Reacher is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Not to get weird about people’s heights or anything, but has anyone ever called Tom Cruise “normal-sized” before? We’re just curious, and not trying to insinuate he’s short or anything. “Reacher has got to scare people and you can do that so much easier with one glance of this huge animal rather than a normal-sized actor.” “I think that the size thing is important to certain parts of the narrative,” Child said. While Child is happy with how Cruise’s portrayal worked out, he’s also excited about Ritchson bringing a more book-accurate physicality to the role for the Amazon series. ‘There was criticism from the book fans, because they had built up a very clear image of what Reacher should look like,’ said the writer, who is an executive producer on the show.Ĭhild explained how he found it ‘interesting’ that ‘non-book fans really liked those movies’, because ‘they were kind of convinced by Cruise in that sense’. While promoting the new series, Child said Cruise’s casting was still the right call even as fans of the books raised concerns about the 5’7″ actor playing Reacher, who’s described as “6’5”, being extremely tall, extremely broad, long-armed and long-legged’, in addition to having a thick neck and hands the size of dinner plates.”Īs Child explains, Cruise won over movie audiences, and that’s what mattered most at the time. The novel is set in the Midwest, but the film will shoot in Pittsburgh, I’m told.With the new Amazon series Reacher bringing the Jack Reacher novels back to life with hulking actor Alan Ritchson in the lead role, author Lee Child wants everyone to know he still has lots of love for Tom Cruise portraying the hero in two films despite lacking the character’s height from the books. They did Valkyrie, and McQuarrie did some script work on Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, and he also did early script work on The Tourist when Cruise was going to be the film’s star. Cruise and McQuarrie are regular collaborators. Reacher discovers it’s more than a simple open-and-shut case. In One Shot, Reacher investigates a case in which a lone sniper murders five victims before being captured. He finds his way into all kinds of misadventures but usually winds up using his brawn and his brains from years of military experience to solve conspiracies for underdogs. He drifts around the country, carrying nothing more than a toothbrush, the clothes on his back, his passport and access to his military pension. “Reacher’s size in the books is a metaphor for an unstoppable force, which Cruise portrays in his own way,” Child said when he threw his support behind the move.Ĭhild’s prose is very spare and blunt and Reacher is a no-frills guy. As for Reacher’s hulking physical size, Child wasn’t locked into an oversized actor (one reason the film took so long to get off the ground), and it was more about establishing an intimidating presence. So what if he’s not as tall and beefy as Reacher? I’m told that the author himself is excited about Cruise playing the role, that Cruise personifies the qualities Reacher displays in the books. Paramount has been developing ever since, but this is the closest that the Reacher franchise has to becoming a reality after years in development. Jack Reacher was already featured on the screen, played by Tom Cruise on film, while the television version of the character is played by Alan Ritchson. Army military policeman who gets embroiled in a criminal conspiracy. In fact, when he and Paula Wagner were partners at C/W, they optioned the book five years ago. The series is based on a series of books written by Lee Child, about the titular character, a former U.S. Cruise has always been interested in the Reacher series. In the books, Reacher is 6’5,” about 250 pounds, and when you are on the business end of his clenched fists, you are most likely going to be spitting out teeth and getting fitted for a cast or two. Paramount will co-finance the film with Skydance Productions, whose principal David Ellison also co-financed Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol.įans of the Reacher book will have to absorb this development, because Cruise is very different physically from the bruising tough guy who has created mayhem over 15 bestselling novels that have sold 40 million copies.
Making a Cruise deal is always tricky, and if the One Shot deal takes awhile to come together, it would happen after Oblivion shoots next year. The talks going on right now is for Cruise to make the movie before he stars in the Joseph Kosinski-directed Oblivion at Universal, which starts in January. Christopher McQuarrie will direct his script. EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions are negotiating with Tom Cruise to star this fall in One Shot, a thriller based on the Lee Child book series about former military policeman-turned-drifter Jack Reacher.