Tom Cruise 'Very Sensitive' To Jack Reacher Criticism

He's a larger than life star, but will that be enough to silence critics?

Casting Tom Cruise in an action flick is as close to a sure thing as a studio can get (never mind "Knight and Day"), but when the "Mission: Impossible" star was announced as the man who will play Jack Reacher in the big screen adaptation of Lee Child's novel "One Shot," outsized howls came from the book's fans. Their complaint? Reacher is described as a mountain of a man at six foot five inches. Cruise, on the account, doesn't quite measure up. And he's not immune to the criticism.

"Firstly, I'm very sensitive to it," Cruise tells Empire Magazine in their latest issue. The author, he says, watched him audition and gave him the thumbs up. "This is Lee's book and Lee's character. Him giving me his blessing is what made me do it. If he hadn't then I wouldn't have done it."

The star, who next features in this winter's fourth chapter of the "Mission: Impossible" series, insists that he's a huge fan of the character, and understands what it takes to play him.

"People look at things through the prism of the colors of their life, but Jack Reacher does things the way we want to sometimes," he says. "In that sense he's sort of a Dirty Harry, a James Bond, a Josey Wales."

Cruise has a number of films on the horizon. Along with "Impossible," he'll feature in the big screen adaptation of the Broadway musical "Rock of Ages" and will film "Oblivion," a sci-fi film co-starring Jessica Chastain.

For more, click over to Empire.

Comments

[Hwdgin]

09:25 PM on 12/22/2011

I have been watching the new TV show Person of Interest with Jim Caviezel as the star- he is Jack Reacher. Just watch and you will see- he has the bulk- the persona everything- Lee rethink- since Tom Cruise is a wimp and not Jack Reacher!

[natasha harry]

08:04 PM on 12/20/2011

Ok this is all wrong, to fit the character perfectly there is no one else except John Cena - size, looks, strength ... he has the lot!!!!!

[skitt]

01:16 PM on 12/20/2011

I too have read and loved all the Reacher books. But Tom Cruise?? Very bad casting, sorry Lee. For me, Jack Reacher = Daniel Craig.

[llohjmcbg]

06:45 PM on 12/08/2011

Tommy, just go away. Yes, I am a fan of Child's novels. Read them all and love them! You don't measure up babe. But I guess when you co-own the studio that options the movie then you can do what you want. I'm thinking it will be a big action movie and ignore the most important parts.

[llohjmcbg]

06:33 PM on 12/08/2011

Are you kidding me Tommy? You just don't measure up physically. Leave this part to someone who can do it better. You need actors like Peter Hermann, Kane Hodder, etc. Do not bastardize it by thinking you can do Jack Reacher. I don't like your "humility" either. Just go away and let a better actor do this role.

[hmadden]

03:39 PM on 12/08/2011

Like many readers, I'm a fan of the Jack Reacher novels. Tom Cruise has played some great roles. I'll look forward to a sequel to "Top Gun". But Cruise as Reacher? That's like casting Arnold Stang as Superman. Sorry, but all the acting skill in the world can't make Cruise 6'5". Maybe they could use the movie special effects that were used in "Lord of the Rings" to create the Hobbits, only in reverse? How about a biographical movie of the life of Marilyn Monroe staring the (very good actress) who plays the boss on NCIS:LA? This is wrong, wrong, wrong.

[spinblastr]

09:46 PM on 12/01/2011

It might have worked if Peter Jackson signed on as director. He made made the hobbits by filming from angles that made the actors look smaller. In this case, he'd have to do the opposite, make a hobbit look like a real man.

[roquelaure]

03:29 PM on 12/01/2011

He played Lestat and nailed it, in spite of being physically wrong - both his size, type of features and coloring were a bad match. He didn't have the benefit of the author's blessing beforehand either, but she was so blown away, she filmed a formal apology to praise his performance. Heh.

There's a lot that a really great actor can do with a part, even if they're wrong on paper. That's what they do. And frankly, you don't want an anticeptic documentary that's all faithful and totally boring. It's a movie - completely different medium from a book - it should be its own creature.

[Jackie 1]

01:27 AM on 11/26/2011

There is no way I would watch a Jack Reacher movie if Tom Cruise is the lead role. His physical size is what makes him so dominating. Surely the author should have somw say. Will still buy the books but not the movoe.

[Jackie 1]

05:47 AM on 11/28/2011

Just read that Lee Childs has approved the casting of Tom Cruise. This series will now become a comedy of errors. It will turn a serious book into a laughing stock. Will Tom Cruise next become Gabriel Allon from Daniel Silva books? At least he would have the build for that!!

[spinblastr]

09:43 PM on 12/01/2011

The Reacher books have been going downhill for a few years now. The last couple were pretty lame. Maybe Lee Child sees the writing on the wall.

[mixietop]

09:33 AM on 11/25/2011

The Reacher intimidation factor has a lot to do with his bulk. As versatile and accomplished as Cruise is, by no stretch of the imagination is he Jack Reacher... any incarnation. There must be at least 6 men I could name who qualify, would have been better. I've read every Child/Reacher book, this the worst thing he has allowed to happen.

[JCD747]

07:06 PM on 11/18/2011

I have been a Reacher fan since I picked up my first Reacher novel,when I heard Tom Cruise was lined up to play Reacher in the first Reacher movie I thought you have GOT TO BE KIDDING me.Not only is he sooo much smaller but he is a pretty boy and Reacher is anything but pretty,he wears the hard times he's been through right out in the open and you just have to look at him and you know "this is not someone I want to mess with".Who was the guy that looked at Tom Cruise and said OK this guy is scarry I mean come on get real people Cruise is not and never will be someone who could be anything but a Reacher side kick,oh wait Reacher does'n't have a side kick.Cruise is a great actor I have seen and liked most of his movies he is just NOT Jack Reacher.

[AAHewetson]

03:28 PM on 11/01/2011

There is a scene in one of the novels - a pivotal, can't be left out scene - in which Reacher breaks two prisoners out of cages welded to a floor by breaking the welds and, basically, lifting an entire side of the cage far enough off of the ground for the prisoners to escape.

Another scene, in another book, where Reacher turns over a car to create a diversion.

A scene where he takes out multiple linebackers with moves that are based on sheer size and strength.

Many scenes where he is concerned about being detected due to the mere fact that, in any crowd, he stands out like a sore thumb due to his height and build.

These are just a few of hundreds of scenes in the novels - scenes that should not be left out movies based on the novels - that were wiped the minute Tom Cruise was hired.

I'm not panning Cruise's acting: just saying that this is a very poor casting choice for a movie based on a Jack Reacher novel.

[TheWM]

04:03 PM on 10/30/2011

Don't tell anybody, but Robert Redford is really short too, and so was Clark Gable.

[Theatrixnyc]

04:05 PM on 10/30/2011

Redford? He always looked tall in the Saddle..and great in a Uniform.

[TheWM]

04:29 PM on 10/30/2011

That's why they call it movie magic. If there's a guy who'd be a great leading man, except he's short -- well, that's not a problem. The movie industry has vast amounts of experience dealing with this kind of thing -- and with actresses who are freakishly tall, like Melanie Griffith. Watch very carefully the next time you see Redford in a movie. There are very few shots which show him head-to-toe next to anyone else. There are many shots in which he's standing on something or has a couple of phone books on his chair.

Tom Cruise has always seemed much less concerned with hiding his real height from the public than your average short Hollywood leading man. Maybe because he's totally focused on trying to hide other things, *cough* he's gay *cough*

[AAHewetson]

03:29 PM on 11/01/2011

And neither would have, intelligently, been cast as Thor.

[Hwdgin]

09:19 PM on 12/22/2011

Tom Cruise as Kack reacher is totally not believable. I have been watching Jim Caviezel on Personal Interest- Now he is Jack Reacher. I have read the novels and believe me he is Jack Reacher.

[peegan]

05:00 PM on 10/29/2011

Anne Rice was horrified and very public about her unhappiness when Cruise was cast as the vampire Lestat. After viewing a final version of the film, she took out a full page ad in Variety to apologize to Cruise. She said he was perfect. Say what you will about his private life, but Cruise is a very good actor. And the character of Reacher is Child's baby. If he is happy, maybe Cruise should be given a fair chance.

[MaybeMilo]

11:53 PM on 10/28/2011

He's welcome to prove me wrong, but I still maintain that it was an absolutely horrible choice.