TNT is launching the Mystery Movie Night, a series of contemporary crime dramas, based on popular novels. The first six movies that are premiering in the next few weeks have some notable composers working on the music for the films. Airing tommorow, November 30 is the mystery drama Ricochet based on a novel by Sandra Brown and starring John Corbett, Gary Cole, Julie Benz and Kelly Overton. The movie centers on two homicide detectives find their careers and lives on the line when they get caught up in a case of murder and betrayal in high-society Savannah. Nick Gomez (Dexter, Drowning Mona) is directing and Howard Braunstein (The Informant!) and Jim Head are executive producing. The film’s music is composed by Chris Bacon who caught the attention of the film music community with his orchestral score for this year’s Source Code directed by Duncan Jones and starring Jake Gyllenhaal.
The first film in the Mystery Movie Night series, Scott Turow’s Innocent airs tonight and will be repeated several times over the next couple of days (check your local listings for details). The movie directed by Mike Robe stars Bill Pullman as Rusty Sabich, a judge charged with the murder of his wife – a situation that comes 20 years after he was cleared in the death of his mistress. Marcia Gay Harden and Alfred Molina are co-starring. The film is a sequel to Turow’s bestseller Presumed Innocent, which was made into feature film directed by Alan J. Pakula, starring Harrison Ford and with music by John Williams back in 1990. Scott Turow’s Innocent features a score by Laura Karpman who has been nominated for two Emmy Awards and scored such projects as Steven Spielberg’s 2002 mini-series Taken and the TV show Odyseey 5.
Coming up next week is the thriller Hide directed by John Gray (Ghost Whisperer, Helter Skelter). The movie stars Carlo Gugino as a Boston Police Detective who is called to the grounds of an abandoned mental hospital where a buried chamber is discovered. Bridget Regan, Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Kevin Alejandro are co-starring in the project based on a book by Lisa Gardner. Stephanie Germain (The Days After Tomorrow) is executive producing. The film’s music is written by Michael A. Levine who is best known as the composer of all episodes of the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced hit shows Cold Case and Close to Home.
Airing on December 7, 2011 is the legal drama Silent Witness directed by Peter Markle (Bat*21, Flight 91) and based on a novel by Richard North Patterson. The drama stars Dermot Mulroney as a prominent defense attorney who returns to his hometown to defend an old friend and teacher who is accused of murdering one of his student. Anne Heche and Judd Hirsch are co-starring and Lizzie Friedman & Greg Little (Sex and Death 101) are executive producing. Velton Ray Bunch has composed the score for the film. The credits of the Emmy-winning composer for Star Trek: Enterprise include such hit shows as JAG, Quantum Leap, The Pretender and Magnum, P.I.. Silent Witness marks his first TV scoring assignment in the last couple of years.
Scheduled to air on December 13 is the thriller Good Morning, Killer directed by Maggie Greenwald (Songcatcher, The Ballad of Little Jo) and based on a novel by April Smith who also adapted her work for the small screen. The film stars Catherine Bell as an undercover operative who is tracking down a serial kidnapper and develops a rapport with the kidnapper’s latest victim. Cole Hauser, William Devane, Titus Welliver and Suleka Mathew are co-starring. Smith is executive producing with Frank von Zerneck (Living in Oblivion). The score for the film is written by Golden Globe- and Emmy-nominated composer David Mansfield (Year of the Dragon, Transamerica, The Apostle) who has collaborated with Greenwald numerous times, including on such projects as Songcatcher and most recently, The Last Keepers starring Aidan Quinn and Virginia Madsen, which is expected to be released in 2012.
The final Mystery Movie Night project to air this year is the holiday-themed mystery drama Deck the Halls directed by Ron Underwood (Tremors, City Slickers, Mighty Joe Young) based on a book by Mary Higgins Clark and her daughter Carol. The movie follows the cleaning-woman-turned-private-eye Alvirah Meegan, played by Kathy Najimy and Detective Regan Reilly, played by Scottie Thompson who investigate the kidnapping of Regan’s father and a young female driver just before the holidays. Jane Alexander is co-starring and Howard Burkons (John Q), Brenda Friend (Joan of Arc) and Frank von Zerneck are the executive producers on the project. The music is written by Claude Foisy whose best known feature credit is the 2005 hit mystery thriller White Noise starring Michael Keaton. His TV credits include the genre shows First Wave and The 4400.
To learn more about the Mystery Movie Nights, visit TNT’s official website.
I’d like to see Bunch get more work, more especially something that will likely get a CD release, and show his talents. This doesn’t seem to fit either bill.