And the next day he called me and said, ‘Who is this guy? I love him.’ We got to call Matthew and tell him he got the lead.' and did this little audition, because if John didn’t like it, no one would know. With some friends, we went way downtown in L.A. Anyway, I didn’t want to ruin his career. He asked me if Brad Pitt was doing the film and I said he’s not. I was talking to him and realized this guy would be great in the lead.
When I brought in Matthew, I thought of him to play the redneck bad guy at first. 'A lot of actors wanted to do it, and John didn’t want them. I’ll let Joel Schumacher tell the rest in his own words: So they filmed a secret audition tape and sent it off to the author. But he knew that Grisham had final approval over the lead character, and he didn’t want to inadvertently ruin McConaughey’s career by putting him forward for a part that he was then rejected for. Jackson’s Carl Lee Hailey after he murders the men who raped his 10-year-old daughter.
Schumacher soon deciphered that he’d be perfect as Jake Brigance, the lawyer who defends Samuel L. Elmo’s Fire filmmaker told Variety that he always wanted McConaughey to be a part of his adaptation of John Grisham’s novel, but he just wasn’t sure which role he was right for. During an in-depth talk with Joel Schumacher, the Batman & Robin and St.
