John Lee Hancock has been taking a while to set up a follow up to The Blind Side. He's already dancing around the idea of making crime drama Highwaymen, but he's added John Grisham adaptation The Partner to his list of possible new films.
New Regency is backing the project, which is not a shock since the company's head Arnon Milchan has a Grisham file the length of his arm. He produced the likes of A Time To Kill, The Client and Runaway Jury, so you can see why Grisham might be happy handing one of his printed babies over to him.
The Partner, which first hit bookshelves in 2005, follows young lawyer (surprise!) Patrick Lanigan, who has made partner in a Biloxi law firm. Though he's seemingly got it made with a good job, a beautiful wife and a newborn daughter, he's disillusioned with his legal calling and fakes his own death in a burning car so he can steal $90 million from his bosses. There's just one catch: he has to hope nobody finds out and hunts him down. Good luck, mate...
Hancock will write and direct the movie, though it might have to take second place to Highwaymen (which finds two veteran cops pulled from retirement to hunt down Bonnie and Clyde), depending on which film strikes his fancy first.