Lee Child/Jack Reacher/Tom Cruise

[derrynoose]

I heard at the weekend that Tom Cruise is to play the part of Jack Reacher in a film edition of one of Lee Child's books. Can this be true???

[chaptazbru]

'fraid so !

[daffy654]

Jack Reacher is portrayed as a tall man as far as I can remember. Tom Cruise would be a very bad person to cast in the role.

[shaneystar2]

Oh yes ...quite true .Short a rse playing a 6' 5" tall ex marine
You couldn't make it up .

[chaptazbru]

Liam Neeson would be so much better.

[derrynoose]

I'm just about to start the most recent Reacher novel. I can see myself imagining TC in some of the situations which I'm sure to find in this book. I'm reminded that, on one occasion, Elvis was playing opposite a taller actress who stood in a hole in the sand in the (upright) beach scenes.

[Traci66]

When they made the film Interview with the Vampire, TC was cast as Lestat, I had read the books by then and really couldn't picture him in the role, (neither could Anne Rice apparently) and it is one of the few roles I enjoyed watching TC in.

[shaneystar2]

Yes but Elvis films weren't based on books .
Jack Reacher has a huge fan base .
It's always the same ..you get a good book and a good character ,they transfer it to film or TV and it totally shatters your imagination of the character .

[emmie]

they killed the wonderful book One Day, by David Nicholls, firstly by casting an American in the lead, and setting it elsewhere.

[BlueToffee]

Reacher 6'5, Cruise 5'6.....makes sense to me!

[abstibus]

6'4" ex military police major, unassuming guy, Purple Heart, travels only with a toothbrush, dumps his clothes every 3 days for new ones from the bargain store, doesn't believe in owning property, hitches everywhere.
Sounds just like Tom Cruise

[craft1948]

Are there any weird cults/sects in the new book?

[emmie]

i watched a trailer for Captain Corelli's Mandolin and heard Nicholas Cage garble something and decided that was enough.

[Quizmonster]

There is a physical description of Jack Reacher in pretty well every book about him by Lee Child.
Here's a typical one from Bad Luck and Trouble...
"Six-five, two-fifty, hands as big as frozen turkeys...forearms like Frankenstein's monster."
And, later in the same book...
"His arms were like a gorilla's only longer and thicker."
Elsewhere, one of his women friends describes him as being "like a six and a half foot condom stuffed with walnuts", a phrase which Child actually ‘borrowed' from a book by Clive James. There is not a shred of doubt what this guy looks like in the author's mind.
Of course, film directors - and readers - are not obliged to stick to a writer's depiction of any given character, but there can be only a handful of actors around who fit the bill as far as Lee Child is concerned. Arnold Schwarzeneger at one time possibly, but Tom Cruise just ain't Jack Reacher!

[jno]

QM, I believe that was actually Clive James's description of Schwarzenegger. It's possible Child used the phrase in the vague hope that it would lure him into taking on the role on screen; but as you say, he's a bit past it now.

Given the comparatively small number of actors with the required gorilla-like appearance, I would have thought Cruise would be as good as any. After all, Ian Fleming wanted David Niven as James Bond; Sean Connery couldn't have been much further off the mark - and yet he didn't do badly.

[mosesg]

No way!! He definately wouldn't come to mind if I was casting Jack Reacher, not tall enough or muscular enough. If he is cast I definately wouldn't watch it.

[nannybooby]

God ,how can he ? Jack Reacher is over 6foot and built like a tank.Tom Tom Tiddley Tom is far to SHORT ,weedy and not at all macho. I have only just deiscovered the joy of a Jack Reacher novel about a month ago but Tom cruise no way.

[Baldric]

A few comments here;
http://www.theanswerb.../Question1151728.html

http://www.theanswerb.../Question1029791.html

http://www.theanswerb.../Question1040021.html

seems it's not a popular choice!

[Quizmonster]

Yes, I know, J. In fact we've been here together before, as the links show!

[emmie]

fyi, David Niven did play James Bond in Casino Royale, but by the time the films were made he would have been too old, even if Ian Fleming had written it with him in mind. And for my money Sean Connery was a good match.
Tom Cruise doesn't seem an obvious choice to play the character, but you know Hollywood doesn't always get it right.

[snags]

Should've been Keith Lemon.