Commentary: Abrams helped Lurie get closer to the 'Truth'

September 23, 2008 [...] when writer-director Rod Lurie brought the production of his latest political drama, "Nothing but the Truth," to a Memphis courthouse, the judges and lawyers there were more interested in meeting a white-haired bit player than topliners Kate Beckinsale and Matt Dillon. Lurie's fictionalized version of the Miller case -- for which Yari Film Group has not set a release date -- screened to a warm response this month at the Toronto International Film Festival, though the audience members I polled didn't fully appreciate the sly casting of Abrams as the judge who sends the character based on his own client to jail. Abrams, who also defended the Times in the landmark Pentagon Papers case, began as a consultant on the film when Lurie -- whose father is Ranan Lurie, a well-known cartoonist and friend of Abrams' -- asked if he could talk shop over New York Giants games.

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