Godfather: The Intimate Francis Ford Coppola

13. The Vanishing Hero: The Rainmaker and Jack

13 The Vanishing Hero The Rainmaker and Jack Just keep your mind open and take in the experience; and if it hurts, it's probably worth it. —Richard, a castaway in the film The Beach While waiting for hisflightto Paris to take off from JFK in NewYork, Francis Coppola bought a copy of John Grisham's novel The Rainmaker. No less than five of Grisham's books had made it to the big screen, and so Coppola decided to take a gander at this one. By the time his plane touched down at Orly, he was hooked on filming Grisham's The Rainmaker as an American Zoetrope production. "I was down on my knees in gratitude that I had a book that I liked—with characters that I liked," he says.1 Coppola took the novel to Paramount, his old standby, and the studio agreed to finance and distribute the film. Previous Grisham movies like The Firm (1992) had fared well at the box office, and Coppola's films in recent years had likewise made a bundle. In April 1996 he signed with Paramount to write the screenplay and to direct the picture. Michel Herr, who had provided the narration for Apocalypse Now, would take on the same task for The Rainmaker. (Coppola's Rainmaker should not be confused with the 1956 movie of the same title starring Katharine Hepburn.) This is the first script Coppola had written since Godfather III. He officially launched the project with an announcement to the international press at the Cannes Film Festival in May. The Vanishing Hero 301 The Raifimalrer 099*0 The story revolves around Rudy Baylor, an idealistic Southern lawyer who endeavors to maintain his integrity in a profession filled with too many sellouts. The main plot concerns the battle young Rudy, an eager-beaver attorney, wages against a huge insurance company that has cheated Dot and Buddy Black, a poor Memphis couple, out of the benefits they need to finance a critical operation for their desperately ill son Donny. Along the way Rudy assists an elderly widow, Miss Birdie, in coping with her greedy son, who wants to badger her into leaving him all her money. He also aids a battered wife, Kelly Riker, in escaping from her sadistic husband. Coppola sagely pared down the novel's complicated narrative by relegating the subplots about Miss Birdie and Kelly Riker to the background, so that he could foreground the main storyline about Rudy's fencing with the insurance company. As in Tucker, Coppola was once more making a picture about the little guy standing up to the establishment. Coppola put together an impressive production team, engaging cinematographer John Toll, who had garnered an Academy Award for photographing Legends ofthe Fall (1994), to lens the movie. In addition, composer Elmer Bernstein, another Oscar winner for Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), contributed the score. Barry Malkin, veteran of several Coppola movies, was secured to edit the picture. The director cast the picture in much the same way that he cast The Godfather, instead of spending a big chunk of the budget on some expensive marquee names, he elected to people his cast with dependable veterans and promising newcomers. Jon Voight {Midnight Cowboy) was called upon to play Leo Drummond, the slick, fancy-suited chief attorney for the insurance company, Great Benefit. Roy Scheider {Jaws) won the part of Wilfred Keely, the sly, corrupt CEO of Great Benefit. Mickey Rourke {Rumble Fish) took the role of a venal shyster lawyer named Bruiser Stone, who hires Rudy right out of law school, and Danny DeVito {Tin Men) enacted the role of Deck Schifflet, Rudy's wily, down-at-the-heels mentor in the law office. Miss Birdie was to be played by Hollywood icon Teresa Wright, who won an Oscar for the classic film Mrs. Miniver (1942). Coppola had a record of giving fresh young talent a boost dating back to The Outsiders. Running true to form, he selected Matt Damon to play Rudy and Clare Danes to play Kelly Riker. Neither of them had had a major role in a film up to that time. Damon found the whole idea of working for Francis Coppola intimidating: "I was so nervous that I'd let him down."2 So Mickey Rourke made a point of encouraging Damon. Rourke had never 302 Part Four: The Vintage Years fulfilled the promise he had demonstrated in Rumble Fish...