Alex Cross follows the homicide detective/psychologist from the best-selling novels by James Patterson, as he comes up against psychopathic serial killer Picasso (Matthew Fox). This time, the story takes a younger version of Alex Cross (Tyler Perry) back to the origins of the character while the two men face off in a high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse that will push Cross to this edge of his moral limits. From director Rob Cohen (The Fast and The Furious, xXx), the film also stars Edward Burns, Cicely Tyson, Carmen Ejogo, Giancarlo Esposito, John C. McGinley and Jean Reno.

At the film’s press day, actress Rachel Nichols – who plays Monica Ashe, one of Cross’ co-workers at the Detroit P.D. – spoke to Collider for this exclusive interview about how she came to be a part of the film, why she loves playing strong women, going through training with Tyler Perry and Ed Burns, how natural the chemistry with her co-stars was, and how intense Matthew Fox’s transformation for his role was.  She also talked about her Canadian TV show Continuum, which will be airing on Syfy, that they start shooting Season 2 in January 2013, how she’d like to squeeze in another film first, and how she hopes her 2005 Fox TV show The Inside will be made available on DVD.  Check out what she had to say after the jump. 

With Rob Cohen’s adaptation of James Patterson’s Alex Cross opening in theaters this weekend, you might have thought we’d have to wait to gauge audience response to Tyler Perry in Morgan Freeman’s former role before moving ahead with sequels.  Think again.  Perry and Patterson are reportedly in the final stages of sealing a deal for the planned sequel, Double Cross.  Another adaptation from Patterson’s series, this would return Perry to the title role of the crime solver faced with yet another serial killing spree. Not bad for being the first picture that Perry didn’t direct, produce or write.  Hit the jump for more on Double Cross. 

Alex Cross follows the homicide detective/psychologist from the best-selling novels by James Patterson, as he comes up against psychopathic serial killer Picasso (Matthew Fox).  This time, the story takes a younger version of Alex Cross (Tyler Perry) back to the origins of the character while the two men face off in a high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse that will push Cross to this edge of his moral limits.  From director Rob Cohen (The Fast and The Furious, xXx), the film also stars Edward Burns, Rachel Nichols, Cicely Tyson, Carmen Ejogo, Giancarlo Esposito, John C. McGinley and Jean Reno.

At the film’s press day, actor Tyler Perry talked about what drew him to this role, what it was like to be an actor for hire, how it was to be so stripped down for a character, how he enjoyed learning Krav Maga, whether he’d consider doing more role like this in the future, doing the fight sequences with co-star Matthew Fox, and what his Madea fans might think of him in this film.  He also talked about his partnership with Oprah Winfrey for original programming on OWN, how he feels about being a mogul, if he’d ever want to direct a big-budget movie, his biggest fears, and the fact that he’s recently met with J.J. Abrams about a possible project, but he will not appear in the Star Trek sequel.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

 Another day, another adaptation of a James Patterson novel.  This time around, the book being adapted is Guilty Wives and the man with the pen is Paul Boardman. Boardman normally partners up with Scott Derrickson for projects (like they did on The Exorcism of Emily Rose), but the former will take Guilty Wives on as a side project while the latter preps Beware the Night.  This Patterson novel centers on an all-girls vacation of four married women whose trip to Monte Carlo takes a turn for the worse when they wake up one morning amidst hangovers and homicides.  Hit the jump for more.

Forbes has released their list of the highest-paid men in entertainment.  Minus Oprah, I bet it looks pretty much the same as the highest-paid people in general. That said, Tyler Perry does rep the diversity quotient at the top of the list with $130 million made from May 2010 to May 2011.  Perry is not popular with the critics, but I continue to be impressed by the man who can outearn such power players (and notable white men) as Jerry Bruckheimer and Steven Spielberg.  Perry has directed ten movies since his feature debut in 2006, and starred in most of them.  In recent years the two TBS sitcoms Meet the Browns and House of Payne have proven a major contribution to Perry’s paycheck.  He has a good shot at next year’s title, too: in 2012, he’ll deliver at least one more project, Good Deeds, and star in the potential franchise starter I, Alex Cross.

Look for the top ten and the oddities within (James Patterson?) after the jump.

Idris Elba has signed on to star in Cross, the latest installment based on James Patterson’s series of novels centered around the adventures of forensic psychologist Dr. Alex Cross.  The character was previously played on screen by Morgan Freeman in 1997′s Kiss the Girls and 2001′s Along Came A Spider.  According to Deadline, David Twohy (The Chronicles of Riddick) will direct — he is currently doing a rewrite on Kerry Williamson’s script.

Elba will next be seen on the big screen in the heist film Takers starting August 27th; on the small screen, Elba stars as the titular character at the center UK-based Luther, and lend his services to the cancer comedy The Big C in a multi-episode arc.  Hit the jump for a synopsis of Cross.