Richard Osman has shared an exciting update about The Thursday Murder Club film.
Steven Spielberg's production company Amblin acquired the rights to former Pointless presenter Richard Osman's debut novel before it was even published, with Ol Parker (Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) on hand as the writer-director.
Thanks to a tweet from Richard Osman, we now know that the film should be going into production later this year. Osman wrote: "Some very exciting developments with #TheThursdayMurderClub film this week. Fingers firmly crossed we'll be filming later this year."
Some very exciting developments with #TheThursdayMurderClub film this week. Fingers firmly crossed we'll be filming later this year 🤞🤞🤞March 29, 2023
Osman's followers were very pleased with the news, with many fan-casting the stars they'd most like to see bringing his characters to life on the big screen. Some of the popular suggestions that have been thrown around include Judi Dench, Julie Walters, Ray Winstone, and Helen Mirren.
This brief tease comes just a few months after Richard Osman teased that there were some big names in the discussion as far as the cast was concerned. During an appearance on The Graham Norton Show alongside Tom Hanks, Suranne Jones, Naomi Ackie and Rina Sawayama, he teased: "The scripts are done. I am not allowed to say any names of actors that are in the frame but everyone we are talking to has been a guest on this sofa."
At the time of writing, the only confirmed person attached to the project is the director, Ol Parker, who most recently teamed with Julia Roberts and George Clooney for Ticket to Paradise, which was released in 2022.
For those unfamiliar with the story, The Thursday Murder Club follows four septuagenarian sleuths — Elizabeth Best, Ron Ritchie, Joyce Meadowcroft, and Ibrahim Arif —living in Cooper's Chase, a peaceful retirement village. Together, the four of them meet to discuss unsolved crimes, calling themselves the Thursday Murder Club.
Published in 2020, the first book sees the four tackling their first live case when they set about trying to solve a brutal murder that takes place on their doorstep. Osman has subsequently released two further adventures featuring the gang: 2021's The Man Who Died Twice, and The Bullet That Missed, published in 2022. The fourth book in the series, The Last Devil To Die, is set for release in September 2023.
