With the likes of Spider-Man 4, Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, and (presumably) a couple of indie flicks by name of Avengers: Doomsday and Avenger
With the likes of Spider-Man 4, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, and (presumably) a couple of indie flicks by name of Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars looming on his horizon, Tom Holland could be forgiven for taking a bit of a breather before committing himself to any more projects just now. But having just taken a year out from acting after the release of 2023’s The Crowded Room, there’s no sign of Holland disappearing again any time soon. Per Deadline‘s reporting, the British actor has just signed on to star in and produce legal thriller The Partner, an adaptation of John Grisham’s eponymous 1997 bestseller.
Boasting a script from The Imitation Game scribe Graham Moore, The Partner will see Holland explore another morally fraught character cut more from the Cherry or The Devil All The Time cloth than the Spidey suit. The original book, released during a run in Grisham’s career where knocking out Hollywood ready hits like A Time To Kill and The Pelican Brief was simply de rigueur, centres around Patrick Lanigan (Holland), a law firm partner who fakes his own death and does a runner to South America with $90 million. Unfortunately for Lanigan, who leaves behind a bewildered wife and his newborn child, the client from his law firm who he’s nicked the money off smells a rat, setting Lanigan on a collision course with, well, just about everybody he’s wronged and then some.
As legal thrillers go, The Partner is certainly one of the juicier ones in Grisham’s locker, and it’s one that Hollywood has tried to bring to our screens before. Back in 2012, The Blind Side director John Lee Hancock was set to direct an adaptation for New Regency, only for the project to hit the skids and rights to the movie to fall into Universal’s hands. Now however, with a star name like Holland throwing his weight behind the project both on screen and creatively (his production company Billy17 has partnered with Rideback on this), it looks like John Grisham has finally found The Partner‘s perfect partner. Another content engagement for Holland this week, then!
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