John Grisham’s work hasn’t reached the adaptation levels of Stephen King’s, but the lawyer-turned-author still has multiple movie credits to his name. And there was that The Firm TV show on NBC, in which Josh Lucas replaced Tom Cruise as the lead character in what was a sequel series to the film/book. (It was canceled after the first season). Five years later, Deadline reports that Grisham’s sold a new pilot to CBS based on another one of his novels.
This time it’s The Rainmaker that will make its way to the small screen for some serious legalese and drama. The story follows Rudy Baylor, who bootstrapped his way through law school but still makes time to help his elderly landlord with repairs, or some grieving parents with their lawsuit against a huge insurance company. The 1995 novel was adapted by Francis Ford Coppola for film in 1997, and starred Matt Damon as Rudy and Danny DeVito as his lawyer colleague. Oh, and Mickey Rourke plays someone named “Bruiser,” which sounds about right.
Grisham is executive producing with Brett Mahoney and Code Black’s Michael Seitzman. No cast has been announced, but this adaptation is apparently a passion project of Seitzman’s.