Netflix's The Lincoln Lawyer literally starts with a bang. A shooting death in the opening scene turns the main character from an unemployed defense attorney to head of an inherited law firm within a day. And that lawyer — twice-divorced Mickey Haller, a dad who's recovering from a surfing accident and an addiction to painkillers — is also handling a high-profile murder case.
Much like Haller, series lead Manuel Garcia-Rulfo rises to the occasion. A native of Mexico who has studied and worked on both sides of the border, Garcia-Rulfo says he immediately connected with the character when reading the scripts. Season one is based on The Brass Verdict, the second book in Michael Connelly's series about a lawyer who runs his practice from the backseat of a Lincoln Town Car.
"Sometimes you connect with material quickly," says the actor, who has read all the books in the series. "There's a chemistry between you and the words, and you just want to say them out loud."
Even so, the legal dialogue could be challenging, he allows. Garcia-Rulfo followed up lengthy shoots by studying the following day's scenes well into the night.
"There are courtroom scenes with huge monologues, which is fun but really demanding," he says. "There are legal terms I couldn't pronounce. At the beginning, I was having panic attacks, like, 'How am I going to do this? It's impossible.' But we had a language coach who helped."
Taking the easy path isn't Garcia-Rulfo's style. Early on, he was offered cushy roles in telenovelas but turned them down in favor of parts he felt connected to. "I guess I've always done what feels right," he says. "I let my instinct drive me, but I do make mistakes. I regret saying no to a lot of things."
He has also regretted saying yes. A bad experience on a film more than a decade ago made him quit acting and head back to the ranch where he was raised, in Jalisco, Mexico. He planted a lime orchard, but the timeout proved fleeting. "Something inside pulls you in the direction of what you really love," he says. "I was reading a lot of novels and thinking, 'I want to say these words out loud.'"
Having just wrapped a feature film (A Man Called Otto, starring Tom Hanks), Garcia-Rulfo had plans to return to the ranch — but just to visit and see his dog. And his limes, which are going strong after all these years.
This article originally appeared in emmy magazine issue #7, 2022, under the title, "Driven by Instinct."
