Lionsgate announced on Monday that it has acquired U.S. distribution rights from Lakeshore Entertainment and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment to the upcoming legal thriller The Lincoln Lawyer, based on the best-selling Michael Connelly novel of the same name. Lakeshore Entertainment is handling international distribution. The announcement was jointly made today by Joe Drake, Lionsgate Chief Operating Officer and Motion Picture Group President, Tom Rosenberg, Lakeshore Entertainment Chairman and CEO, and Sidney Kimmel, Sidney Kimmel Entertainment (SKE) CEO.
Matthew McConaughey and Marisa Tomei star. The supporting cast includes Ryan Phillippe, William H. Macy, John Leguizamo, Michael Pena, Trace Adkins, and Katherine Moennig. Brad Furman (The Take) will direct from the adapted screenplay by John Romano (Nights in Rodanthe, Intolerable Cruelty). Lakeshore’s Tom Rosenberg and Gary Lucchesi, and SKE’s Sidney Kimmel will produce in association with Scott Steindorff / Stone Village Productions. Production is slated to begin in Los Angeles in July.
Rosenberg said, “I have long admired and respected Sidney Kimmel and it’s exciting to have found such a great project for our first collaboration.”
Lakeshore secured rights to the Connelly novel prior to its publication date in 2005 and developed the project.
In the film, Mickey Haller (McConaughey) is a Los Angeles criminal defense attorney who operates out of the back of his Lincoln Continental sedan. Haller has spent most of his career defending garden-variety criminals, until he lands the case of a lifetime: defending a Beverly Hills playboy accused of murder. But the seemingly straightforward case suddenly develops into a deadly game of survival for Haller.
