Tip-offs and Trifles

• French-Canadian director and screenwriter Denis Villeneuve (Blade Runner 2049, Dune and Dune: Part Two) has been tapped to helm the next, 26th James Bond film. “Some of my earliest movie-going memories are connected to 007,” he is quoted as saying. “I grew up watching James Bond films with my father, ever since Dr. No with Sean Connery. I’m a die-hard Bond fan. To me, he’s sacred territory. I intend to honor the tradition and open the path for many new missions to come. This is a massive responsibility, but also, incredibly exciting for me and a huge honor.” As The Spy Command observes, this will be “the first Bond movie since Amazon gained creative control of the franchise earlier this year.” There’s no word yet on a title for this picture or when it might be released to theaters.

• In Reference to Murder reports that

Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) will lead Apple’s legal drama Presumed Innocent for Season 2. The series hails from multi-Emmy Award winners David E. Kelley and J.J. Abrams, and executive producers Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel Rusch Rich, Erica Lipez, and Matthew Tinker. Led by Gyllenhaal, Season 1 was inspired by Scott Turow’s courtroom thriller of the same name and tells the story of a horrific murder that upends the Chicago Prosecuting Attorney's office when one of its own is suspected of the crime. The book was published in 1987 and was turned into a 1990 feature starring Harrison Ford as Rusty Sabich, the same role Gyllenhaal took on. As reimagined by Kelley, Presumed Innocent will explore obsession, sex, politics, and the power and limits of love, as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.

• A hat tip to that same blog for sharing the news that Matthew McConaughey “is in talks to star in Skydance’s feature film based on the iconic private eye, Mike Hammer, from a script by Nic Pizzolatto, who collaborated with the actor in True Detective.” Deadline adds, “Skydance acquired the rights to Mickey Spillane’s and Max Allan Collins’ Mike Hammer franchise with plans to develop and produce the bestselling book series into a feature film. … Collins [who continued the Hammer series after Spillane’s death in 2006], will executive produce with Jane Spillane [Mickey’s widow] serving as co-producer.”

• R.I.P., Terry Louise Fisher, the co-creator of L.A. Law.

• Since May, when I mentioned on this page that host Barry W. Enderwick showcased the Officer Bill Gannon Sandwich (of Dragnet fame) on his YouTube series, Sandwiches of History, I have been checking up on Enderwick’s channel, well, pretty much every day. His latest episode takes us back to Dragnet, this time to sample the Officer Bill Gannon Garlic Nut Butter Sandwich.

• The New York Times asks, “What’s a ‘book boyfriend’?”

• Finally, Lee Child will headline England’s inaugural Whitby Literary Festival, to be held in that North Yorkshire seaside town from November 6 through 9. During a public interview with TV personality and author Rob Rinder, Child plans to talk about Exit Strategy, the 30th Jack Reacher novel (penned with his brother, Andrew Child), set for publication on both sides of the Atlantic come November 4. Also up for discussion will be Child’s “first-ever autobiographical collection,” Reacher: The Stories Behind the Stories, due out on September 9.