Summary
Runaway Jury (12A) 3/5 Dir: Gary Fleder With: Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, John Cusack, Rachel Weisz, Jeremy Piven John Grisham novels, like Stephen King novels before them, pretty much come with automatic major movie deals attached. Grisham's Hollywood sway is such that in the course of writing, he must be able to base his characters around whichever major stars he fancies for the big- screen version. The casting of Runaway Jury is sinisterly perfect enough to suggest a degree of forethought. The weak, dishevelled good guy, the sleekly smiling baddie, and the charismatic double agent shuttling between them have been so carefully tailored to fit the strengths of Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman, and John Cusack respectively, it's as if they're playing composites of their previous characters.
This is an unadventurous casting strategy, but a singularly efficient one: make actors this comfortable and you can rely on virtually flawless work. You can also rely on an embarrassment of fine character actors prepared to undertake cameo roles, just to catch a bit of reflected glory from the headline stars.See the full content of this document
Extract
Big Shots and Blanks; Film of the Week
When the likes of Jeremy Piven, Jennifer Beals, Bruce Davison, and Bruce McGill are squandered on small roles - and when Luis Guzman and Dylan McDermott crop up uncredited - you know you're in the presence of a high-gloss production. (Not that there isn't also the sense of talent going to waste - Piven in particular suffers, with his initially significant character unceremoniously relegated to the background as the film progresses.) Hoffman plays...
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