Richard Osman shares Thursday Murder Club movie update
The hit crime novel might take a little longer getting to the big screen than expected.
Richard Osman has given an update on the movie adaptation of The Thursday Murder Club, revealing that it has been a casualty of the Hollywood writers' strikes.
The former Pointless host turned crime fiction writer penned the fastest selling debut novel of all time and is about to publish the fourth book in the series, The Last Devil To Die.
But fans of the series about a group of elderly amateur detectives who solve murders from their retirement home have also been looking forward to seeing book one on the big screen - which has now been delayed.
Speaking on the Chris Evans Breakfast Show, Osman gave an update on the film adaptation which will be directed by Steven Spielberg who won a bidding war for the rights to The Thursday Murder Club.
He said: "It was supposed to be filming now, and of course, it's not because of the strikes."
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Evans asked whether Osman knew which big name stars might be attached to the film and he replied: "Well, not now. Because, of course, you know what actors are like. They have windows where they're available. And suddenly the window shuts, so it changes. People are still negotiating."
He added: "But that's why I didn't get involved in the films. It's a mess, that industry. Always something goes wrong."
After book four is published, Osman is planning to take some time off from The Thursday Murder Club series and begin a new book series - but reassured fans that it wasn't the end for the crime novels as he has already signed up to two more stories in the series, as well as two of his new books.
He said: "They’re coming back! Don't worry about that. I’m giving them a year off."
Osman teased that there would be a "big emotional kick" in The Last Devil To Die and that it would bring "quite a few storylines to an end".
He admitted to "crying but also laughing" as he worked through wrapping up various storylines in the books and said he felt confident that his readers would still enjoy the book.
The House of Games host also said that his plans for the future included doing "as little TV as possible and as much writing as possible", and said that the schedule of new books he had signed up to should take him about another four years to complete.
