If there’s one thing Tom Cruise has never lacked, it’s confidence.
Since he slid across those wooden floors in just his underpants in 1983’s Risky Business, the actor has swaggered his way to the top in Hollywood with that toothy grin firmly in place.
This, after all, is the man many credit with “saving Hollywood’ after last year’s Top Gun; Maverick finally tempted audiences back into cinemas after the pandemic.
However, there have been a few box office wobbles along the way and one rare case of fan fury over his casting.
One of his many action blockbusters is on Channel 4 tonight, but even the author of the books the franchise is based on admitted Tom wasn’t quite right for the role.
READ MORE
Shakira has ‘no interest dating’ Tom Cruise after ‘laughable rumours’
Lee Child writes the iconic Jack Reacher novels and says “Size is important.” Especially in the case of his action hero who is supposed to be 6’5 tall and blond.
There was major backlash from fans back in 2012 when 5’7 brunette Cruise hit the big screen in 2012 in the first of two movies in the role.
Child admitted he could see their point and revealed that even Cruise himself made fun of the situation in a deleted scene.
Child said: “There was criticism from the book fans, because they had built up a very clear image of what Reacher should look like…
“I think that the size thing is important to certain parts of the narrative. Reacher has got to scare people and you can do that so much easier with one glance of this huge animal rather than a normal-sized actor.”
In an interview to promote the Amazon Prime TV adaptation of the books, which stars towering muscle-bound 6’2 actor Alan Ritchson, Child revealed moments on the 2012 with Cruise where he acknowledged the situation.
Child said: “In the first movie, there’s a scene where Reacher’s in a sports bar and five guys pick a fight with him so he takes them outside.
“When we shot that scene, he did a sort of spontaneous alternative take where the five guys are around him in a semi-circle and he goes, ‘One, two… What? You expected somebody bigger?’
“It shows you that he knew… He knew that physically he was wrong for it.”
The first film took a solid $218million at the global box office but four years later, the sequel only banked $162million and the film franchise ended there.
JACK REACHER 2 IS ON CHANNEL FOUR AT 9PM
