Lee Child has said that Jack Reacher readers were “right” not to approve of Tom Cruise’s casting in the film franchise.
Before Alan Ritchson assumed the role of the hulking action hero in Amazon’s hit Prime Video series, Cruise played the role in two films: Jack Reacher in 2012 and Jack Reacher: Never Go Back in 2016.
However, a contingent of book fans didn’t think the Hollywood star was right for the role due to his height. In Child’s books, Reacher is described as being “extremely tall” (he’s 6ft, 5in), and “extremely broad, long-armed and long-legged”. In real life, Cruise is 5ft, 7in.
Speaking to The Independent about the backlash to Cruise’s casting, author Child said that, while he “liked” working with the actor, “the readers, ultimately, were right” in their views.
“I thought the first movie in particular was excellent,” Child said. “It was a really crisp hard-edged thriller. Working with Tom was a pleasure and a privilege – he’s a really smart guy, he’s a smart filmmaker, he’s real fun. But you cannot escape the fact that Reacher is a huge guy.”
Child continued: “I mean, that is a component in his entire approach to the world and the world’s approach to him. He’s huge, he’s implacable, he’s scary, and for all Tom’s ability in getting the internals of Reacher out, he is not huge and he’s not scary. So the readers were terribly upset about it and I think, ultimately, the readers were right.”
The author thinks they have struck gold with Ritchson, who is returning to play the role in a third season based on Child’s seventh Reacher book Persuader. According to the author: “Alan was born to play Reacher and I think he knows that.”
Both Tom Cruise and Alan Ritchson have played Jack Reacher (Paramount Pictures / Prime Video)
Fans are hyped for this particular adaptation due to the inclusion of an antagonist named Paulie, who is even taller than Reacher. In the books, he is the rare character Reacher comes across who is even bigger than him.
This came with challenges when casting the role, which eventually went to Dutch bodybuilder Olivier Richters, who is 7ft, 1in compared with Ritchson’s 6ft, 2in.
“That’s the perfect illustration of how easy it is for me and how hard it is for them because all I have to do is type different words – it costs me nothing,” Child told The Independent.
“Whereas to put that into physical reality on the screen, they’ve got to find that actor. It was literally an international search. There are very few actors even Alan’s size so to get somebody who is noticeably bigger was incredibly difficult. But they found the guy. He is huge! And very scary.”
Child assured viewers “there is no trickery at all on the screen” when depicting Paulie.
Olivier Richters will play the hulking Paulie in ‘Reacher’ season three (Prime Video)
“There are no fancy camera angles. There’s no CGI. Alan looks tiny next to this guy and to find that was a triumph.”
Reacher season three airs on Prime Video on 20 February
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