Gunfight Blazes in New Grisham Film
Hopefully, fans of novelist John Grisham won't mind that Runaway Jury — the latest flick adapted from his legal fiction (due later this year) — plays musical chairs with social issues. In the works since 1997, Jury's story has gone from a courtroom battle over tobacco (as in the book) to gun control. That's a hot-button issue for actor Bruce Davison, who co-stars with John Cusack, Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman in the film.
For the role of attorney Derwood Cable, Davison had to set aside his strong anti-gun sentiments to defend the gun manufacturer being sued. "It certainly goes against [my personal beliefs]," he tells TV Guide Online, "but [that's] what's been wonderful about working with Dustin and the director, [Gary Fleder] — trying to balance the argument as much as possible within the structure of a Hollywood movie. We've really spent a lot of time working on pro and con arguments within the regular trial situation."
While the filmmakers felt guns were more timely than cigs — hey, Russell Crowe already covered nicotine in 1999's The Insider — Davison thinks Jury still will satisfy Grisham aficionados. "Basically, the story is intact," he says. "[It's] the same story that was in place, as far as the manipulation of the jury itself, with some high-tech stuff added in since the novel was written."
Did Davison — an Oscar nominee for 1990's Longtime Companion — learn anything about the pro-gun side from doing this movie? "No," he says evenly. "I've always been aware of the other side. It's been an issue that's been close to me for a long time. I do have a registered handgun myself, and do have friends like [NRA president] Charlton Heston in the business that I've debated the issue with on many occasion."
Still, he concedes: "I guess... it's helped me come to terms with how the reality is going to unfold. I think it's going to be like DNA. Eventually, we're going to have to fingerprint guns; we're going to have to have more control over legislation. That's the only way you're going to deal with the market economy in which guns are such an amazingly strong part and have such control over congress."
