Mr. Murder (miniseries)

Mr. Murder is a 1998 American science fiction-crime thriller television miniseries starring Stephen Baldwin based on the 1993 book of the same name by Dean Koontz. It was first broadcast in New Zealand on September 21, 1998.^[1] The first part then aired on ABC in the United States on Monday, April 26, 1999, at 9:00 p.m. and the finale aired on Thursday, April 29, at 9:00 p.m.^[2]

Quick Facts Mr. Murder, Genre ...

Mr. Murder
Genre	Crime Thriller Science fiction
Based on	Mr. Murder by Dean Koontz
Screenplay by	Stephen Tolkin
Directed by	Dick Lowry
Starring	Stephen Baldwin
Theme music composer	Louis Febre Mark Snow
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of episodes	2
Production
Producers	Kenneth Kaufman George Jackson Ann Kindberg Dean R. Koontz Rob Lee Doug McHenry Debbie Smith
Cinematography	Greg Gardiner
Editor	Brent White
Running time	193 minutes
Production companies	Elephant Walk Entertainment Endemol Entertainment Patchett Kaufman Entertainment Pro 7
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	21 September 1998 (1998-09-21)

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Father and Son Drew Oslett Sr.(James Coburn) and Jr. (Thomas Haden Church) are shadowy operatives who create assassins and now through pioneering genetically engineering and cloning intend to create a perfect untraceable assassin. After electrocuting their intended candidate to gain his DNA, the tissue samples are contaminated and replaced by those belonging to Marty Stillwater (Stephen Baldwin) who is a successful mystery novel writer. Seven years later his clone Alfie is genetically engineered to be a perfect soldier and has been conditioned to be a remorseless killing machine. But unbeknownst to his creators he has developed a telepathic bond with Marty along with Remote Viewing capabilities. The clone is jealous of Marty's life and family, and intends to replace Marty. This intention prompts the Osletts to take a hit out on all the Stillwaters.

• Stephen Baldwin as Marty Stillwater/Alfie
  • Ryan O'Donohue as Young Alfie
• Julie Warner as Paige Stillwater
• Bill Smitrovich as Lt. Lowbock
• Thomas Haden Church as Drew Oslett Jr.
• James Coburn as Drew Oslett Sr.
• Kaley Cuoco as Charlotte Stillwater
• Brittney Lee Harvey as Emily Stillwater
• Don Hood as James Stillwater
• K Callan as Alice Stillwater
• Dan Lauria as Gen. Aames
• Don McManus as Carl Clocker
• Dennis Creaghan as Gen. Greydon Lamont
• Bertila Damas as Det. Beatrice Del Rio
• Richard Riehle as John Wexel
• Brandon Smith as Sen. James Ewald

Koontz sold the film rights to Mr. Murder to Savoy Pictures after the book's publication. The adaptation was initially scheduled to be a big budget theatrical feature in 1996 starring Bruce Willis as Marty Stillwater and to be directed by Uli Edel.^[3] However, this version never came into fruition.

With the feature film unable to get off the ground, the rights were sold to a different production company that developed the project as a miniseries on a much smaller budget.^[4] This adaptation was directed by Dick Lowry from a teleplay by Stephen Tolkin. The cast included Stephen Baldwin as Marty Stillwater, Julie Warner as Paige Stillwater, Thomas Haden Church as Drew Oslett Jr., and James Coburn as Drew Oslett Sr., a character not in the book. It was broadcast in New Zealand on September 21, 1998,^[1] and was later broadcast in the United States on ABC on April 26 and April 29, 1999.^[2]

Ray Richmond of Variety.com gave the miniseries a negative review, writing that it did not make any sense and that the only difference between the identical twins was their manner of speaking.^[2]