Manuel Garcia-Rulfo Sets Into Mickey Haller Character With ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ Return
When Manuel Garcia-Rulfo was cast to play the charismatic defense attorney Mickey Haller from Michael Connelly’s “The Lincoln Lawyer” novels in a new Netflix series, he couldn’t help but think of Matthew McConaughey, who played the attorney in a movie from 2011.
“Speaking of charm,” said Manuel Garcia-Rulfo of the Oscar winner. “I’ve been thinking about it…because it’s hard to have that shade…but you just have to jump and give it your best shot and hopefully people will enjoy it.”
Garcia-Rulfo needn’t have worried. His version of Haller has been approved by critics and viewers alike – Netflix said the first season is highly rated. The first five episodes of season two are now streaming. The remaining five episodes will appear in August.
In the series, Mickey is a Los Angeles lawyer with a deep knowledge and respect for the law, who uses his understanding to think outside the box and find loopholes that help his clients. He also does much of his work from the back of a Lincoln as he is driven around LA by his trusted driver and confidant, Izzy (Jazz Raycole). In season one, Mickey returned to law after a number of misadventures, including addiction and two divorces. He, of course, had to correct his reputation, both professionally and personally. In season two he has had some high profile wins and is now the man of the hour.
Garcia-Rulfo credits Mickey’s team for helping his success, which includes, in addition to Izzy, his second ex-wife Lorna (played by Becki Newton) and investigator Cisco (Angus Sampson.)
“Becki’s character Lorna is like the engine,” said Garcia-Rulfo. “If it weren’t for her, I think he’d be a great lawyer, but a disaster. So I think it’s the people surrounding him.”
‘She’s not just a receptionist. She’s not just another ex-wife,” Newton said of Lorna. “She’s going to run the place and has no problem standing up for herself in situations that can be very intimidating. Lorna doesn’t apologize. She doesn’t feel like she doesn’t belong. In season two, she goes to law school. I loved that about her. She never backs down in any situation.”
She’s also come up with her own backstory for Lorna and Mickey – and why they work together despite their romantic pasts.
“I think it was probably very clear to them very quickly that they weren’t meant to be romantically linked forever, but they did love each other and needed to be in each other’s lives in a different way,” she said.
Mickey has other romantic entanglements, including his first ex-wife, Maggie, played by Neve Campbell, the mother of his teenage daughter. The two have a will they/why won’t they storyline that is prevalent in the series.
Newton and Campbell only shared one scene on the show together, but there was no tension between the characters.
“I’ll never forget that day because I think on the page it would have been really easy to play catty to these two women because they were both married to the same man,” said Newton. Neve immediately said, ‘We’re not doing this scene like that. We’re two people worried about someone, but this isn’t about these two women arguing.” I loved that she didn’t want to play a stereotype about ex-wives fighting over one man.
Like Mickey, Garcia-Rulfo is also in demand and busy. He is about to shoot a new movie and has just shot a thriller drama movie based on a popular Mexican novel called “Pedro Paramo” with “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s” Tenoch Huerta.
“The Lincoln Lawyer” is also popular in Mexico, where Garcia-Rulfo’s father is a dentist. The Volkswagen Beetle is a popular car in the country. Garcia-Rulfo says people now call his dad “The Beetles’ dentist” because of his son’s role.
