EXCLUSIVE: John Slattery (Mad Men, Spotlight) has joined the cast of USA Network‘s drama series The Rainmaker, based on the bestselling John Grisham novel and its film adaptation of the same name.
In a series regular role, Slattery will portray one of Grisham’s most iconic characters, Leo F. Drummond, a legendary lion of the courtroom and senior partner at Tinley Britt, the powerful firm that Rudy Baylor is up against. Jon Voight played Leo in the Francis Ford Coppola film released in 1997.
From writer and executive producer Michael Seitzman, the Lionsgate and Blumhouse series follows Rudy Baylor who, fresh out of law school, goes head-to-head with courtroom lion Leo Drummond and his law school girlfriend. Rudy, along with his boss and her disheveled paralegal, uncover two connected conspiracies surrounding the mysterious death of their client’s son.
The Rainmaker received a series order by the NBCUniversal cable network in June, capping a six-year journey by Seitzman to bring the book to TV. Seitzman and Jason Richman wrote the pilot script, with Seitzman serving as writer on the series. The two are executive producing with Grisham, Jason Blum and David Gernert.
The project is believed to be part of the “Blue Sky” brand USA Network has been looking to revive with new shows. That programming initiative, revealed exclusively by Deadline last fall, involves developing hourlong series at budgets in the $2M-$3M an episode, recognizing the economic realities of basic cable, which has been heavily impacted by cord-cutting and the overall decline in linear viewing. I hear the budget for The Rainmaker is toward the higher end of that range. USA’s “Blue Sky” era included such legal shows as Suits and Fairly Legal.
Slattery received four Emmy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series on the critically acclaimed series Mad Men. He starred as Roger Sterling across the show’s 7-season run and directed as well. Additional TV credits include Mrs. America, The Good Fight, 30 Rock, Documentary Now, Arrested Development, Sex and the City, Veep and K Street. He earned a Critics’ Choice Award nomination for Best Guest Actor for his role in Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp.
On the big screen, Slattery co-starred in Tom McCarthy’s Oscar-winning Spotlight. His previous film credits include Ant-Man, The Adjustment Bureau, Iron Man 2, Flags of Our Fathers, Charlie Wilson’s War, The Station Agent and Traffic. Slattery most recently directed Maggie Moore(s) starring John Hamm and Tina Fey.
He is repped by Gersh and Sloane Offer Weber and Dern.
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