The Rainmaker cast and character guide: Every star who got featured in the Francis Ford Coppola classic

The Francis Ford Coppola classic of the 90s, The Rainmaker, boasts an incredible star cast including Matt Damon, Danny DeVito, Claire Danes, Jon Voight, and Mary Kay Place.

Based on a novel by the American writer John Grisham, this 1997 film follows two legal officials as they strive to expose the duplicity of an insurance company.

Its synopsis, as per Rotten Tomatoes, goes as follows:

"Struggling new attorney Rudy Baylor resorts to working for a shady lawyer, where he meets paralegal Deck Shifflet. When the insurance company of Dot Black refuses her dying son coverage, Baylor and Shifflet team up to fight the corrupt corporation, taking on its callous lawyer. Meanwhile, Baylor becomes involved with Kelly Riker, an abused wife, whose husband complicates matters when he confronts Baylor."

Keep reading to know more about the cast and the characters that they embody in The Rainmaker.

Who is in the cast of The Rainmaker?

1) Mary Kay Place as Margarine "Dot" Black

A still from The Rainmaker | Image via @Youtube/RottenTomatoesClassicTrailers

Mary Kay Place essays the role of Margarine "Dot" Black, whose terminally ill son, Danny, does not receive support from the insurance company. As a result, Dot, along with her husband Buddy Black, visits Rudy Baylor and Deck Shifflet as their last resort.

Apart from her role in this film, the Primetime Emmy award-winning actor has worked in Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976-1977), The Big Chill (1983), Citizen Ruth (1996), Being John Malkovich (1999), Sweet Home Alabama (2002), 12 Miles of Bad Road (2009), Julie & Julia (2009), Imposters (2017-2018), Shameless (2019-2020), and many more.

2) Jon Voight as Leo F. Drummond

Veteran actor Jon Voight portrays the role of the Defense Attorney, Leo F. Drummond. When Rudy does not receive a license, Drummond steps in for him in the judicial process.

Jon Voight is distinguished for his work in Midnight Cowboy (1969), Deliverance (1972), Coming Home (1978), Runaway Train (1985), Heat (1995), Mission: Impossible (1996), Pearl Harbor (2001), Uprising (2001), Transformers (2007) and Ray Donovan (2013-2020), to name a few.

3) Claire Danes as Kelly Riker

Claire Danes plays the role of Kelly Riker, a married woman and a domestic abuse survivor who gets romantically involved with Rudy. This leads to a heated confrontation between Rudy and her abusive husband, Cliff. Eventually, Kelly takes matters into her own hands.

The Golden Globe-winning actor has also worked in Little Women (1994), My So-Called Life (1994-1995), Romeo and Juliet (1996), Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), Homeland (2011-2020), The Essex Serpent (2022), Fleishman Is in Trouble (2022), etc.

4) Danny DeVito as Deck Shifflet

Actor Danny DeVito portrays the character of Deck Shifflet, a legal assistant who joins Rudy in a collective effort to challenge the corrupt, decayed system of an insurance company.

The Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor is also seen in films and series including One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), Taxi (1978-1983), Ruthless People (1986), The War of the Roses (1989), Batman Returns (1992), The Big Kahuna (1999), Erin Brockovich (2000), It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2006-present), Wiener-Dog (2016), Jumanji: The Next Level (2019), and many more.

5) Matt Damon as Rudy S. Baylor

Matt Damon embodies the role of Rudy S. Baylor, a budding attorney who is an alum of Memphis State University Law School.

After working for the dubious J. Lyman "Bruiser" Stone, he joins with Deck Shifflet to practice law together. Eventually, they find corruption pervading the system, and they join forces to fight against it.

One of Hollywood's most successful stars, Matt Damon, is widely known for his work in Good Will Hunting (1997), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Dogma (1999), the Ocean's film trilogy (2001-2007), the Bourne films (2002-2007, 2016), Interstellar (2014), Air (2023), and Oppenheimer (2023), to name a few. He shall also be seen in Christopher Nolan's upcoming film, The Odyssey (2026).