EXCLUSIVE: Netflix just made a big offer. The streamer has joined The Thursday Murder Clubthe Chris Columbus-directed feature film adaptation of Richard Osman’s bestseller.
Just a few days after confirming the cast of the film with Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan and Ben Kingsley in the lead roles, we can reveal that Netflix is now also on board.
The film has been brewing since September 2020, when Steven Spielberg acquired the adaptation rights from Osman, the British game show host, TV executive, screenwriter and novelist. Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment does it with Columbus (Home alone, Ms. Doubtfire And Harry Potter) the writer and director.
The film will be the latest film in Netflix’s film partnership with Amblin, which has already produced the upcoming action thriller Jaume Collet-Serra Continuewith Jason Bateman and Taron Egerton.
The story is about a group of older friends in a retirement home who meet for fun to solve murders, but then find themselves in a real case. Mirren will play ex-spy Elizabeth, Kingsley will play ex-psychiatrist Ibrahim and Brosnan will play former union activist Ron. Negotiations are still ongoing as to whether an actress should play the fourth member of the group, Joyce.
According to Osman in his podcast The rest is entertainment Earlier this week, filming will begin in the UK in late June and continue until September. Holly Bario, Jeb Brody and Eleanor Columbus are the executive producers and Jennifer Todd is the producer.
Osman’s novel, his first novel as an author, sold more than ten million copies and was the first debut novel ever to reach Christmas number one in the UK. It led to follow-up books like The man who died twice, The bullet that missed And The last Devil to die forThe latter became the fastest-selling book by a British author since records began. Only Harper Lee’s Hire a guard and Dan Browns The lost symbol sold faster everywhere and a fifth story is planned for 2025.
Osman is known to millions of people in the UK as the host of the BBC game show Richard Osman’s House of Games and worked as a quiz master for daily quizzes for years Pointless. He is known in industry circles for his long association with Endemol UK (now part of Banijay UK), where he rose to become creative director Big Brother company before his departure in 2020.
“I’m so proud of this book, it’s a dream to see The Thursday Murder Club in such incredible hands,” said Osman. “From Chris Columbus to Amblin to Netflix, there are geniuses everywhere I look. And what a cast. I’m pinching myself.”