I’m going to come clean: I really love the movie The Firm. I loved the book by John Grisham before the movie was released, and I thought the movie was a great book-to-screen adaptation. As with all adaptations, changes were made, so worse than others, but one thing I think the movie nailed was the casting.
This is especially true for Gene Hackman in the role of Avery Toler, the grizzled partner at the shady law firm that Mitch (Tom Cruise) goes to work for in Memphis. However, I recently learned that the original idea for that character was to switch the unsavory attorney's gender and cast Meryl Streep in the role. I love Streep as much as anyone, but I’m glad that decision was amended.
