2021 already had everyone talking about Night Stalker: The Hunt For A Serial Killer, Allen v. Farrow, Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel, and Dr. Death.
Now true crime fans are ready for their next obsession and it won’t be a long wait as this is all still to come in 2021.
Memories of a Murderer: Nilsen Tapes
Release date: August 18th on Netflix
“I am not a monster, I am a man.” These are the words of serial killer Dennis Nilsen narrating his life and horrific crimes in chilling detail during recordings made from his jail cell inMemories of a Murderer: Nilsen Tapes.
In February 1983, Nilsen was arrested at his home in North London. Human remains were discovered blocking the drains at the house where he rented an apartment on the top floor.
The Scottish-born serial killer confessed to murdering fifteen victims – all young men, over a period of four years. Police found in his apartment the remains of victims in plastic bags hidden in the wardrobes.
Now, director Michael Harte has been granted unique access to over 250 hours of never-before-published cassette tapes left in Nilsen’s cell following his death in 2018 at the age of 72-years-old.
No Man of God
Release date: August 27th in Theatres
No Man of God details the complicated relationship that develops between serial killer Ted Bundy and FBI analyst Bill Hagmaier during Bundy’s final years on death row.
Elijah Wood takes on the role of Hagmaier and Luke Kirby will fill the shoes of one of the most notorious murderers of all time. Between 1974 and 1978, he brutally murdered 30 women and girls in seven different states – although the real victim count is believed to be much higher.
Eventually, following two escapes from custody; in 1979, Bundy stood trial in Miami for the brutal Chi Omega homicides and was handed the death penalty.
Kirby revealed to Variety, “I’m sure you can imagine the delight that I took in being told that I should play this role. It’s definitely not the first thing you want to hear when meeting somebody.”
Adding, “We sat together hashing out the challenges, concerns, peculiarities, and nausea that would come with doing something like this. The good news is that I didn’t feel beholden to him as a person or to his legacy because I don’t think he had a legacy at all. It was just a path of destruction. Not feeling that responsibility was freeing.”
American Crime Story – Impeachment
Release date: September 7th on FX/BBC
American Crime Story executive producer Ryan Murphy will be bringing to our screens this year one of the biggest sex scandals of our time.
In 2018, Murphy optioned ‘A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Sex Scandal that Nearly Brought Down a President’, Jeffrey Toobin’s book about Monica Lewinsky’s relationship with the 42nd President of the United States. However, Murphy insisted he would only produce the series if Lewinsky signed up as a co-producer.
Titled American Crime Story – Impeachment the series will star Clive Owen as the former president and Beanie Feldstein as Lewinsky. American Horror Story actress Sarah Paulson will portray Linda Tripp, a former American civil servant and friend of Monica’s who secretly recorded confidential conversations they shared.
Murphy told Collider, “I’m very, very excited to have Monica Lewinsky’s version of what happened be put out there in the world, and I think that she’s earned the right to be able to tell her story, how she wants to tell it. And I think her version of what happened and the facts will be very startling to people, and I think it’s important. I love and care for her as a person.”
Monsters Inside: The 24 Faces of Billy Milligan
Release date: September 22nd on Netflix
In the late 1970s, accused serial killer Billy Milligan became the first man to use multiple personality disorder in an insanity defense.
Milligan was a man tormented by 24 separate and distinct personalities. Among them are: Philip, a petty criminal; Kevin, who dealt drugs; April, who wanted to murder Billy’s stepfather; Adalana, the shy, affection-starved lesbian who ‘used’ Billy’s body in the rapes that to his arrest; David, the 8-year-old lost child; and the Teacher; the sum of all Billy’s minds as one.
But can he be believed? This four-part limited series aims to get audiences’ minds racing.
House of Gucci
Release date: November 26th in Theatres & Paramount+
House of Gucci is inspired by the shocking true story of the family empire behind the Italian fashion powerhouse. Ridley Scott directs and MGM Studios revealed the film will reveal “three decades of love, betrayal, decadence, revenge, and ultimately murder, we see what a name means, what it’s worth, and how far a family will go for control.”
House of Gucci boasts an all-star cast with Lady Gaga (real name Stefani Germanotta) as Italy’s “Black Widow,” Patrizia Reggiani, the ex-wife of Maurizio Gucci, who is being portrayed in the film by Adam Driver. The cast also includes Salma Hayek, Jared Leto, Jeremy Irons, Al Pacino, and Jack Huston.
The film will be released in theatres to coincide with Gucci’s 100th anniversary.
Four Lives
Release date: Expected late 2021 on BBC
Originally titled The Barking Murders the production hit huge delays in 2020. Now retitled as Four Lives the docuseries stars Stephen Merchant as serial killer Stephen Port. Also known as ‘The Grindr Killer’, Port, who lived in Barking, London, received a life sentence in 2016. He was eventually convicted of murdering four young men.
The first three victims were initially thought not to have died in suspicious circumstances and despite LGBT groups correctly believing there was a serial murderer at large, the police had led the public to believe the crimes were not linked.
The three-part series is written by Jeff Pope and Neil McKay who also teamed up for Appropriate Adult which looked at the story of serial killer Fred West.
Killers of the Flower Moon
Release date: Expected late 2021 in theaters
Martin Scorsese is finally bringing the hotly-anticipated Killers of the Flower Moon to the big screen. Based on The New York Times best-selling book by David Grann of the same name, the star-studded cast includes Leonardo Di Caprio, Lily Gladstone, Robert De Niro, and Jesse Plemons.
Set in the 1920s, the film retells the unsettling story of Osage Nation Native Americans, who were at one time the richest people per capita in the world after discovering oil underneath their land.
During the 1910s to 1930, more than 60 wealthy, full-blood Osage Native Americans were killed and at the time these deaths were covered up and the control of their oil rights stolen from the surviving families. This period of time was known as the “Reign of Terror.”
Scorsese and DiCaprio met in person with the leader of the Osage Nation Geoffrey Standing Bear to ensure the film would fairly represent the time period depicted. A press release from Osage News confirmed “several members of the community spoke, sharing their concerns, stories, and thoughts with the film team. DiCaprio asked several questions which sparked a thoughtful conversation that will inform the script and his character.”
Landscapers
Release date: Expected late 2021 on HBO and Sky Atlantic
Landscapers will follow the true story of a unique murder case carried out by the seemingly harmless couple Susan and Christopher Edwards.
For more than a decade, the bodies of Susan’s parents were undiscovered buried in the garden of their home in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. They were finally arrested and accused of looting approx. $250,000 from her parent’s bank account in order to splash the cash on Hollywood memorabilia.
Despite overwhelming evidence including forged signatures on Christmas cards that were sent to relatives year after year and the couple traveling every few weeks from their home in East London to the house of the murders to cut the grass; Susan and Christopher have always protested their innocence.
Cameron Roach, Director of Drama at Sky Studios, commented: “(The script is) a sensitive exploration of what could drive such an ordinary couple to commit murder and I’m delighted that Olivia Colman will bring Susan to life in what promises to be a compelling series.”
The Staircase
Release date: Expected late 2021 on HBO Max
On the evening of December 9th, 2001, American novelist Michael Peterson called the police claiming to have just discovered his wife, Kathleen Peterson, lying dead in a pool of blood at the bottom of the back staircase in the couple’s mansion in Durham, North Carolina.
Peterson alleged Kathleen had fallen down the stairs but a medical examiner later revealed she had been beaten on the head with a weapon. He was then arrested on suspicion of murdering his wife and after one of the longest trials in North Carolina history, a Durham County jury found Peterson guilty of the murder.
Now, actor Colin Firth has signed up to play the lead role in The Staircase on HBO Max. He will star opposite Hereditary actress Toni Collette as Kathleen. Director Antonio Campos revealed, “This has been a project I have been working on in one way or another since 2008. It’s been a long and winding road, but well worth the wait to be able to find partners like HBO Max and the incredible Colin Firth to dramatize such a complex true-life story.”
Inventing Anna
Release date: January 1st, 2022 on Netflix
Since Netflix announced Inventing Anna, a true story about a journalist who investigates the Instagram-legendary heiress who stole the hearts – and money – of New York’s social elite; true crime fans have been crying out for an offical relase date. Now the stremaing giant have announced they will premiere the new series on New Year’s Day 2022.
Russian-born German con woman Anna Sorokin moved to New York in 2013. Then she adopted a new identity as Anna Delvey, a ridicolously rich European heiress.
She claimed her net worth was approx. $60 million; yet still managed to persuade her social ciricle to pay for her hotel rooms, restaurant meals, and shopping trips.
Eventually, Sorokin was convicted of larceny and theft of services before taken into custody and deported back to Germany.
Fans of Dirty John and Ozark will be delighted to see actress Julia Garner back in another girtty role. The docuseries also stars Anna Chlumsky and Laverne Cox.
