The new Hallmark Movies & Mysteries movie, Mystery Island, will premiere on the channel on Friday September 29, 2023. We at Survived The Shows had the pleasure of chatting with writer John Christian Plummer about his experience in the making of Mystery Island and what fans can expect from the movie.
Can you tell us a bit about the storyline of “Mistery Island”?
Mystery Island is, first of all, it’s a movie that is for people who love murder mysteries, about people who love murder mysteries. It’s mostly set on this island in tropical island where people go. It’s a destination vacation and people go there to be inside a murder mystery and get to solve it by the end of their weekend. And of course, it’s for super wealthy people.
This film takes place at the 5th anniversary of Mystery Island, where all the original investors are returning, invited by the founder who will not be there for mysterious reasons and one of the investors, character named Baroness Janie Alcott, brings along her best friend, Doctor Amelia Priestley, who’s a police psychiatrist who works with the Met, the Metropolitan Police Department in London. And who is thinking about taking a break from that kind of work because of some not nice things that are happening in her life. As they are there to solve a fictional murder, they end up getting faced with an actual murder. And that brings in mainland detective Jason Trent, who works with Amelia and Janie and to to figure out who done it. So that’s a little bit about the storyline in Mystery Island.
What initially attracted you to the story in “Mistery Island”?
This idea came to me while I was chanting, meditating, which is I chant that’s the sort of the beginning of my writing process. I chant Nam Yoho Renge Kyo, which is Buddhism and while I was chanting this idea of this island where people go to solve fun murder mysteries, fictional murder mysteries, but you know, then a real murder, murder happens. This whole idea just came to me in a real flash and I quickly scribbled it all down and and typed it up and and sent it to Emily.
And I think obviously I love islands. I think islands are are great. I mean, islands are wonderful places in real life, but they’re also great places to set mysteries because everybody’s trapped on an island, you know, there.
And there’s often, and it’s also often a very beautiful place to be, but with some treacherous aspects to it, etcetera. And obviously two of my favorite Agatha Christie novels are set on islands which are And Then There Were None and Evil Under the Sun, both of which have been adapted into films. And then of course, after I had pitched this, Rian Johnson came out. After I had pitched this idea and sold this idea, Rian Johnson came out with Glass Onion, which is also set on an island and which is an absolute masterpiece.
So anyway, I don’t know if that really answers the question, but I I think the idea of doing something on an island is is what was really compelling to me. And again, like I said, that it would be for an audience that loves murder mysteries about a bunch of people who love murder mysteries.
The interview with John has been edited and condensed for lenght and clarity. Watch the full video interview at the top of the article!
Mystery Island writes by John Christian Plummer premiered September 29 on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries.
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