Media Murder for Monday

[image error]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

Kirsten Dunst is joining Channing Tatum in the film, Roofman, with Derek Cianfrance directing. The story is based on the true tale of Jeffrey Manchester (Tatum), an eccentric and charming serial robber who broke into more than 60 McDonald's restaurants overnight via their roofs, then emptied the cash register in the morning after herding staff into freezers. The former U.S. Army Reserve officer became known as the "Rooftop Robber" or "Roofman" and was convicted and imprisoned in 2000 but escaped from jail. He evaded capture by holing up for months in a Toys "R" Us and Circuit City store. After reportedly leaving his fingerprints on a Catch Me If You Can DVD, he was recaptured and sent back to jail. The movie will focus on Manchester’s months-long odyssey on the lam where he meets and forms a bond with a woman (Dunst) who works at the toy store and is struggling to make ends meet and provide for her two girls.

Oscar winner Halle Berry is in negotiations to join the cast of Amazon MGM Studios’ adaptation of Don Winslow‘s short story, Crime 101, written and directed by Bart Layton (American Animals). The project will star Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, and Barry Keoghan and is set to be released in theaters next year. Plot details of the film are under wraps, but the original short story by Winslow has shades of Heat as it follows high-level jewel thefts taking place up and down the Pacific Coast that police have linked to Colombian cartels. Detective Lou Lubesnick has other ideas and he zeroes in on one perp, a thief looking for a final score.

Teyana Taylor and Sasha Calle have joined the ensemble cast of the upcoming Netflix crime thriller, RIP, starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, with Joe Carnahan directing from his own script. The plot follows a group of Miami cops whose trust begins to fray after they discover millions in cash in a derelict stash house. As outside forces learn about the size of the seizure, everything is called into question — including who they can rely on.





TELEVISION/STREAMING

Prime Video has given a series order to a Reacher spinoff starring Maria Sten, reprising her fan favorite character, Frances Neagley, from the original series based on Lee Child's novels. Sten's Neagley is a private investigator in Chicago and former military colleague of Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson) in the Army’s 110th Special Investigations Unit. When she learns that a beloved friend from her past has been killed in a suspicious accident, she becomes hell bent on justice. Using everything she’s learned from Jack Reacher and her time as a member of the 110 Special Investigators, Neagley puts herself on a dangerous path to uncover a menacing evil. Ritchson is expected to appear on the spinoff as a guest star, reprising his role as Reacher.

Former Criminal Minds star, Matthew Gray Gubler, is returning to television as the lead of another CBS crime procedural, Einstein (working title). Gubler is set to play the title role and produce the CBS Studios pilot, from the Monk team of creator/executive producer Andy Breckman and director/executive producer Randy Zisk. The drama follows the brilliant but directionless great grandson of Albert Einstein (Gubler), who spends his days as a comfortably tenured professor until his bad-boy antics land him in trouble with the law and he is pressed into service helping a local police detective solve her most puzzling cases. Gubler’s Lew Einstein is a popular professor at Princeton when he actually shows up for class. Irreverent and misguided, Lew’s genius and famous name weigh heavily on him, but using his gift to help solve homicides may finally offer his life some direction and purpose.

FX has picked up Sterlin Harjo's drama pilot, a follow-up to the network's acclaimed series, Reservation Dogs, to develop into a series starring Ethan Hawke. The untitled series, formerly known as The Sensitive Kind, is set in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and said to have a film noir vibe centering on Hawke's character, a "guy who knows too much." The pilot cast includes Keith David, Siena East, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Tim Blake Nelson, Scott Shepherd, Tracy Letts, Kyle Maclachlan, and Macon Blair.

Poppy Liu (Hacks) and Chris Bauer (The Wire) have joined the cast of Netflix's limited series, His & Hers, in recurring roles. They will star opposite series lead and executive producer, Tessa Thompson. The six-episode limited series from William Oldroyd and adapted from Alice Feeney’s novel is set in the sweltering heat of Atlanta where Anna (Thompson) lives as a recluse and is fading away from her friends and journalism career. But when she overhears about a murder in Dahlonega – the sleepy town where she grew up – she is snapped back to life, pouncing on the case and searching for answers. Detective Jack Harper (Jon Bernthal) is strangely suspicious of her involvement, chasing her into the crosshairs of his own investigation. There are two sides to every story, his and hers, which means someone is always lying.

Colin Farrell is returning to Sugar, Apple TV+’s neo-noir thriller that was hailed for its gripping twists, for a second season. Set after the events of the first season, Season 2 will find Sugar (Farrell) back in Los Angeles to take another missing persons case. At the same time, he will continue to look for answers surrounding his missing sister.

Amazon MGM Studios is not proceeding with the Untitled J. Edgar project, one of two Bosch spinoffs that had been in development at the studio. The other, which centers on Detective Renée Ballard, was picked up to series earlier this year with Maggie Q starring. The Untitled J. Edgar offshoot was to follow Harry Bosch’s (Titus Welliver) former partner, Detective Jerry Edgar, who is tapped for an undercover FBI mission in Little Haiti, Miami. In this glamorous city, he is forced to balance his new life with the city’s gritty underbelly, while being chased by his mysterious past. Jamie Hector, who starred as Edgar opposite Welliver on Bosch, was poised to reprise his role in the potential spinoff.

PODCASTS/RADIO

The BBC chatted with Ian Rankin, who was on a deadline to complete his next Inspector Rebus thriller, and asked: How does a bestselling crime writer breathe new life into his most enduring character?

Kate Summerscale spoke with Paul Burke on Crime Time FM about her new true-crime book, The Peepshow; misogyny and male violence; the cultural and wider societal impact of a notorious murder, and more.

Meet the Thriller Author chatted with Jenny Milchman, the Mary Higgins Clark Award-winning author of five novels. She is launching a new series with Thomas & Mercer, introducing psychologist Arles Shepherd, a character who fights to save the most vulnerable children while battling her own inner demons. The Usual Silence is the first book in that series, which was just published.

Sergio Angelini, of the Tipping My Fedora blog, has started a new podcast on the topic of film noir, uncovering the secrets behind 100 years of crime movies, radio dramas, hardboiled fiction, and thousands of television episodes. For the inaugural episode, he's joined by crime fiction critic and historian, Barry Forshaw as they look at a selection of some of the home video releases on which Barry has worked, spanning 25 years of Film Noir.

The Pick Your Poison podcast investigated how homemade jewelry can poison you, why some people remain unaffected after exposure to this lethal toxin, and how it was used to assassinate dissidents from Eastern Europe.

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