Award, Best Performance By An Actor in a Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television.

Nominee, Idris Elba, Primetime Emmy Award, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie

Winner, Idris Elba, NAACP Image Award, Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Specials.

Nominee, Luther, NAACP Image Award, Outstanding Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special.

Idris on John Luther

Idris Elba provides some insight into Luther's world: "Luther is a modern spin on the maverick detective, an unorthodox, very smart, intellectual guy, but also passionate about his work and about the cases that he fights for."

In terms of his character Idris explains: "Luther can't help but get emotionally involved in his cases and, as a result, when we first meet him, you realise quickly he's been working on one case far too long. What we see as the series continues is a man trying to get back into his stride and back on top of his game.

"He is a compassionate man that believes in his job. He has a good understanding of human beings and the psychology of human beings, especially those that do wrong.

"You see a man that is fantastic at solving crime, fantastic at risk assessment and fantastic at figuring out why you did it then you see him stumbling when it comes to dealing with his personal life."

Read more from Idris on the BBC website.

Neil on Luther

"In crime fiction there are two broad genres – one is the mystery genre, the puzzle-solving genre, and that's where there tends to be a genius detective, a lone maverick, or an eccentric. This is the tradition best exemplified by people like Sherlock Holmes.

"The second tradition involves a much more morally committed, a much more beaten and bruised central hero figure. That's the tradition best exemplified by people like Philip Marlowe. What I have never seen, what I've never read or seen on television, was a character who exemplified both of these primary traits."

So the idea for DCI John Luther began to form, but what about the rest of the series?

"It was the character who came to me first, this man who exemplified this distant intellectual puzzle-solving detective, married with this kind of bruised moral crusader.

"It seemed to me that the best way for us really to engage with him, and to see his world through his eyes, was to see the moral outrages that he deals with – in order to understand the cost that these crimes have on him. To that end I took a leaf from Detective Columbo's book and made the story not a 'whodunnit?', but a 'how catch him?'

"We see the brutality, we see the violence, we see the aftermath and then we see Luther going after his criminal. We see his brilliance, his frustration, his anger, we see his insight and we also often see his moral compromise."

Read more about the creation of Luther on the BBC website here.

Luther Tasters:

 

Idris Elba photograph © Gene Kiegel

Mama

Mama, a horror movie executive produced by Guillermo del Toro and scripted by Neil, is currently in production, starring Jessica Chastain and Game of Thrones star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.

The Universal Pictures film expands on director Andy Muschietti's terrifying 2008 Spanish-language short. Neil rewote an original script by Andy and Barbara Muschietti.

Read more about Mama and watch the short here.

Vote for Luther at the National Television Awards

Luther is up for two awards at Britain's biggest awards show. The show has been nominated in the Best Drama category, and Idris Elba for Best Male Performance.

The National Television Awards are decided by the public vote. Click through here to vote online. Voting on the longlist closes on October 17. The awards are presented on 25 January 2012.

Idris takes Dagger at Crime Thriller Awards

Congratultaions again to Idris for winning the Best Actor Dagger at the Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards in London on Friday.

Other nominees for the category were:

• Lars Mikkelsen for The Killing (Arrow Films, BBC4)

• Steve Buscemi for Boardwalk Empire (HBO, Sky Atlantic)

• Jason Isaacs for Case Histories (Ruby Films, BBC One)

• Rufus Sewell for Zen (Left Bank Pictures, BBC One)

Click through for a full list of winners at the awards, which screened on ITV this week.