Director: Dick Lowry
Writers: Dean Koontz (novel), Stephen Tolkin (teleplay)
Stars: Stephen Baldwin, Julie Warner, Bill Smitrovich, James Coburn
Production Companies: Elephant Walk Entertainment, Endemol Entertainment, Patchett Kaufman Entertainment, Pro 7
Runtime: 193 min (2 parts)

The episode listing appears on pages 203-204 of the April 42-30, 1999 issue of TV Guide. A half-page ad appears on page 131.

Here’s an interesting excerpt from Tales from the Script: 50 Hollywood Screenwriters Share Their Stories edited by Peter Hanson and Paul Robert Herman, chapter 3: The Marketplace of Ideas, p77

“MICHAEL WOLK: I had many experiences in Hollywood of not pitching original ideas, but of going into meetings with producers who had a property already and were looking for a way to ignite it. It was either something that had lain dormant for a while, or it was a new property, or a sequel they were trying to create, and they were pumping writers for ideas.

“I had a marvelous interaction with Dean Koontz, who is somewhat more popular than, let’s say, me. He had written a book called Mr. Murder, and it was being developed as a script for Bruce Willis. I really liked the book, and I had some great ideas how to make it better for the screen.

“I got down to the finals, and I was talking to Mr. Koontz himself over the phone. I was able to impart my story-making magic to Mr. Koontz, who listened. But in the end I was nixed for the job because, basically, Dean Koontz thought he’d written a pretty good story, and he didn’t think I’d written a better one.”

Articles & Reviews

• TV, “Koontz’s knife is dull in the ‘Murder’”, April 25-May 1, 1998 p4, Dusty Saunders
  TV Listings insert from major newspapers featured a photo of Stephen Baldwin from Mr. Murder with the caption “A  less than perfect murder.”
• People, “Dean Koontz’s Mr. Murder”, April 26 1999, p27
• Variety, “Dean Koontz’s ‘Mr. Murder’”, April 26, 1999, Ray Richmond
• Fangoria, Postal Zone column, letter from “jsteadman”, Includes a photo from Mr. Murder, #184, July 1999, p7

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