Jack Reacher, according to author Lee Child who created him, is a 6ft. 6in. blonde-haired ex-soldier who is “built like the side of a house….his hands, giant battered mitts that bunch into fists the size of footballs.”
Tom Cruise, who is portraying him in the action thriller Jack Reacher, is dark-haired, 5ft 7in tall with a baby face and small, soft hands.
A problem? Very probably. The speculation on social media sites has been so negative that research firm Fizziology reported the buzz was the worst it had ever seen surrounding a particular actor in an upcoming picture.
One commentator on the website of the film magazine Empire wrote: “Jack Reacher is sledge hammer, Tom Cruise, is an underwear dancing sissy.”
Paramount, the studio that put up $60 million to make the picture, is banking on Cruise’s star power to make the movie a success.
And so is Cruise—–he has bought the rights to all 17 Jack Reacher books, hoping to turn them into a Mission: Impossible-type franchise.