The Firm (1993 film) Not to be confused with The Firm (1989 film) or The Firm (2009 film). The Firm is a 1993 American legal thriller film directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Tom Cruise, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Gene Hackman, Ed Harris, Holly Hunter, Hal Holbrook, and David Strathairn. The film is based on the 1991 novel The Firm by author John Grisham. The Firm was one of two films released in 1993 that was adapted from a Grisham novel, the other being The Pelican Brief.