Runaway Jury Duty

Like the proverbial bad penny, the adaptation of John Grisham's The Runaway Jury has been rolling around for years. Starting out as a Joel Schumacher project with Edward Norton, Sean Connery and Gwyneth Paltrow starring, the floor promptly fell out from under the production in 1997 when the cast upped sticks and went their separate ways. Since then Mike Newell and Will Smith have been poised to take the bench but a timely overruling by Grisham sent the whole thing back to square one. When director Gary Fleder and the ever-reliable John Cusack took their numbers, hopes were raised and now, against all the odds, it looks like the production has finally found its feet. Hollywood heavy-hitters Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman are currently being 'courted' (oh the humour) by Fleder to help get this ailing production off the ground at last. When it does arrive, the film will star Cusack as jury foreman in a landmark case against a gun manufacturer. Subtly taking control of the jury, Cusack's motives seem less than strightforward while his fellow jurors conceal a number of dirty little secrets they'd much rather keep behind closed doors. God-willing, shooting on The Runaway Jury should begin as soon as the female lead is cast.