When Jack Reacher was first released starring Tom Cruise to be followed by a sequel movie soon afterwards, many fans of the books were furious that Cruise was cast in the role of Reacher. In the books there is much made of Reacher’s physically imposing size, the character is described as being 6′ 5″ with hands like shovels. Whilst Cruise is no stranger to action roles and physically demanding parts, at 5’7″, he doesn’t really intimidate people with his size when he enters a room, which is exactly how the character was written in the books.
Both films were moderate successes, though the sequel especially was met with negativity by most critics. Now author Lee Child speaking with the BBC in the UK has said he plans to reboot the series for a more long-form TV approach. As a result, they will be looking eventually for a new actor to replace Cruise in the title role of Reacher and Child wants someone more physically intimidating.
“The idea is that when Reacher walks into a room, you’re all a little nervous just for that first minute. And Cruise, for all his talent, didn’t have that physicality. So what I’ve decided to do is – there won’t be any more movies with Tom Cruise. Instead we’re going to take it to Netflix or something like that. Long form streaming television, with a completely new actor. And I want all those readers who were upset about Tom Cruise to help me out – participate in choosing the right actor for the TV series. We’re rebooting and starting over and we’re going to try and find the perfect guy.”
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Just to be clear on a few things, Netflix was a suggestion by Child and this should not be taken as any indication that Netflix is actually involved in this….yet. Also, Child did actually speak highly about Cruise’s work ethic and desire to get the project right. It was possibly just a case of being offered the chance to have Tom Cruise play your lead character and jumping at it, who can blame them for that?
I have never read the Jack Reacher books as they are not my kind of novel, I thought Jack Reacher was ok, but never saw the sequel. But from what I know from other fans and what I saw in the first movie, this could actually work much better as an on-going long-form TV show. Let’s face it, these days most novels are better adapted on TV because movies just don’t have the time to get into as many characters and subplots as a TV serialized show can. A company like Netflix or Amazon could afford the budget to keep the Reacher stories as action packed as the novels can be as well.
What do you think of this news and do you agree that Cruise was not the right actor to portray Jack Reacher? Sound off in the comments below.
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SOURCE: BBC
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