Tom Cruise to Play Jack Reacher in Lee Child’s Movie ‘One Shot’

I’ve enjoyed some of Lee Child’s novels. Child created a character who features in about sixteen of his novels.

That character is Jack Reacher; a mountain of a man standing at 6 ft 5. He is a former military man who drifts around the country, inevitably coming across some injustice that needs rectifying.

One of Lee Child’s novels “One Shot” is busy being made into an action movie. Tom Cruise has been cast to play Jack Reacher. The decision has irked many of the die-hard fans of Lee Child’s novels.

The main sore point seems to be that Cruise is one of the shortest leading men in Hollywood, standing at around 5ft8, and they wanted someone who looked more ‘formidable’ to get the part.

I suppose there could have been other “more fitting” actors to play the role, but personally I don’t really see anything wrong with it. Cruise has always been short (and he’s always had a big butt) but that has never seemed to detract from his action roles. In movies like War of the Worlds, Top Gun, The Last Samurai, and the Mission Impossible series I never watched and thought, “well, he could defeat that guy… but only if he was another seven inches taller.” He carries himself well onscreen, he is always in good shape and has his own type of imposing qualities.


I might not agree with much in his personal life, but as an actor I think he’s proven himself. His movies still seem to be bankable successes in spite of him having so many haters these days.

It will probably blow over if the movie turns out well, and be a similar case to X-Men die-hards who, at one stage, were all shouting “Hugh Jackman is much too tall to play Wolverine!”

As for the ones protesting Cruise being given the role, who would they prefer? Some were calling for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to play the part.

Um. Sure. I won’t even go into that one. (I don’t have anything against him really, but there is no way that he could have been cast in this movie).

Lee Child was present for the auditions for the role, and he personally gave his endorsement to Cruise and said to those who questioned his lack of height and muscle, “Jack Reacher’s size in the books is a metaphor for an unstoppable force, which Cruise portrays in his own way.”

One Shot is scheduled to open in February 2013. I’ll be quite keen to see the movie, and will give a more educated opinion after that.

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