In a highly unexpected announcement, Matthew McConaughey is attached to reprise his first major role for a new HBO sequel series.
While McConaughey first came to notice with supporting parts in the likes of “Dazed and Confused” and “Boys on the Side,” the actor really broke through when he scored the lead role of attorney Jake Brigance in Joel Schumacher’s 1996 film adaptation of John Grisham’s first novel “A Time to Kill”.
Now, HBO is developing “A Time for Mercy,” a series adaptation of the third Grisham novel centering on the Brigance character (the second being “Sycamore Row”). The book sees Brigance defending a young man accused of killing a deputy sheriff that abused his mom and his sister.
No writer is currently attached to adapt the book, but Lorenzo Di Bonaventura is onboard as an executive producer for Warner Bros. Television.
The original film, which also starred Sandra Bullock and Samuel L. Jackson, was the fourth adaptation of a Grisham work following successful hits like “The Firm” with Tom Cruise, “The Pelican Brief” with Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts, and “The Client” with Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones. Several others like “The Rainmaker” and “Runaway Jury” followed.
Source: Variety
