Fox, Ridley Scott developing Don Winslow’s NYPD crime thriller

PanARMENIAN.Net - Fox has bought the movie rights to an untitled crime thriller by novelist Don Winslow and set it up with Ridley Scott to produce through his Fox-based Scott Free company, Variety reports.

Fox’s sister company HarperCollins Publishers’ imprint William Morrow will release the new novel in June, which centers on a corrupt sergeant at the NYPD’s most elite crime-fighting unit who must choose between his family, his partners and his life. Michael Schaefer and Shane Salerno are producing with Scott.

The pre-emptive deal comes a year after the studio and Scott launched development of Winslow’s bestseller “The Cartel,” which centers on two former friends whose paths diverged when one went to work for the Drug Enforcement Agency and the other joined the Sonora drug cartel. The book covers the decade between 2004 and 2014 and is a follow-up to his 2006 novel “The Power of the Dog.”

Steve Asbell will oversee the new project for the studio.

Scott is in post-production on “Alien: Covenant,” which is due out on Aug. 4 from Fox.

Winslow’s novels include “A Cool Breeze on the Underground” and four other titles centered on private investigator Neal Carey; “Savages” and “The Death Life of Bobby Z,” which were both adapted into movies. Winslow wrote the screenplay for “Savages” with Oliver Stone and Salerno; Stone directed the 2012 film, which starred Taylor Kitsch, Blake Lively, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Demian Bichir and Benicio del Toro.

Winslow’s deal was negotiated by CAA and the Story Factory. The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.