Hey guys, Jana here,
If David E. Kelley (‘Ally McBeal‘, ‘LA Law‘, ‘The Practice‘) is bringing a series about it’s a pretty much guarantee that it’s going to be a high-powered, legal drama and in this case, you’d be right. Amazon has picked up the series ‘Trial‘ from the writer and has cast some pretty big super-stars to anchor the drama, Billy Bob Thornton and William Hurt.
Billy McBride (Thornton), is a once-respectable lawyer who was tossed from the high-profile firm he co-founded. He now spends his days getting drunk, making ends meet with an occasional case sent his way by his ex-wife. His professional life takes a turn when a young lawyer (Olivia Thirlby), who has just been fired from his old firm, brings a wrongful death case that pits him against the head of his former firm, Attorney Donald Cooper, played by Hurt. Thirlby plays Lucy Kittridge, a wickedly smart, high-powered attorney who’s got the brains, but not as much as experience as she tries to pretend.
Kelley co-wrote the pilot with Jonathan Shapiro, a fellow producer on ‘The Practice‘ and ‘Boston Legal‘, both will exec produce on ‘Trial‘. The series received a straight-to-series order for ‘Amazon‘ where it’s upping its game on original series offerings and this just brings an extra layer of dimension to those available. Kelley is keeping busy while working on adaptations of a few novels for various formats, one being the Stephen King hit, ‘Mr. Mercedes‘.