Trivia / A Time to Kill

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• All-Star Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Samuel L. Jackson, Sandra Bullock, Kevin Spacey, Donald and Kiefer Sutherland, Oliver Platt, Ashley Judd, Chris Cooper, Patrick McGoohan, Brenda Fricker, and a pre-fame Octavia Spencer... that's just a few of them.
• Approval of God: John Grisham enjoyed the film, remarking: "When all was said and done I was happy with it, happy we were able to find a kid like Matthew McConaughey. It wasn't a great movie, but it was a good one"
• Billing Displacement: Sandra Bullock and Samuel L. Jackson get top billing over Matthew McConaughey, although the latter plays the film's central character and has much more screentime.
  • Interestingly, this is only true of the film's opening credits (and poster art); the closing credits bill McConaughey first.
  • ABC aired the movie on its network just listing Ashley Judd and Kevin Spacey in the TV spots.
• Cast the Runner-Up: Matthew McConaughey was originally cast as Freddie Lee Cobb. After reading the script, he preferred the role of Jake Brigance. He went to Joel Schumacher, who granted him a private screentest.
• Deleted Scene: Samuel L. Jackson recalled filming a scene where Gator enters Jake's office and gives the same speech he gives the jury. Even though his performance reduced the crew to tears, the scene was cut, much to his dismay.
• Fake American: Dublin-native Brenda Fricker; Canadians Kiefer Sutherland, Donald Sutherland, and Oliver Platt; and New York-born, England-raised Patrick McGoohan.
• Irony As He Is Cast: Kiefer Sutherland, who plays a violent white supremacist and KKK member Freddie Lee Cobb, is a member of the Canadian charity group Artists Against Racism.
• Real-Life Relative: Kiefer and Donald Sutherland appear together, although their characters aren't related.
• Star-Making Role: For Matthew McConaughey. He'd had some decent roles prior but his performance here is what really launched him.
• Uncredited Role: M. Emmet Walsh appears in an uncredited cameo role as William Bass, who testifies for the defense.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Woody Harrelson was originally to take the role of Jake, but John Grisham would not allow it as a friend of his was murdered by a Natural Born Killers copycat. Kevin Costner was also considered, but he wanted complete control of the project. Other actors considered were Alec Baldwin, Brad Pitt, Bill Paxton, Ralph Fiennes, Val Kilmer and Aidan Quinn.
  • Paul Newman turned down the role of Lucien Wilbanks because he found the film's message distasteful.
  • Bruce Dern was the original choice for Judge Noose, but he had other commitments.

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