In the string of John Grisham adaptations that arrived in the 1990s —legal thrillers like “The Firm,” “The Pelican Brief,” “The Client” and “A Time To Kill“— Francis Ford Coppola‘s “The Rainmaker” starring Matt Damon might be better remembered than “The Chamber,” but it’s still considered to be among the less successful of the lot. The film disappointed at the box office, even if critics were kind, and the film is mostly seen as an outlier both in the respective Grisham and Coppola canons. Whether or not it deserves such a reputation, the material is being brought to life again.
READ MORE: Retrospective: The Films Of Francis Ford Coppola
Deadline reports that CBS has ordered a pilot for a TV series version of “The Rainmaker” from “Code Black” creator/executive producer Michael Seitzman. The drama will expand on the story about a young man just out of law school who winds up squaring off against an insurance company in a case that soon becomes quite dangerous. Here’s the book synopsis:
It’s summer in Memphis. The sweat is sticking to Rudy Baylor’s shirt and creditors are nipping at his heels. Once he had aspirations of breezing through law school and punching his ticket to the good life. Now he doesn’t have a job or a prayer—except for one: an insurance dispute that leaves a family devastated and opens the door for a lawsuit, if Rudy can find a way to file it.
By the time Rudy gets to court, a heavyweight corporate defense team is there to meet him. And suddenly he’s in over his head, plunged into a nightmare of lies and legal maneuverings. A case that started small is exploding into a thunderous million-dollar war of nerves, skill, and outright violence—a fight that could cost one young lawyer his life, or turn him into the biggest rainmaker in the land.
In light of HBO‘s recent limited series “The Night Of” examining traditional notions of law and order shows in TV, let’s hope that “The Rainmaker” attempts to at least try something different with the format. Otherwise, maybe we’re just better off reading the book or sticking with the movie.
