Backing Out of ‘Jury’ Duty

When “Batman & Robin” director Joel Schumacher bailed last week on plans to direct an adaptation of John Grisham’s bestseller “The Runaway Jury” for Warner Bros., his move caught many by surprise.

Schumacher is considered one of the most bankable filmmakers in the business and certainly on the Warner Bros. lot. Warners paid about $8 million to Grisham just for movie adaptation rights for “The Runaway Jury,” studio sources said.

Schumacher, who previously directed Grisham’s “The Client” and last summer’s “A Time to Kill,” both hits for Warners, left the project shortly after Sean Connery’s departure from the courtroom thriller. Connery, studio sources say, left because he was interested in making two other pictures.

Such exits are not uncommon in Hollywood, but seemed unusual for both men, who are widely considered team players and consummate professionals.

“The rumor mill is working overtime on this one,” said one Warners executive. “You expect it in others, but not these two.”

Another executive, who is close to Schumacher, said the director was simply exhausted from directing and promoting four back-to-back movies. “Joel is tireless, but no one can go this long nonstop,” another source added. “The other reason is that Joel is worried about becoming known as the sequel king. This is a guy who has directed some very good films, like ‘Falling Down,’ and doesn’t just want to be known for doing one or two things.”

The four back-to-back movies Schumacher, 58, recently completed are “The Client” (summer ‘94), “Batman Forever” (summer ‘95), “A Time to Kill” (summer ‘96) and this summer’s “Batman & Robin.”

Schumacher has been in Tokyo for the last several days promoting “Batman & Robin” and went on a long-awaited vacation over the weekend. He declined to be interviewed.

A report in Daily Variety said Schumacher reportedly told friends he left “The Runaway Jury” because he had second thoughts about the film’s plot. It is based on a fictional Biloxi, Miss., tobacco case in which a jury manipulated the outcome and the plaintiff was eventually awarded damages.

“Who can blame him?” said one prominent entertainment lawyer of Schumacher’s decision. “[Because of the recent settlement between the tobacco companies and the states’ attorneys general] by the time this film is finished, the story is a year old. The material is stale and nobody cares.”

But Warner Bros. is not giving up. Another actor, Oscar nominee Edward Norton (“Primal Fear”), is still tied to the picture, studio sources said. And with plans to go ahead, Warners is searching for a new director.