Mega-author John Grisham says new TV show based on ‘The Firm’ is ‘pure fun’

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This article was published 04/01/2012 (5396 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO – John Grisham says his family members still measure time in terms of “B.F.” and “A.F.” — before and after the publication of his 1991 page-turner “The Firm.”

After all, the novel — about a young legal eagle who takes on a mob-riddled Memphis law firm — sold millions of copies, spawned a hit Tom Cruise movie, and allowed Grisham to quit his job as a lawyer and become a full-time writer with a rabid fanbase that still eagerly awaits his books.

Given that astounding popularity, the author doesn’t sound like he’s losing any sleep over how viewers will receive “The Firm” TV series, debuting Sunday on Global.

“I’m not worried because I’m convinced the show is going to be a success. But also, personally, I’ve had so much success because of that one book that nothing could, you know, worry me about it now,” Grisham said in a recent interview.

“What we’re doing now … to me is just pure fun to watch it on TV.”

The author’s stamp of approval is all over the Toronto-shot series, which picks up 10 years after lawyer Mitch McDeere and his wife Abby entered the witness protection program at the conclusion of “The Firm.”

Grisham still sounds stung by the “painful experience” of adapting his 1993 thriller “The Client” for TV (he calls the 1995 effort a “dreadful show”) and had not considered small-screen treatment for “The Firm” until he read the script from Lukas Reiter, who has worked on “Boston Legal,” “Law & Order” and “The Practice.”

“For me I’m so looking forward to January the 8th to sit back with my family and watch (the two-hour pilot) of ‘The Firm,'” said Grisham. “I’m not worried about success or failure — I want to see (it) because of all the hard work that Luke and the cast and crew have put into it and it deserves a good audience — but I’m not worried about them.”

Grisham, an executive producer on the new show, says he doesn’t read the script for every episode but passes along “big ideas” about the direction the series might take.

And while he doesn’t dwell on a book once he’s done writing it, he likes where “The Firm” TV show has taken his characters.

“When I was finished with Mitch and Abby, I was, you know, as a creator, I was done with them,” he said.

“The cool thing about the TV show is that each week you get to watch Mitch in action as a real lawyer with different cases. And that’s what I’ve always wanted to see on television.”

Indeed, although there are “homages” to the book and movie (including lots of scenes of Mitch running with a briefcase), the show is an entirely different animal.

Landing the role of Mitch was somewhat serendipitous for Josh Lucas, given a fascination for the law fuelled during his research for 2011’s “The Lincoln Lawyer” and a recent jury duty stint.

“It was so dramatic and almost unbelievable to experience and think, ‘This is true and this is happening and I’m watching it,'” Lucas said of his time as a juror.

“We put a man away for life. He was violent and dangerous in the courtroom. It was crazy…. Also you realize the responsibility and pressure that not just the lawyers are under, but that the judge is under, but that the jury is under as well.”

Another draw for Lucas was his “Firm” co-stars, including Molly Parker as Abby, Callum Keith Rennie as Mitch’s brother, Ray, and Juliette Lewis as secretary Tammy.

“I love this cast, it’s family to me,” said the actor.

Lucas was particularly attracted by the idea of working with “Cape Fear” star Lewis, whom he called one of his “favourite actresses on Earth.”

Added Parker: “She is so exciting to work with, people will love her in the show.”

For her part, Lewis said the job on “The Firm” came “out of the blue.” Echoing the mantra of many actors these days, she said she ultimately accepted the role of Tammy because so many interesting projects have morphed from the movie theatre to the small screen.

“(In) this day and age the biggest risks are being taken in television, it’s just an interesting medium now more than ever,” explained Lewis.

“I haven’t done a series since 1989. I’m always into things I’ve never done before and that are new.”

Television, she noted, presents a unique acting challenge because there’s no way of telling what will happen to the characters.

“The thing with series television is, if this show is still on two years from now they could write that I gave a child up for adoption when I was 15,” she said.

“That was one of the discussions I had with (Reiter) because you can’t get too married to the source material … because in series television it could become anything.”

Grisham calls it a “very smart idea” to set the series a decade after the book.

“You had to have at least 10 years to get away from the very real threat that Mitch faced when he blew up the law firm in Memphis and because he was a marked man,” he said.

“He’s tired of witness protection, he’s tired of, you know, life on the run. He’s going to … say: ‘To hell with it, I’m going to have a normal life.’ And you really want that to happen but you’re really worried about what is going to happen.”

Although the show is distinct from the book and movie, Reiter is cognizant that he is dealing with a Grisham “entity” that is special to many.

Said the producer: “It’s a story that I love and I take incredibly seriously the importance of continuing it as well as possible, and in a way that I and fans of the original will recognize and appreciate.”

A two-hour premiere of “The Firm” airs Sunday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Global and NBC. Subsequent episodes will air Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT.