The Runaway Jury
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Image:The Runaway Jury.JPG The Runaway Jury is a legal/suspense novel written by American author John Grisham. The hardcover first edition was published by Doubleday Books in 1996 (ISBN 0385472943). Pearson ESL released the paperback edition in 2001 (ISBN 058243405X). The novel was published again in 2003 to coincide with the release of Runaway Jury, a movie adaptation of the novel. The third printing (ISBN 0440221471) bears a movie-themed cover, in place of the covers used on the first and second printings.
Tagline: Trials are too important to be decided by juries.
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Plot
'The Trial of the Century' - this term has been bandied about in reference to many legal proceedings over the years, but in the world of Grisham's The Runaway Jury, it seems to fit. Celeste Wood, widow, is suing a major tobacco company for sending her husband to an early grave. Many lawsuits have been brought to bear against the tobacco companies over the years, and all of them ended in victories for the defense. Wood's case could either break open the dam, unleashing a flood of claims against the tobacco companies, or it could seal the tobacco case for decades to come.
It is in this backdrop that fictional Biloxi, Mississippi resident Nicholas Easter enters the county courthouse to become potential juror number 56. His background will be carefully scutinized by both sides of the case; including one Rankin Fitch, jury consultant for the defense. Fitch specializes in manufacturing jury verdicts by whatever means necessary, legal or otherwise. He came through for the defense on all of their previous victories; now he faces his greatest challenge yet.
The novel vs. the film
Image:Runaway Jury.jpg The film adaptation of The Runaway Jury, which drops the "The" and is simply titled Runaway Jury, makes one small departure from the book. Grisham's novel pits the plaintiff, Celeste Wood, against a large, fictional tobacco company on the grounds that the company's cigarettes sent her husband to a premature death. The scriptwriters substitute a major firearms manufacturer for the tobacco company and firearms for the cigarettes because the recent film The Insider had been about tobacco companies.
Other significant changes from the book include the circumstances surrounding the husband's death, an increased role for the plaintiff's attorney (and thus for Dustin Hoffman), and more angelic motives on the part of the protagonists
Trivia
This is the first movie to feature both Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman, who were classmates at the Pasadena Playhouse.
In the movie's various stages of development, Edward Norton was originally slated to play Nick Easter alongside Gwenyth Paltrow as Marlee and Sean Connery as Rankin Fitch. Philip Kaufman and Joel Schumacher considered directing the film.
List of characters
- Nick Easter (John Cusack) - protagonist; juror and manager of an electronics store in the mall. Easter is also the man on the inside, working with girlfriend Marlee to get the verdict for the case.
- Rankin Fitch (Gene Hackman) - jury consultant for the defense; a hard nosed man who will never lose a verdict, often through ruthless tactics like blackmail and bullying.
- Wendell Rohr (Dustin Hoffman) - plaintiff's attorney and a crusader for gun control rights.
- Durwood Cable (Bruce Davison) - defense attorney
- Celeste Wood (Joanna Going) - widower; plaintiff
- Marlee (Rachel Weisz) - protagonist's partner working on the outside as a direct contact to both Fitch and Rohr. Like Easter, she has ulterior motives that have yet to be revealed.
- Herman Grimes (Gerry Bamman) - jury foreman
- Judge Harkin (Bruce McGill) - judge
Film credits
- Director - Gary Fleder
- Screenwriters - Brian Koppleman, David Levien, Rick Cleveland, Matthew Chapman
External links
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| John Grisham's novels (as of 2005) | |
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1980s:
A Time to Kill
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