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Helen Mirren, Ben Kingsley and Pierce Brosnan have snapped up three of the four leading roles in the big-screen adaptation of “The Thursday Murder Club”, Richard Osman has confirmed.

 The author and TV presenter, whose book is “the fastest-selling adult crime debut in recorded history”, teased the big reveal on Xlast week, said The Guardian. The cast is “insanely great”, Osman wrote, adding: “I think people are going to love it.”

Now, in the latest episode of his podcast “The Rest is Entertainment” with Marina Hyde, he has confirmed who will play the “septuagenarian sleuths” in a retirement community who set out to solve a murder.

Osmond revealed that the character of Elizabeth Best “is going to be played by the person who people most often shout at me in the street as them wanting them to play Elizabeth… Helen Mirren, which is very exciting”.

The roles of Ibrahim Arif and Ron Ritchie are also “locked” to be portrayed by Kingsley and Brosnan respectively, said Digital Spy, “leaving Joyce Meadowcroft the only main character yet to be cast”.

Ron is being played by “the most handsome man in the world”, said Osmond on his podcast, “so he’s going to have to dull himself down a bit”.

Chris Columbus, whose previous credits include “Home Alone” and “Mrs Doubtfire”, is set to direct the movie, which is being made by Steven Spielberg’s production house, Amblin Entertainment. Osman told Digital Spy that filming will take place “this summer from [the] end of June to September, all in England”. 

His book sold 45,000 copies in its first three days of release in 2020 and has “spawned” three more novels, said The Guardian – “The Man Who Died Twice”, 2022’s “The Bullet That Missed” and “The Last Devil to Die”. A fifth book is planned for publication next year.