A native of Jonesboro, Arkansas, John Grisham graduated from Mississippi State University in 1977 and the University of Mississippi Law School in 1981. A popular author of legal thrillers, Hollywood has adapted a number of Grisham's bestselling books to the movie screen. This exhibit features movie posters, promotional materials, a mock University of Mississippi diploma used in the movie A Time to Kill, one page from a manuscript of The Chamber (1994), and a note card from Richard Howorth of Square Books promoting the book, A Time to Kill.

Grisham's first novel, A Time to Kill, is based on an actual court case he witnessed in Southaven, Mississippi. Adapted to the silver screen in 1996, director Joel Shumacher shot the film on location in Canton, Mississippi. Samuel L. Jackson stars as Carl Lee Hailey, a father on trial for the murder of two white men who raped his ten-year-old daughter. The case also includes Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock, Kevin Spacey, Kiefer Sutherland, Donald Sutherland, and Ashley Judd.

The Firm (1988) stayed on the New York Times "Best Sellers List" for forty-seven straight weeks. The 1993 film version stars Tom Cruise who plays Mitch McDeere; a recent Harvard Law School graduate at a prestigious law firm in Memphis, Tennessee. Mitch soon discovers the firm is a front for the Mafia. The movie cast also includes Gene Hackman, Jeanne Tripplehorn, and Holly Hunter.

The Pelican Brief (1993), features Julia Roberts as Darby Shaw, a Tulane University law student investigating the murders of two Supreme Court Justices. Shaw turns to Gary Grantham (Denzel Washington), an investigative writer, to help uncover the truth. Grisham had Julia Roberts in mind for Darby Shaw even before casting of the future film.

In The Client (1994), Susan Sarandon plays an attorney protecting a young boy who witnessed the suicide of a Louisiana attorney and who holds information about a mob leader. The film also features Tommy Lee Jones and Mary-Louise Parker. The movie was directed by Joel Schumacher who had already directed A Time to Kill and The Firm. Sarandon was nominated for an Academy Award for "Best Actress in a Leading Role" and by the Screen Actors Guild for "Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role." The Client was also turned into a miniseries in 1995, but lasted only one season.

The Chamber (1996) is a film about Sam Cayhall (Gene Hackman): a Mississippi inmate on death row for the racist murder of two young Jewish boys. Chris O'Donnell plays Cayhall's grandson who appeals the decision to send his grandfather to the gas chamber. Faye Dunaway also appears in the movie as Sam Cayhall's traumatized daughter, Lee Cayhall Bowen. In an Entertainment Weekly interview, Grisham described the movie as "dreadful" and that "Gene Hackman was the only good thing in it." The exhibit includes "The Making of The Chamber," a class project from journalism students at North Sunflower Academy and printed by inmates at the Mississippi Prison Industries paint shop on the grounds of Parchman.

Other film adaptations of Grisham's books include:

The Rainmaker (1997), The Gingerbread Man (1988), A Painted House (2003), Runaway Jury (2003), The Street Lawyer (2003), Mickey (2004), Christmas with the Kranks (2004).