Universal Pictures is reportedly working on a Murder, She Wrote movie, based on the crime drama series that ran on CBS from 1984 to 1996. According to press reports, Amy Pascal will be producing the new film, with a script by Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo. The writers will not be doing any work on the project during the current SAG-AFTRA strike, however.
The late Angela Lansbury starred in the original television series, where she played the role of amateur detective Jessica Fletcher, winning Prime Time Emmy nominations every year. The iconic show was set in Maine, in the fictional town of Cabot Cove. Produced by Universal Television, the series attracted some 25 million viewers at its peak.
Pascal, who formerly served as the co-head of Sony Pictures, is credited with the production of Greta Gerwig’s Little Women and Molly’s Game. She also produced the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse film series.
Blum and Angelo most recently cowrote the screenplay for Dumb Money, a film directed by Craig Gillespie, which will enjoy limited theatrical release on September 15. Dumb Money is based on Ben Mezrich’s 2021 book The Antisocial Network, about a group of GameStop investors.
In the original CBS series, Angela Lansbury played a widow and mystery writer who became an amateur detective in her small New England community. The series was noted for the way it smashed gender and age stereotypes via its presentation of older female characters.
Lansbury, who died in 2022 at the age of 96, was perhaps best known for her leading role in the 1966 Broadway musical, Mame. She made her screen breakthrough with her role as Eleanor Iselin in the 1962 film The Manchurian Candidate.
Other actors who appeared in the series during its 12-year run included William Wisdom as Dr.
Seth Hazlitt, Ron Masak as Sheriff Mort Metzger, Tom Bosley as Sheriff Amos Tupper, Louis Herthum as Deputy Andy Broom, and Will Nye as Deputy Floyd.
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