Mark Wahlberg eyes John Grisham adaptation The Partner

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Mark Wahlberg in black and white

Currently, our favorite underwear-model-turned-actor has R-rated comedy TED on the docket (check out the trailer here), along with 2 GUNS, BROKEN CITY, and Michael Bay’s PAIN AND GAIN. Dude definitely knows how to stay busy with his action-thriller and comedy roles.  But in a bit of a what is perhaps a bit of a career experiment, Wahlberg is also in talks to produce and star in an adaptation of legal-thriller-master John Grisham’s 1997 novel THE PARTNER.

John Lee Hancock (THE BLIND SIDE) was at one point in line to direct, but has since moved on and left the chair wide open for someone else to tell the story of “Patrick Lanigan, a young partner in a prominent law firm who fakes his own death to steal a fortune from his company before starting a new life in Brazil.”  New Regency, the studio with which Wahlberg is currently hammering out a deal, is no stranger to the world of John Grisham due to having brought THE CLIENT, A TIME TO KILL, and RUNAWAY JURY to the big screen. 

So do you think you’d be able to buy Wahlberg in the part? For me it all depends on the director – Martin Scorsese (THE DEPARTED) and David O. Russell (THE FIGHTER) both pulled some really great work out of Wahlberg, but in the hands of a lesser director… well, we’ll just have to see.

The Partner book cover

Source: Variety

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