Jack Reacher (Lee Child novels)

I think he's even taller, like 6'4". But yeah, a HUGE portion of the character is that he's physically imposing. Casting Tom Cruise is a travesty.

 

Jack Reacher is supposed to have a 50" chest as well. Wikipedia also says he's 6'5" and 210 to 250 lbs. Plus ice-blue eyes and dirty blond hair.

So 6'5", 230 lbs., and a 50" chest is a tough physical role to fill. It limits the options.

I think casting The Rock would have been worse than Tom Cruise, though he fits the bill at 6'5", 260 lbs., with a chest that likely is near the 50" range. But it's The Rock. (Well, I guess Tom Cruise isn't that much better.)

Plus The Rock doesn't look nordic enough. Perhaps Chris Hemsworth? Hemsworth is ostensibly 6'3" and has a 38" chest. Is that good enough?

Who else should have been considered for this role?

 

I think The Rock would've been the best one available. The size is far more crucial to the character than being Nordic. Reacher's mother was supposed to be French, and many French people have dark hair and eyes. Or, a change in ethnicity would've been ok. But to have some dude a foot shorter and 100lbs less is just silly IMO.

 

What if we stretched you to 6'3"? Would you still?

That 38" measurement is from Hemsworth's agency. It may have been far bigger when he bulked up for his roles as Thor. Did you see him as Thor?

 

Honestly, I didn't really think about the numbers that much.

Like I said, it was likely before he bulked up. He was just some Aussie surfer pretty boy when he was trying to make it big. They fed him raw beef when they wanted him as Thor.

Behold:

PHOTOS: Chris Hemsworth Remarkble Muscular Transformation - Feast of Fun

 

You could too, brother.... Bodybuilding.com - Learn How Thor's Chris Hemsworth Packed on 20 Pounds of Muscle!

 

We almost never go to the movie theater. Too much money anymore. By the time you buy two tickets, a large popcorn, two drinks, and maybe one box of candy, it's $40. And half the time the movie is horrible, or someone nearby is distracting, or you have to pee halfway through and can't pause it.

I'm a huge Lee Child fan, so I would probably make an exception for this movie, but the Tom Cruise thing has me irritated. But I'm still considering it......hrrmm. If anyone goes to see it, please let me know their thoughts.

 

BEST POST EVER. I don't know anything about the Jack Reacher novels, nor do I particularly care, but Chris Hemsworth...*drool*. That's probably why I missed this post the first time around.
--- merged: Dec 21, 2012 at 1:24 PM ---

See, after going to see the Hobbit, I discovered I like going to the movie theater more than watching movies at home. Yeah, it's expensive, but so are a lot of other nights out. The advantage it has over home for me is that there are fewer distractions. I HAVE to pay attention to the movie. We went and saw the Hobbit on Sunday, and the theater was full, but everyone was very respectful and quiet. I didn't have a single complaint about the audience. Of course, I may be immune to such things now after a summer of taking two young boys to the children's movie festival the theater put on--kids are incredibly loud compared to adults, and few parents seemed to want to rein their children in.

 

The thing to realize about these kinds of films from books is that they aren't making these films for the readers of the books; they're making them for watchers of films. Films of this calibre must make millions over the millions it takes to make them.

Next we consider limitations of taking fiction designed with words (and images) and making a fiction designed with real objects and people. Then you consider the limitations imposed with choosing from a limited pool of talent. When you are aiming for blockbuster results, choosing from blockbuster talent limits the pool even more.

So you take a character like Wolverine from the comics (5'3", 195 lbs. pre-Adamantium, muscular build) and decide who to cast for a blockbuster. How many short muscular actors from the A-list would have been suitable? Are there any? Do you want a short muscular actor for your vision of Wolverine on the big screen?

Then you take a character like Jack Archer and do the same. We're back to the 50" chest on a guy who's 6'5" and 210 to 250 lbs with ice-blue eyes and dirty blond hair. How many A-listers fit the bill? Do any? See where we're going with this?

The producers look at the story and toss out the physicality on a lot of things because they're discussing things like, "Can we get Damon for this? What about Cruise? Can we get Cruise?"

You have to take the bad with the good. The alternative is resorting to fan films. Which are worse.

I tend to look at film versions of virtually anything as retellings, not scholarly translations. They're called adaptations, which pretty much means "modify to fit a new purpose" (The Lord of the Rings is a good example). That's what's going on. It's Hollywood; it's to be expected.

If you're a big enough fan, be happy they even made the damn thing. (I hadn't even heard of these books or their author before the film was made.) If you're a purist, then there is no hope either way.

I'm a fan of Conan the Barbarian (the character, the original stories, not the Schwarzenegger films, which is why I prefer "Conan the Cimmerian"). I went to go see the lastest film in the theatre enthusiastically. I had fun. Was it good? Good enough for the sword & sorcery genre. What is Conan? In a form. Was it true to the character, world, and mythos of Conan? Gods no. In that respect, by Crom, it was a dog's breakfast! Horrific.