We were joined on the Popternative show by Lana Parrilla (Once Upon a Time) and Milo Callaghan (The Spanish Princess) who star in the new legal drama series, The Rainmaker, which premiered on August 15 on USA Network. Based on the best-selling novel by John Grisham, the series follows Rudy Baylor, fresh out of law school as he goes head-to-head with courtroom lion Leo Drummond as well as his law school girlfriend, Sarah. Rudy, along with his boss, Bruiser, and her disheveled paralegal, Deck, uncover two connected conspiracies surrounding the mysterious death of their client’s son.
The cast also includes John Slattery (Mad Men), Madison Iseman (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle), P.J. Byrne (The Boys), Dan Fogler (Fantastic Beasts franchise), Wade Briggs (Foundation), and Robyn Cara (Bodkin).
This isn’t the first time that The Rainmaker is adapted for the screen; Francis Ford Coppola directed the 1997 film starring Matt Damon, Danny DeVito, Claire Danes, Jon Voight, and Mickey Rourke. In this series adaptation, however, Bruiser’s character is a female played by Parrilla, whereas Bruiser was portaed by Mickey Rourke in the 1997 film.
Parrilla tells us, “One of the things that I really loved about Mickey Rourke’s portrayal of Bruiser in the [Coppola] film was how he dressed. It was these bright colors, a flamboyant sort of handkerchief in the pocket and these big collars. And I just thought, ‘yeah, Bruiser needs to dress a certain way.’ She can’t look like she’s a white shoe-firm. She needs to have this sort of edgy, maybe a little disheveled kind of approach. She uses her femininity to get what she wants, which is also really cool and not in the novel or the film portrayal. So there was a lot of freedom in developing Bruiser.”
Watch the full conversations with Lana Parrilla and Milo Callaghan below.
A new episode of The Rainmaker airs Fridays at 10 p.m. ET on USA Network, and episodes will be available to stream on Peacock one week after air.
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