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Melissa McCarthy and Clive Owen are diving into true crime.
The Bridesmaids actress and Children of Men actor will headline an eight-episode limited series about the murder of 6-year-old JonBenét Ramsey. McCarthy will play the late beauty pageant queen’s mother Patsy Ramsey, while Owen will portray JonBenét’s father John Bennett Ramsey.
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Born in 1990, JonBenét Ramsey became a media fixation when she was found dead on Christmas Day in 1996 in the basement of the family’s home in Boulder, Colo., hours after being reported missing along with the discovery of a handwritten ransom note. An autopsy later revealed strangulation as her cause of death. In 2006, John Mark Karr, a former school teacher, insisted he’d killed JonBenét, but DNA evidence failed to put him at the scene of the crime and it was determined to be a false confession.
The case remains unsolved, and has been the subject of numerous documentary projects — including 2016’s The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey, which prompted the victim’s older brother Burke Ramsey to file defamation lawsuits against CBS and forensic pathologist Werner Spitz for accusing him of the murder. The lawsuits were ultimately settled by 2019.
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The Paramount+ series will center on Patsy, who died in 2006, and John, who is now 80, exploring their marriage and family life both before and after the tragedy, according to a press release. Richard LaGravenese (P.S. I Love You, Behind the Candelabra) will serve as showrunner, and Anne Sewitsky (A Very English Scandal, Presumed Innocent) will direct four of the episodes.
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The series marks the latest in a string of television projects for McCarthy. The Spy actress starred in Nine Perfect Strangers in 2021 and God’s Favorite Idiot in 2022, and is currently appearing as a guest star on Only Murders in the Building‘s fourth season. Owen has also appeared in his share of recent high-profile TV projects, including American Crime Story: Impeachment, A Murder at the End of the World, and, most recently, Monsieur Spade.
On the film side, McCarthy recently starred in The Little Mermaid, Genie, Unfrosted, and Thunder Force. Owen will next star in Cleaner, which will reunite him with Beyond Borders director Martin Campbell.
