Tom Cruise’s Jack Reacher Was Way More Book Accurate Than You Realized

Since its release, many Jack Reacher fans have questioned the disparity of Tom Cruise’s appearance compared to how the character is described in the books, but according to some tweets by director Christopher McQuarrie, things may have been a whole lot more accurate than originally thought. The 2012 film was an adaptation of One Shot, the ninth book in Lee Child’s series about a former military policeman who wanders around the country and finds himself in dangerous situations. The box office for the first film was initially thought to be lackluster, but international numbers eventual led to the 2016 sequel Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, produced by McQuarrie and starring Cruise, with directorial duties going to Edward Zwick.

Fans were quick to point out that Top Gun star Tom Cruise did not come anywhere close to the 6 foot five inch stature of the fictional character. While Cruise had the star power to get the movies made, many were critical of the decision to cast the five foot seven inch actor in a role that would be expected to involve some physical intimidation, including author Lee Child himself. With actors the size of The Rock auditioning for the role, people have continued to question the decision, even after the team of McQuarrie and Cruise have been successful with their work on the Mission: Impossible series.

No stranger to answering questions on Twitter, Christopher McQuarrie informed fans that a lot more detail was put into making Cruise physically resemble Reacher than most people had noticed. The director pointed out that the scars featured on Cruise’s body were all specific references to injuries the character received in the novels. McQuarrie went on to point out that a very particular scar where Reacher’s muscular physique prevented further damage from a bullet was highlighted and not to just show off the shape Cruise was in. He hashtagged his tweets with #FanService, because of the extra step they went to make fans happy, but have been so far missed by many. You can check the tweets out here:

There seems to be a level of frustration behind McQuarrie’s words. Even after all of their successes and highly anticipated, upcoming projects, it must be difficult to still be called out for inaccurately portraying the physical attributes of the character, when evidence will prove that they went the extra mile to do so. Despite his lack of height, Cruise made sure he was in peak physical condition and continues to do so to perform intricate stunts himself to make his movies more believable and the duo made sure to put their dedication to the character on screen where it went unnoticed.

Despite there being no new Jack Reacher movies, it is on its way to being a television show at Amazon with Lee Child as an executive producer and his push to cast a larger actor behind it. Meanwhile, McQuarrie and Cruise are keeping busy with the next two Mission: Impossible movies. With the success and anticipation of these installments in the franchise, fans are sure to have plenty to look forward to.

Source: Christopher McQuarrie

About The Author