Jack Reacher is the brooding ex-army action man at the heart of Lee Child’s whirlwind collection of novels. Celeb fans include Bill Clinton, Stephen King and even Tom Cruise, who was on hand to play the protagonist in the screen adaptation for the hit series. But as the author recalls, he wasn’t sold on the actor from the get-go.
“I was cautious about Cruise being so radically different to Reacher Physically,” admits Child. “But we all just figured, ‘Let’s get past that and see how he does vibe and personality-wise’. Which was ‘really well!’ Within five minutes, I’d totally bought into Tom as Jack."
Lee started on the Jack Reacher series after being fired from Granada in 1995 as part of businessman and broadcaster Charles Allen’s ‘Corporate Restructuring’. He reflected on his time working at the TV service when ex-broadcaster and convicted sex offender Stuart Hall was on the books.
“I had no idea about Stuart Hall, but everybody was aware of Jimmy Saville,” he rues. “Well, everybody was aware of the rumours. You could get away with a huge amount of stuff then, which you wouldn’t get away with now, by dint of being a celebrity and wielding extraordinary power in the workplace.”
Read the rest of the interview in the current issue of Hot Press, in stores now!