A Look Back at Gene Hackman - “Runaway Jury”
- Matt Palmer
- Mar 18, 2025
- 3 min read
Last month Hollywood lost an acting legend - Gene Hackman. The prestigious actor has appeared in numerous films throughout his entire career.
So, for the next couple editions, I will be taking a look at a few films that featured the legendary actor either as the main star or part of the supporting cast - starting with the 2003 legal thriller “Runaway Jury.”
After a workplace shooting in New Orleans, a trial against a gun manufacturer pits lawyer Wendell Rohr against shady jury consultant Rankin Fitch, who uses illegal means to stack the jury with people sympathetic to the defense.
But when juror Nicholas Easter and his girlfriend, Marlee, reveal their ability to sway the jury into delivering any verdict they want, a high stakes cat-and-mouse game begins.
Based on a John Grisham novel, “Runaway Jury” is a compelling courtroom drama that delivers an engaging story and all around amazing performances from the talented cast.
“Runaway Jury” is an entertaining piece of work that will really have you thinking throughout the entire film. The John Grisham film adaptation will lead you in so many directions as many twists and turns get introduced throughout the film.
Gene Hackman’s role of Rankin Finch, who’s been constantly victorious when it comes to consulting juries, is a memorable character and Hackman is one of those actors who can create a compelling, villainous kind of role and make it really stand out. His character does what he can to manipulate a jury so that way the verdict is in his favor and Hackman (as always) just knocks it out of the park.
The rest of the cast, which includes Dustin Hoffman, John Cusack, Rachel Weisz, among many others, also give great performances and some of the twists and turns you won’t see coming, especially with how Finch can manipulate the jury. The main twist, which involves Marlee (Weisz) and Easter (Cusack) can be sort of predictable in a way, yet it still makes a compelling little twist to this legal story and it still works.
You can currently stream “Runaway Jury” on Paramount Plus, Netflix, Tubi and Pluto TV, or rent it via various PVOD rental services.
Trivia: Despite being classmates at the Pasadena Playhouse and good friends, this was the only film that Hackman and Hoffman appeared together. They also share a scene together (which wasn’t in the initial script) after it was realized that they haven’t appeared in a film together prior to “Runaway Jury.”
MPAA rating: PG-13 for violence, language and thematic elements (running time 127 minutes)
This is Gene Hackman's and Dustin Hoffman's only film together. At the Pasadena Playhouse, they were classmates, and were both voted "Least Likely to Succeed."
The much-anticipated bathroom scene in this movie, where Rohr (Dustin Hoffman) confronts Fitch (Gene Hackman) is the first dialogue in a movie between Hoffman and Hackman. It was written while the rest of the movie was being filmed, after someone on the crew found out that the two, though they had been friends since 1956, had never starred in a movie together. It was finally shot on a single day at the end, several weeks after Hackman and Hoffman had finished their other work.
In the novel, the lawsuit is filed against a tobacco company. This screenplay was in development for several years and, after the release of The Insider (1999), all subsequent scripts involved a lawsuit against a gun manufacturer. Although, the movie contains various references to tobacco, for example, Nick Easter's advice to the maintenance man at the beginning.
In 1997, Edward Norton was originally cast in the role of Nicholas Easter with Joel Schumacher directing. Sean Connery and Gwyneth Paltrow were cast in the roles of Fitch and Marlee, respectively. But when Schumacher dropped out of the project, and it was delayed, the actors moved on to other projects. The project was revived in 2001 when Will Smith was in talks to play Nicholas Easter, with Jennifer Connelly as Marlee, and Mike Newell directing. Smith dropped out and the project was again stalled.
In this movie, the goth alternate juror who replaces the dismissed alcoholic juror is named Lydia Deets (Corri English). This is the name of the character played by "Winona Ryder" in Beetlejuice (1988), but the last name is a spelled Deetz.
During the bathroom confrontation between Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman, Hackman references to Hoffman about "truth, justice, or your American way," which is a phrase coined in the Superman comic books. Hackman played Superman's main nemesis Lex Luthor in three Superman movies.
Although The Firm (1993) was recently adapted into a short-lived one-season television show The Firm (2012), Runaway Jury (2003) is the final theatrical film release to date of a John Grisham novel adaptation.
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