John Grisham thriller The Testament being adapted into a film

The last John Grisham legal thriller to hit the screen was the 2003 film Runaway Jury with Dustin Hoffman
The last John Grisham legal thriller to hit the screen was the 2003 film Runaway Jury with Dustin Hoffman

John Grisham, who for ten years refused to sell movie rights to his 1999 bestselling novel The Testament, has apparently had a change of heart, according to Variety. Producers Mark Johnson and Hunt Lowry, along with 821 Entertainment, have optioned the book, which revolves around a billionaire who defies his greedy relatives and leaves his $11 billion fortune to a mysterious illegitimate daughter who does charity work in the Brazilian wetlands. A washed up lawyer helps her battle her relatives over his money.

According to the report, Johnson was very persistent, keeping on Grisham and his agent David Gernert for almost a decade.

The Testament will be one of several Grisham legal thrillers coming to theaters. Others include an adaptation of Grisham’s non-fiction book The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town, which is currently set up at Warner Brothers; Playing for Pizza, with a script by J. Mills Goodloe and Adam Shankman directing, which is being produced by Phoenix Pictures; and Paramount Pictures’ The Associate with Shia LaBeouf and Lorenzo di Bonaventura producing.