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
Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis is the top choice to star in the Murder, She Wrote movie for Universal. If the deal comes together, she'll play the Jessica Fletcher role popularized by Angela Lansbury in the hit series that ran 12 seasons on CBS. Lansbury starred from 1984 to 1996 in what became one of the most successful and longest-running shows in TV history. Her Jessica Fletcher was a retired schoolteacher turned successful mystery writer, who proves to have an uncanny knack for solving real-life murders. The show was primarily set in the seaside town of Cabot Cove, Maine, though Jessica often travels to other locales as cases unfold.
Greg Kinnear (You Gotta Believe), Kate Berlant (Would It Kill You to Laugh), Nazanin Boniadi (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power), Ron Perlman (The Instigators), and Colleen Camp (Amsterdam) have come aboard to support Adam Scott and Danielle Deadwyler in the cast of The Saviors, a darkly comedic indie thriller. Directed by Kevin Hamedani from a script he co-wrote with Travis Betz, the film is about a suburban couple whose life spirals into paranoia and danger when they rent their garage to mysterious tenants, leading to a shocking revelation with world-altering stakes. Kinnear plays Jim Clemente, an eccentric detective whom the couple hires to investigate their new tenants. Berlant plays Scott’s character’s conspiracy theorist sister, Cleo. Boniadi plays Jahan, one of the mysterious tenants. Perlman and Camp play the parents of Scott’s character, Mr. and Mrs. Harrison.
TELEVISION/STREAMING
Icelandic streamer Síminn has boarded Reykjavik Noir, a series adaptation of Lilja Sigurdardottir's crime novel trilogy. The books, set in the Icelandic capital Reykjavik, include Snare, Trap, and Cage. In Snare, a young, divorced mother, Sonja, who is trying to win sole custody of her son, resorts to smuggling cocaine into Iceland and gets caught up in the ruthless criminal world. She clashes with Bragi, an experienced customs officer, and develops a relationship with a woman, Agla.
Matt Nix (Burn Notice) is developing the new drama series, Vacationland, at NBC alongside author Tess Gerritsen (Rizzoli & Isles) and Dan Rosen (Dead Man’s Curve). From Universal Television, the series follows top LAPD detective Grace Chen after she resigns from her job in disgust. She retires to the quirky village of Serenity, Maine, determined to put it all behind her. When Serenity’s Sheriff is murdered, Grace finds herself dragged back into crime fighting by Joey, a local veterinarian and amateur sleuth determined to protect the town she loves. Between Grace’s big-city detective skills and Joey’s understanding of Maine, they turn out to be a surprisingly effective team … and a very unlikely pair of friends
Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey) is set to write and executive produce a TV adaptation of Swiss-American author Donna Leon’s contemporary Detective Brunetti book series, which is in development at 20th Television. The project was originated and set up at the studio by Fellowes's longtime friend and mentor, producer Ileen Maisel, who died in February at the age of 68. She had been in the 20th Television fold since 2018 when she signed a first-look deal with its former division Fox21. Maisel will be credited as an executive producer on the Brunetti series. Author Leon will co-executive produce, and playwright Felix Legge will serve as co-writer and producer.
Public broadcaster France Télévisions has commissioned an adaptation of Frank Thilliez’s psychological thriller novel, Il Était Deux Fois (Twice Upon a Time). Coproduced by Banijay France’s scripted labels Marathon Studio and Terence Films, the six-part drama is created by Eric Delafosse and France Jacquet and directed by Florian Thomas and Valentin Vincent. The plot focuses on a police captain searching for her missing daughter who wakes in a hotel room with a decade missing from her memory. The cast includes Odile Vuillemin, Hubert Delattre, Nicole Calfan, and Rémi Devilla.
Eddie Redmayne has signed on to return as the Jackal after Peacock and Sky renewed the hitman drama, The Day of the Jackal, for a second season. It comes as little surprise given that Redmayne is the main character of the drama series and [SPOILER ALERT] seemingly emerges relatively unscathed at the end of the first season in the dramatic and twist-heavy finale. Adapted by Ronan Bennett from the hit Frederick Forsyth novel, Season 1 follows an unrivaled and highly elusive lone assassin, the Jackal (Redmayne), who makes his living carrying out hits for the highest fee. But following his latest kill, he meets his match in a tenacious British intelligence officer (Lashana Lynch) who starts to track down the Jackal in a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase across Europe, leaving destruction in its wake. The cast also includes Úrsula Corberó, Charles Dance, Richard Dormer, Chukwudi Iwuji, Lia Williams, Khalid Abdalla, Eleanor Matsuura, Jonjo O’Neill, and Sule Rimi.
PODCASTS/RADIO
Attica Locke, award-winning author of the Highway 59 series, was interviewed by Robert Justice on Crime Writers of Color.
On Crime Time FM, Alison Gaylin chatted with Paul Burke about her new hardboiled thriller, Buzz Kill; a Sunny Randall novel; Robert B Parker's Boston; writing psychological thrillers; and a love of 70s conspiracy movies.
Crime Cafe featured Debbi Mack's chat with journalist, attorney, podcaster, and true crime writer, Kerrie Droban, on writing about psychopaths and more.
Vaseem Khan and Abir Mukherjee, hosts of Murder Junction (fka Red Hot Chili Writers), spoke with Rob Parker about the true mystery of the Yuba County Five, and Rob's new crime series, set in Norfolk, beginning with The Troubled Deep.
The Crime Wave podcast welcomed author Rob Lopresti to talk about his new gig as editor of the short story anthology, Crimes Against Nature.
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