Earlier this year, A Time to Kill, the world premiere and first stage adaptation of a novel by John Grisham had its premiere at Arena Stage in DC. By special arrangement with Daryl Roth and adapted for the stage by Tony Award winner Rupert Holmes (The Mystery of Edwin Drood), A Time to Kill was directed by Ethan McSweeny (Broadway's Gore Vidal's "The Best Man") and ran this May and June.
Now, Michael Riedel reports in the New York Post that the play is getting closer to Broadway with a new reading set for Friday in New York, featuring Beau Bridges, his daughter Emily and Shuler Hensley. Riedel also reports that Justin Timberlake who has been looking for a theatre project will be 'approached' for the role of the show's young legal protege, Jack Brigance, played out of town by Sebastian Arcelus. There's no word on a potential timeline for the show, or if Timberlake is interested in the part. For footage from the Arena Stage production, click here and for photos, click here.
Justin Timberlake is a Pop-R&B singer/songwriter/producer, actor and entrepreneur. He has become an accomplished artist who is now widely-considered one of pop culture's most influential entertainers. Timberlake came to fame as a member of the pop group, *NSYNC, and, through a successful solo career, has gone on to win six Grammy Awards, an Emmy Award and dozens of accolades from around the world.
The Cast of A Time to Kill featured Sebastian Arcelus as the defendant's attorney Jake Brigance (recently seen on Broadway starring in Elf and Jersey Boys), Dion Graham as Carl Lee Hailey (Marcus Gardley's On the Levee at Lincoln Center), Rosie Benton as Jake's youthful law clerk Ellen Roark (seen at Arena last season in Stick Fly and in Broadway's Accent on Youth), Erin Davie as Jake's wife Carla Brigance (Broadway's A Little Night Music) and Brennan Brown as Rufus Buckley (The Persians in New York, dir. by McSweeny). The cast was rounded out by Jeffrey M. Bender, Trena Bolden Fields, Jonathan Lincoln Fried, Deborah Hazlett, Joe Isenberg, Chike Johnson, Michael Marcan, Hugh Nees, Evan Thompson and John C. Vennema.
A Time to Kill depicts a Mississippi town's upheaval when Carl Lee Hailey takes the law into his own hands following an unspeakable crime committed against his daughter. Now on trial for murder, Carl Lee's only hope lies with one young, idealistic lawyer Jake Brigance, who is outmatched by the formidable district attorney, Rufus Buckley, and under attack from both sides of a racially divided city.