Per Deadline, Saoirse Ronan, Sam Rockwell, and David Oyelowo are set to star in an Untitled Murder Mystery set in the 1950’s for Searchlight. This Country director Tom George is set to direct and The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret writer Mark Chappell wrote the script. With those two on board it is safe assume this will be a comedic twist on the murder mystery genre.
The film follows a desperate Hollywood producer in the 1950’s who is trying to turn a popular London play into a film. After people in the production are murdered, an inspector(Rockwell) and his rookie partner(Ronan) must put the pieces of this puzzle together to figure out who murdered these players.
The murder mystery genre has, ironically, slowly creeped back into the industry. Knives Out, Game Night, and Murder on the Orient Express are only a few movies in the passed few years that have revived the once popular genre. They are fun, mysterious, and a joy to watch so it is exciting that more mysteries are on the way. While Sherlock Holmes, Watson, and now his niece Enola are quite popular, it is nice to see original mysteries organically coming to the screen.
Saoirse Ronan is one of the most sought actors in the industry. A four time academy award nominee, with most likely a fifth coming later this year, Ronan at only age 26 has made quite the name for herself, and her work speaks for itself. It will be interesting to see her play a green rookie inspector that could bring some comedic moments to the film. Her guest spot on SNL in 2017 and her leading role in Lady Bird showed off her comedic chops.
Rockwell is coming off a slew of roles where he has played horribly racist characters. From his Oscar award winning role in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri to his Nazi Captain in Jojo Rabbit. Rockwell can essentially do anything and is one of the more underrated stars in the industry. Seven Psychopaths is one of his best roles.
Oyelowo is one of the more busy actors in the business, he is currently in various stages of five projects. Over the last decade Oyelowo has played everything from Martin Luther King Jr in Selma(which he should have won an Oscar for) to Agent Kallus in Star Wars: Rebels.
The point here is that all three of these actors are wonderfully talented and versatile. The group all can nail any accent and either play something dramatic or serious or anything in between. With the murder mystery genre slowly creeping back this has the making of a truly special take on the popular genre.
No production or release date is yet known.