Did Tom Cruise Poke Fun At His Own Height During Jack Reacher? (Photo Credit – Facebook)
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When Tom Cruise was cast as Jack Reacher, fans of Lee Child’s novels weren’t sold. Why? Well, Reacher is a 6ft 5 powerhouse and Cruise? He’s a solid 5ft 8. A bit of a size mismatch. But here’s the kicker: Cruise knew exactly what was up. He wasn’t blind to the irony. Cruise was fully aware of being slightly vertically challenged for the role.
During an interview, Lee Child, the author of the series, revealed that Cruise himself made a joke about it in a scene that didn’t make it to the 2012 film. “In the first movie, there’s a scene where Reacher’s in a sports bar, and five guys pick a fight with him,” Child shared. “When we shot that scene, [Cruise] did a sort of spontaneous alternative where the five guys are around him in a semi-circle and he goes: ‘One, two… what? You expected somebody bigger?’” Yep, you read that right—Cruise winked at the fans and the absurdity of his casting by making light of his height.
Even with all the high-energy action, the Jack Reacher movies were a hit. Cruise came back for Jack Reacher: Never Go Back in 2016, but his physicality remained challenging for the role.
Despite bringing his usual intensity, the Mission Impossible star didn’t quite match the 6ft 5 beast that Reacher was in the books. Lee Child himself said, “When Reacher walks into a room, you’re all a little nervous just for that first minute… Cruise, for all his talent, didn’t have that physicality.”
Fast forward to 2019, and Child finally decided: no more Jack Reacher movies with Cruise. The franchise was making its leap to TV. Enter Alan Ritchson, the new Reacher, bringing the right size and swagger to the Amazon Prime series. Child said, “Tom has decided not to act on television. He never has, and he says he never will. He’s a feature film guy.”
As for Cruise? He was busy doing, well, Tom Cruise things. While Ritchson stepped into Reacher’s boots, Cruise was preparing for Mission: Impossible’s next chapters and an even more ambitious project: shooting a film aboard the International Space Station. Talk about raising the bar.
In the end, Tom Cruise’s Jack Reacher may not have fit the physical mold, but his energy and star power still made the character his own. And even he couldn’t resist laughing about it.
