It is very difficult to imagine, or explain, the impact of the book Presumed Innocent in 1987. Written by former lawyer Scott Turow and obviously set behind the scenes of the world of Justice, the novel’s conclusion was so out of the box that generated a movement that was unique in pre-social media times. In just three years, the best seller became a film, starring Harrison Ford, racking up millions at the box office and falling into oblivion. However, thanks to David E. Kelley, a former lawyer himself, the book is now being explored again in the form of a miniseries, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and premiering early on Apple TV Plus in early June. Was it really necessary?

The Best Seller and the classic surprise about the culprit

As announced, the 2024 series will be “reimagined” and will explore more deeply some of the themes that were left aside in the film: obsession, sex, politics, and power as well as the limits of unhealthy love. All this while the accused, lawyer Rusty Sabich (Gyllenhaal) struggles to keep his family and marriage together during the tough investigation and trial process. What remains up in the air is whether they will maintain the big surprise at the end of the story, so well known 37 years later.

In 1987, Presumed Innocent made Scott Turow, in his first novel, a phenomenon. The story is about a prosecutor accused of the murder of his colleague, an attractive and intelligent prosecutor named Carolyn Polhemus. Told in the first person, we follow Rusty’s anguish to escape a conviction while trying to solve the crime.

Everything is strangely suspicious. He and Carolyn were once lovers and from what the police gather, she appears to be the victim of a sexual encounter gone wrong in her death from a single blow to the skull with an unknown object while tied up. Rusty is suspected because they found his semen in the prosecutor, although he knows that the romance between the two ended a while ago and that he is not to blame.

Sorry, I won’t spare spoilers here.

Carolyn, as was typical in the 1980s, who is an ambitious and independent woman, is presented as a pervert, insensitive, manipulative, and ambitious, in contrast to Barbara (Ruth Negga), Rusty’s dedicated and long-suffering wife. Barbara, from what we ostensibly know, has forgiven and supported Rusty, but in the past, she required psychiatric help when she had a nervous breakdown upon learning of her husband’s betrayal.

There’s a whole political subplot of prosecutors and lawyers running around in the background, and when Rusty is accused, he goes to trial even though the evidence is circumstantial. At the scene of the crime, there was a glass with his fingerprints, records of his calls to Carolyn, fibers from a carpet fabric from his house, and of course, his sperm in Carolyn’s vagina. As the glass “disappears”, this interferes with the process and little by little Rusty discovers the worst side of Carolyn, including romances with other powerful men, which seems to be the reason for her murder, with Rusty being the scapegoat.

As in justice people are innocent until proven guilty and have to be above suspicion, Rusty is “innocent”. But here comes the turning point: over time, her relationship with Barbara only gets worse, and she decides to separate from him. Only then does he understand that it was Barbara who killed Carolyn and made it seem like her husband kew it was her. She wanted revenge on both of them, but especially on the woman who almost destroyed her family. Surprise – since then – has been used for several twists in crime stories.

In the book, the story ends open-ended, without Rusty denouncing Barbara. From this book, Scott Turow wrote other novels, including the sequel – Innocent – released in 2010. In this way, the Apple TV Plus series has everything that will unite the two novels.

Success in cinema, but nothing great

As Hollywood loved “courtroom movies”, a legal thriller that sold millions of copies was expected to become a film, and, in 1990, director Alan J. Pakula released the film starring Harrison Ford, Brian Dennehy, Raúl Julia, Bonnie Bedelia, Paul Winfield, and Greta Scacchi. The rights to the novel had been purchased before the book even hit stores, but writing a good script was a time-consuming process that changed hands until it reached Pakula.

Presumed Innocent was the eighth highest-grossing film of 1990, grossing more than $220 million. It received a television miniseries, The Burden of Proof, in 1992, and a made-for-TV film, Innocent, in 2011, but it didn’t become a classic. Perhaps because it was a victim of time, after all, by the decision of the director, the concept of justice became central to the story, even if the debauchery of Carolyn’s personal life could have some attraction too.

Attempts to continue were frustrated

The first Presumed Innocent spin-off explored on TV was the miniseries The Burden of Proof, 1992, following defense lawyer Sandy Stern(Héctor Elizondo), who investigates his wife’s past after her apparent suicide. Then, with the release of Innocent, the made-for-TV movie is set twenty years after Carolyn’s murder, with Rusty Sabich (Bill Pullman) now being accused of the murder of his wife, Barbara (Marcia Gay Harden). Shown on TNT in 2011, it generated neither controversy nor large waves of recognition among the public.

Given all this, it is ironic to imagine that David E. Kelley decided to revive this story for his series on Apple TV Plus. He developed the script with J. J. Abrams and features Jake Gyllenhaal in yet another remake of a 1990s film. After what I saw in The Roadhouse, I’m doubly cynical about the need or expectation of a Presumed Innocent reboot.

Another problem I see for the series, even before its premiere, is that the Fatal Attraction reboot took away a lot of what could be in Presumed Innocent. In other words, more of the same.

Will Jake get it right this time?

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