Netflix announced today that it is joining The Thursday Murder Club, the film adaptation of Richard Osman’s eponymous, best-selling whodunit novel.
Today’s news is terrific, as it means The Thursday Murder Club film will be available for streaming on Netflix (either after, concurrent with, or in lieu of a theatrical release).
What is this film, you ask?
It’s based on The Thursday Murder Club, the New York Times best-selling mystery novel written by British TV host and producer Richard Osman (Pointless, Richard Osman’s House of Games). A fun, funny, and engaging whodunit, it was devoured by readers across the globe — more than 10 million, actually (including yours truly) — and spawned the follow-ups The Man Who Died Twice, The Bullet That Missed, and The Last Devil to Die, which together make up “The Thursday Murder Club Mystery” book series. A fifth novel in the series is supposed to be published next year.
The Thursday Murder Club follows a group of four septuagenarian friends in a retirement home who meet up to solve murders for fun, but then find themselves caught up in a real case.
Three of the four key roles in the film have been cast: Helen Mirren (The Queen, Prime Suspect) will play no-nonsense ex-spy Elizabeth Best; Pierce Brosnan (“James Bond” films, The Son) will play rough-and-tough former union activist Ron Ritchie; and Ben Kingsley (Gandhi, Sexy Beast) will play mild-manned ex-psychiatrist Ibrahim Arif. The role of kindhearted former nurse Joyce Meadowcroft remains to be cast.
The film will be written and directed by Chris Columbus (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Mrs. Doubtfire, Home Alone) and produced by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment. It marks the latest film to be produced as part of Netflix and Amblin’s film partnership (which also includes the upcoming Carry-On starring Jason Bateman and Taron Egerton).
Said Richard Osman:
“I’m so proud of this book, so it is a dream to see The Thursday Murder Club in such incredible hands. From Chris Columbus, to Amblin to Netflix, there are geniuses everywhere I look. And what a cast. I’m pinching myself.”
The executive directors are Holly Bario, Jeb Brody, and Eleanor Columbus, with Jennifer Todd as producer.
Stay tuned for updates.
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The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
