Amazon Studios is certainly swinging for the fences with The Trial, a new legal drama from prolific TV writer/producer David E. Kelly. The studio just got Maria Bello for the project, which already stars Billy Bob Thornton and William Hurt.
The series stars Thornton as disgraced drunk lawyer Billy McBride. He’s been kicked out of the firm he co-founded and now only gets cases when his ex-wife sends him a case. However, he gets interested in the law again when young lawyer Alice Kitteridge gives him a wrongful death lawsuit that will make him go toe-to-toe with his former partner, Donald Cooper.
The Hollywood Reporter confirms that Bello will star as Billy’s ex-wife, Julie. Tania Raymonde (Lost, The Last Ship) also joined the cast to play Billy’s legal secretary.
Hurt is playing Donald Cooper, while Olivia Thirlby (The Wedding Ringer) is starring as Lucy Kitteridge.
Bello recently starred on TV in NBC’s Prime Suspect and Fox’s Touch. She has been seen on the big screen in Prisoners, McFarland, USA and Grown Ups 2. (Coincidentally, McFarland, USA star Kevin Costner was once interested in The Trial, but left the project.)
The Trial was written by Kelly and Jonathan Shapiro, who also worked with him on Boston Legal and The Practice. It is expected to get the first straight-to-series order in Amazon’s brief history of creating original content.
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