MovieChat Forums > Runaway Jury (2003) Discussion > It might not have flopped if Will Smith ...

It might not have flopped if Will Smith had been cast.

posted 12 years ago by moviegeek1
2 replies | jump to latest

And he was interested in starring in the movie, but when John Grisham heard about it, he was vehemently against it, for whatever reason. Now, Smith had the power to take the movie and make it if he wanted to, but after realizing that Grisham was so dead set against him, he decided to let it go. But the reality is, once you sell your property to Hollywood, they can do with it as they please. John Cusack, who is a wonderful actor eventually got the lead, but the movie failed to reach audiences. It makes you wonder if Grisham really cared about the success of the film. He was also famously against Denzel Washington being cast in The Pelican Brief, but it was a huge hit, despite his objections.

Grisham is certainly entitled to his opinions, but perhaps he should leave casting decisions to the professionals.

Sister, when I've raised hell, you'll know it!

[–] leophy 12 years ago

Agree moviegeek1. Grisham did not want Denzel in Pelican Brief but Julia Roberts demanded it. Kudos to her for thinking outside of the box. She was hotter than Denzel at the time and had a lot of power and that movie really helped to build Denzel's growing cross-over appeal. Will Smith knows material that works for him and he was smart in wanting to do Runaway Jury but I think Grisham is more into protecting his integrity as a writer than having anything against Will or Denzel. He ended up accepting Denzel's character in Pelican Brief and even was on the set during filming but the characters were white in his books and he probably wanted to retain that on the screen.

[–] does_england_exist 11 years ago

I think it would've bombed no matter what...if they'd left the plot the way Grisham wrote it, maybe it had a shot--but compare it to other semi-recent, overbearingly liberal projects (Lions for Lambs, for instance)--most of them bomb, despite star power. Even if ppl agree with the politics of it, no one goes to the movies to be lectured.

I think The Pelican Brief succeeded, despite a very straight to DVD feel, because the McGuffin was held off til the very end. The chase is automatically more interesting when we don't know what we're chasing.