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Grisham Resurfaces in Hollywood, Continues to Explore Seedy Underbelly of Boring Profession

Cool Your Jets / Dustin Rowles

Trade News | September 30, 2008 | Comments (15)

There have been 13 John Grisham screen adaptations so far, but no hits since 1997’s The Rainmaker (and if you say Christmas with the Kranks, so help me God I will stick a foot in your left nostril). But, he keeps spitting out monkey-typewriter blather, which he calls books, and Hollywood keeps making movies out of them. I’m pretty sure the Grisham fascination is dead, but that’s probably because books are dead.

All the same, Hollywood is adapting The Partner, a 10-year-old Grisham novel that I’m assuming they opted not to adapt before because it sucks before realizing that sucking doesn’t matter as long as you can attach a decent cast. The novel was about a disillusioned lawyer who stole $90 million from his firm, staged his own death, and disappeared for a few years, only to turn up with a murder-charge pinned to him. Anne Peacock has signed on to adapt; she did the same for Night in Rodanthe and The Chronicle of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. Meanwhile, Grisham has a new novel coming out early next year, called The Associate (having already tackled the Client, Partner, Brethren, Firm, Rainmaker, Summons, Broker and Chamber. What’s left? Well, the secretary and paralegal and the transcriptionist. So, look forward to those in the years to come.









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Comments

"What's left?"

I give you SIDEBAR, The Movie, wherein the prosecution and defense co-mingle at the judge's bench and exchange their favorite Grisham movie lines for two hours and ten minutes.

Courtroom drama at its finest!

Posted by: TMax at September 30, 2008 3:26 PM

but that's probably because books are dead.

I will hurt you Dustin.

Posted by: Julie at September 30, 2008 3:29 PM

Hey, law's not boring!

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go back to researching licensing requirements for insurance agents.

Posted by: tt_marie at September 30, 2008 3:42 PM

okay, so my first thought was, "huh. i wonder what the licensing requirements for insurance agents really are?" i need a fucking drink.

Posted by: the bees knees at September 30, 2008 3:54 PM

The Partner was actually pretty good, except for that goddamn ending. I won't say what happened, but... Christ.

Posted by: Todd at September 30, 2008 4:25 PM

You forgot "The Appeal" and, his zazziest, "The King of Torts"!

I'm pretty sure the Grisham fascination is dead

If you mean no one's reading him, let me assure you...or rather, disappoint you...

Hey, I'm not exactly happy about it either. You don't even have to be alive to make money in genre fiction, because the audience always wants more, and if you're not reading it your grandma is. The seniors both vote and read like a motherfucker.

Posted by: Jay at September 30, 2008 4:45 PM

Oh MAN, is the law boring. Current law student here. Thought it would be intellectually challenging. Total mistake.

Posted by: BizzyBees at September 30, 2008 4:48 PM

I think someone should adapt "Playing for Pizza" an actuall GOOD Grisham book, and not a lawyer between its covers.

Actually, Sidebar, The Movie sounds like a great idea for the 12 year olds behind Date Movie, Meet the Spartans, Etc. They could roll every Grishamism into one movie.

Posted by: tiddo at September 30, 2008 5:22 PM

BizzyBees, law school is generally acknowledged to be way worse than actually practicing law. And, just so you're prepared, the Bar Exam is the Pit of Despair hidden in the lowermost nook of the gaping pore on the face of dying three-eyed fish in the cesspool of law school - enjoy that.

Posted by: LB at September 30, 2008 6:01 PM

LB, I unfortunately agree. Practicing law is MUCH MUCH worse. At least in law school you can pick pointless arguments with people in class. Or just screw around online. You don't have to worry about damn billable hours. Imagine every moment of your life accounted for in 6 minute increments. That is the life of an attorney, my friend. Get excited.

On the plus side, attorneys tend to booze a lot.

Posted by: tt_marie at October 1, 2008 12:00 AM

Bah...lawyers are overrated.

Posted by: BarbadoSlim at October 1, 2008 12:25 AM

And here I was thinking I would just read news about another Grisham adaptation. Thanks for the sudden relapse into depression, LB and tt_marie.

Posted by: JC at October 1, 2008 2:12 AM

John Grisham is the legal equivalent of Tom Clancy or Ben Bova. He writes idealized legal fantasies, in idealized legal contexts, where every hero/lawyer has a degree from the ivy league and they ALL... SOMEHOW, overcome everything and at the end pull the classic Top Gun: "I'll pull the brake and they'll fly right by." move at the end..and they win.

Bullshit

Posted by: BarbadoSlim at October 1, 2008 2:26 AM

The Steno Pad
The Faux-Croc Attache
The Bailiff
The Sugar Pine Panelling
The Expensive Hairpiece

Hey! That was easy! Maybe, like I just did, he just does a free-association exercise, thinking about all the things that pop in his head when he hears the word 'lawyer'.

Posted by: Mella at October 1, 2008 10:21 AM

Actually, waiting for the results for the bar exam is the most excruciating experience of your life. The question running through your mind is, "if I fail, what they hell am I going to do next?"

On a different note, I thought The Broker was a good book and could have been a travel book for Bologna, Italy. Very enjoyable.

Posted by: CL at October 3, 2008 11:50 AM



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