Lee Child, the creator of Jack Reacher, has come clean and revealed that Tom Cruise wasn’t exactly perfect fit to play Reacher on the big screen.
The writer admitted that it just wasn’t the right match, like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.
In Lee’s thrilling books, the main character is described as “huge guy 6’5 tall,” with big hands like dinner plates and blond hair.
So, when Cruise was cast as Jack Reacher in the 2012 movie, many people were left wondering if he was the right choice for the role or not.
The author told Metro: “For instance, in one of the Tom Cruise movies, there’s a line where the detective goes to the motel and says, ‘I’m looking for a guy who could kill someone with one punch’, and they point to Tom Cruise, which is not really all that plausible.”
He went on saying that Alan Ritchson, who’s been playing Reacher in Amazon’s Reacher since 2022, is a much better match for the character.
“Finally, we’ve incorporated the physicality in a way that really matches the character,” he added.
Lee went on explaining, “The show is Reacher. He carries the whole thing. It has to be right. And especially after the pushback we got from Cruise, I thought, ‘This is totally crucial now. We can’t make two mistakes’. It was absolutely important and Alan was just right.”
Then, Lee Child didn’t hold back and praised Tom Cruise, saying it was a “real pleasure” to work with him and that he’s been a “great friend.”
