In 1987, Scott Turow’s novel, the legal thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’, was released to vast acclaim, spending 45 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. It became a trail-blazing novel whose influence would be found throughout the genre, at one point inspiring Gillian Flynn to write ‘Gone Girl.’ Much like ‘Gone Girl’ was adapted into a David Fincher film in 2015, ‘Presumed Innocent’ was also adapted into a movie, back in 1990. It then spawned a mini-series, and a pseudo-sequel film in 2011, but now the novel is being adapted once again for AppleTV+, and from JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot production company, who executive produced the show.
While the 1990 Presumed Innocent adaptation from Alan J. Pakula starred Harrison Ford (Star Wars), who could be described as the world’s biggest star at this point in his career, the Anne Sewitsky-directed TV show casts Jake Gyllenhaal (Zodiac), an actor who could also be described at being at the peak of his career. Both play the same character, Rusty Sabich, in their respective adaptations, with both taking considerably different approaches. Ford plays the more reserved, considerate character while Gyllenhaal, and this new adaptation as a whole, is considerably more coarse with its themes around the fallibility of love, the carnality of sex, and the moral repugnance of political gain.
This review was first posted on June 10th 2024. Full review linked below.
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