Tom Cruise Defends Role as 'Jack Reacher'

Tom Cruise defends his role as Jack Reacher in the first of what could be a new action movie franchise, despite being much slimmer and shorter than the character in the novels.

Published

6 months ago

Categories

Entertainment

People

Tom Cruise, Lee Child

Places

London, United Kingdom

Transcript

Tom Cruise hit the red carpet in London on Monday (December 10) for the world premiere of Jack Reacher. At 5ft 7in, Cruise is much slimmer and shorter than the 6ft 5in, 200 pound-plus character created by author Lee Child in the original books. But he said he'd discussed the issue with the author. SOUNDBITE: Tom Cruise, actor, saying (English) : "You know, he created the character, I had my own opinion that I didn't say to Lee and then he came back and pretty much reflected what I had felt about it. But had he said 'look I'd rather not', I would not have played the character. And I think that is a characteristic for me, not character, and that's kind of how I approached it." Jack Reacher is based on 'One Shot' -- one of the series of best-selling novels by Child about the eponymous former soldier turned drifter who travels the United States dealing out his own brand of justice. Cruise was also a producer on the movie, which is due for US release on December 21st.