It seems there’s a bit of a John Grisham renaissance going on in Hollywood. Although there hasn’t been a film adaptation of one of his book since 2004, a TV series based on The Firm is now showing on US TV, a movie version of The Partner is in the works, and now Variety reports that Fatal Attraction director Adrian Lyne is attached to an adaptation of The Associate.
Lyne hasn’t had a film in cinemas since the Richard Gere and Diane Lane movie Unfaithful in 2002, so it’d be a bit of a comeback for him as well.
The Associate has been in the works for a movie version for several years, with Shia LaBeouf sniffing round in 2008, and Tony Scott interested in directing in 2010. Now Paramount wants to move ahead with the film, which sees a Yale law graduate getting blackmailed into taking a job with a big legal firm so that he can learn crucial details about a big case and pass them on to a mysterious man called Bennie.
Paramount would apparently like Spider-man star Andrew Garfield for the lead role, but at the moment he’s just at the top of a wishlist rather than having signed up to star.