Vince Flynn on Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher
One thing you have to love about Vince Flynn is he doesn’t shy away from controversy. When it comes to the entertainment field, it’s hard to think of a more controversial movie casting than Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher.
Vince Flynn, author of the Mitch Rapp series(which if you are a Jack Reacher fan, you’d love) publishes a bi-monthly newsletter via his website. Within that newsletter he answers questions that the readers send in. Of course one of the most popular questions was Flynn’s thoughts on Tom Cruise playing Jack Reacher.
Here are Vince Flynn’s opinion on the subject:
“This is a tough one. I’m a big fan of Tom Cruise, but I don’t know how you pick a guy who’s 5’9 to play a character who is 6’5. Child is a great writer and Cruise is a great actor, so my hope is that they will be able to make us forget this distinction between the character and the actor.”
Flynn obviously, knows the position Lee Child was in. Ideally Lee Child would have probably preferred someone like The Rock to play Jack Reacher – but when you have someone like Tom Cruise banging down the door, practically begging to play Jack Reacher – it’s hard to say no.
Flynn of course doesn’t really have that difficult decision – Mitch Rapp is the kind of character that most actors can play.
As of now, Mitch Rapp has not been cast for the American Assassin movie that begins shooting in August 2013. However Bruce Willis is reportedly being cast as Stan Hurley, which is great news – he is an actor that will really fit that character role.
The Jack Reacher movie starring Tom Cruise is released later this year, in December 2012.
I am a Major Fan of both Vince Flynn and Lee Child. I have to agree with Vince on this one. Tom Cruise may have been a decent choice for Mitch Rapp with his size. Jack Reacher is a big man and he needs to be portrayed that way.