In Episode 3 of “Presumed Innocent” (“The Discovery”), showrunner David E. Kelley turns the heat on Jake Gyllenhaal’s Rusty Sabitch , Chicago’s slick chief deputy prosecutor suspected of brutally murdering his pregnant mistress and colleague, Carolyn (Renate Reinsve). It kicks off with Rusty receiving the shocking text —”You were there, I saw you” — which places him at the scene of the crime, denies him an alibi, and further points to his guilt.
For editor Philip Neel (Episodes 3 and 6), this was a great entry point for cutting Rusty’s obsession with Carolyn and how it spiraled out of control in a twisted confluence of sex, politics, power, and love. “Nobody writes better courtroom drama than David Kelley,” Neel told IndieWire. “And he made a lot of changes.
He was able to expand the dimensions of the mystery and flesh out the characters more [beyond Scott Turow’s 1987 novel and the 1990 movie starring Harrison Ford]. I think that’s a product of the difference between a two-hour movie and an eight-episode series.” The most significant change in the eight-episode series is Jake Gyllenhaal’s intense portrayal of Rusty (as opposed to Ford’s stoic interpretation), which amplifies everything around him at the prosecutor’s office and at home with his family.
Most intriguing are the flashbacks with Carolyn, which provide a mind-bending glimpse into Rusty’s volatile and obsessive behavior. Speaking of mind-bending, after Rusty starts processi.
