On the other hand, Gere represents the more powerful executive who demands results. I believe Hollywood does movies to satisfy the audience they believe that puts the most money into their market, the working Caucasian household. That's why it was important to cast someone with fame attached to that audience. This move minimizes the capacity for possible controversy. Vail had to be the one character from the book who could not be tampered with, physically. If Vail, in the movie, turned out to be black or any other race, there probably would have been more hurdles for him to cross in order for him to solve the case. Racial prejudice, more than likely, would be an issue to be discussed. All in all, Hollywood did what they had to do to protect their investment in their audience. .
Secondly, Jane Venable turned out to be a total one-eighty from the character in the book. In a male dominant world, our perfect lawyer would be a nice, cute, intelligent, demanding, and someone who has a beautiful smile. This is pretty much who Jane Venable personifies. Jane is appealing to the male eye as Vail is to the female eye. I believe it would have been pretty hard to find a person who could have been anything like the Jane in the novel. Not to say there aren't any pretty red-heads but I believe the process was easier and cheaper for Hollywood to find someone who would be an automatic crowd pleaser than to take a chance on a red-head. Besides, using Jane as the one who had an affair with Vail only adds to suspense. Will the relationship lead to different tactics being taken because of their relationship? Will they communicate with each other after the case despite the outcome? The affair only becomes more intense because two fairly attractive people are involved in it. What's the good of an affair when one person is beautiful and the other person is average? Hollywood does exactly what it does best: entice the audience.
