The Lincoln Lawyer

In Brad Furman’s film the defence lawyer Mickey Haller works from the back seat of a Lincoln driven by a former client. The idea was not invented: Michael Connelly took it from David Ogden, a defence lawyer he met at a Dodgers opening day game. Ogden’s reason: LA County has forty courthouses and four hundred miles of freeway, so he could take a case anywhere. That explains the film’s geography: Haller has no desk, preparation happens between hearings, and the file opens on the back seat. Furman changed the driver Earl’s tape deck on purpose: the novel runs on Tupac, the film plays Gang Starr and Mobb Deep. He built the playlists with music supervisor Seth Harris, and Cliff Martinez wrote the score. He did not want the familiar Los Angeles either, but the side we rarely see. Connelly says himself that the Haller of the books is Mexican American, and that this adaptation gave that up because a major star wanted the part. Matthew McConaughey is also why Furman got the job: he recommended him to the production company. A good fit if you do not mind the solution assembled on car rides between courthouses rather than in a courtroom. Not for readers after the Mickey Haller of the novel; his background is gone here.