What's the Difference between The Rainmaker the Book and The Rainmaker the Movie?
| In the Book |
In the Movie |
Rudy Baylor
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Rudy Baylor
Portrayed by: Matt Damon
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Deck Shifflet
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Deck Shifflet
Portrayed by: Danny DeVito
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Kelly Riker
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Kelly Riker
Portrayed by: Claire Danes
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Leo F. Drummond
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Leo F. Drummond
Portrayed by: Jon Voight
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Dot Black
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Dot Black
Portrayed by: Mary Kay Place
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Judge Harvey Hale
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Judge Harvey Hale
Portrayed by: Dean Stockwell
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Donny Ray Black
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Donny Ray Black
Portrayed by: Johnny Whitworth
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Ronny Ray Black
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This Character does not appear.
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Dr. Walter Kord
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This Character does not appear.
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Dr. Milton Jiffy
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This Character does not appear.
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Cooper Jackson
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This Character does not appear.
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Judge Tyrone Kipler
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Judge Tyrone Kipler
Portrayed by: Danny Glover
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Jackie Lemanczyk
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Jackie Lemanczyk
Portrayed by: Virginia Madsen
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The Rainmaker Book vs Movie
| In the Book |
In the Movie |
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Rudy obtains a list of lawyers who are also suing Great Benefit. He visits a lawyer named Cooper Jackson who supplies him with lots of information about Great Benefit and gives him a copy of his case file. The file includes claims and underwriting manuals. They are identical to the ones Great Benefit submitted to Rudy during discovery, but the manuals Rudy got from Jackson have a Section U. The manuals that Rudy was supplied with during discovery do not have Section U. |
This does not happen in the film. |
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Rudy meets with an experienced lawyer named Max Leuberg. He reviews the case right before Rudy is set to go to trial and tells him it is one of the best bad faith insurance cases he has ever seen. Up until this happens, the case has been a David vs Goliath with Rudy the underdog. But now Rudy is the one with the strong case and Leo Dummond is the tiny David who is destined to lose big. |
This does not happen in the film. Rudy is portrayed as the weak lawyer who is destined to lose in court until near the end of the film.
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Donny Ray Black has a twin brother who was a perfect match for the bone marrow transplant that probably would have saved his life if Great Benefit had paid the medical bills per the policy. |
Donny Ray does not have a twin, but a bone marrow transplant was planned for. |
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Prior to the trial, Rudy discovers that his office phone is bugged. Based upon negotiations for a settlement, Rudy and Deck determine that Leo Dummond knows about it and receives transcripts of their phone conversations. Rudy and Deck pretend to have very illegal conversations with the jury pool to throw suspicion upon the people they do not want on the jury. When Leo Dummond questions the integrity of one of the jury pool members, he is attacked in court. After things settle down and the man is dismissed, Rudy ends up with a jury he likes and thinks he will win with. He thinks he might tell Leo that he knew about the phone taps long after the trial is over. |
Leo is attacked in court for insulting one of the jury pool members by accusing him of talking to Ruby and Deck. After things settle down, Rudy looks over at Leo, smiles and makes a phone hand signal to him. Leo is upset but can't say anything about the phone taps that Rudy discovered.
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Dr. Walter Kord is very upset about how great Benefit treated Donny Ray Black. He let Rudy depose him for free and gives Rudy a list of oncologists will will testify at the trial to ensure the jury knows that bone marrow transplants would have been an effective cure for Donny Ray. Rudy shows the list of doctors to Leo Dummond and says he has ten doctors who will rebut the testimony of Leo's "quack" if he puts him on the stand to say bone marrow transplants are not effective. |
Dr. Kord and Dr. Jiffy are not in the film. When the president of Great Benefit is on the stand, Rudy hands him an internal memo he obtained that says Great Benefit was planning on investing in bone marrow transplant technology. This invalidates their claim that the treatment was not effective. |