Sure, Tom Cruise is a star and it’s even true that he can actually act as well. But if we’re to be honest about it he just doesn’t have the physique to play Jack Reacher. The defining point of the character being his great size, both in height and in general heft. Seriously, this just isn’t Cruise, is it?
So, it’s nice when we find out that Hollywood can in fact wake up and smell the roses for a change:
The “Jack Reacher” novels will be adapted into a television series but the author said Tom Cruise will not reprise his role because he doesn’t have the character’s “physicality.”
Lee Child, the creator of the series, told BBC Radio he is working on a small screen reboot but Cruise, who has portrayed the titular character in the 2012 film “Jack Reacher” and 2016 sequel “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back,” will not return. Reacher was described in the novels as 6 feet, 5 inches tall but Cruise stands at 5 feet, 7 inches.
“Cruise, for all his talent, didn’t have that physicality,” Child told BBC Radio.
Not that writers have great power in Hollywood of course. There being that old joke about the blonde starlet so dumb she slept with the writer in the hope of gaining a part.
This echoes some fan complaints that go back to the first news of Cruise’s casting back in 2011, which he admitted bothered him. In the books, Child describes Reacher as 6’5″ with hands the size of dinner plates. Not exactly the ideal role you’d pick for Tom Cruise, who stands 5’7″ tall. Despite his lack of height, Cruise won over some speculative fans and helped turn the films into a respectable action series.
“I really enjoyed working with Cruise. He’s a really, really nice guy. We had a lot of fun, but ultimately the readers are right. The size of Reacher is really, really important and it’s a big component of who he is,” Child explained.
What’s needed is perhaps someone the size of Dolph Lundgren but then – as with Lundgren – finding someone that size who can also act is difficult thing. Arnie’s a bit old and there’s that acting talent bit too. So, who?
hmmm. you’re saying a short actor can’t act well enough to convincingly play a tall actor?
“Tom Cruise, who stands 5’7″ tall”
He has very small hands, too. (allegedly)