Tom Cruise Is ‘Too Old’ for Action Movies? Lee Child Has the Answer

Jack Reacher author Lee Child thinks the famous actor Tom Cruise is not fit for action movies now. In a recent interview, the writer shared that Tom Cruise needs to retire from action movies, citing he’s “too old.”

Lee Child is the author of a famous long-running series of crime thrillers (24 books and counting) which is about Jack Reacher, an ex-military police officer. His first Jack Reacher novel was published in way back 1997, the books and the character have developed a loyal following of fans since then, who are known as “Reacher Creatures,” and the readers were not too pleased when they got to know that Cruise had been cast as Reacher in a big-budget Hollywood adaptation of the 2005 book One Shot.

Although he is one of the most famous actors in the world, many felt that he was not a good choice for the role of Reacher. Their main problem was that Tom Cruise was too short in height while in the books, Reacher is described as being 6 feet, 5 inches tall and weighing about 220 pounds. On the other hand, Cruise is 5 feet, 7 inches only.

“I’ve got tens of thousands of letters saying they didn’t like Cruise because he’s too small, basically,” Lee Child told the Guardian earlier in 2018. “Part of Reacher’s appeal is that he’s very intimidating. Even without doing anything, if he walks into a room, people are a little bit uneasy. It was felt that, for all his virtues, Cruise didn’t represent that. So the readers were cross from the beginning.”
Despite the issues from the fans, Cruise was featured as Reacher in both 2012’s Jack Reacher and the 2016 sequel Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. But it seems the writer doesn’t want him to continue as Child revealed in 2018 that there would be no more Jack Reacher movies with Tom Cruise.

“Cruise, for all his talent, didn’t have that physicality,” Child said at the time, adding that he liked the actor personally. “But ultimately the readers are right,” he added. “The size of Reacher is really, really important and it’s a big component of who he is.”

Also Read: Matt Damon shared a funny conversation he had with Tom Cruise about his Stunts

In an interview with U.K. newspaper The Times which was published on November 23, Child said that Cruise was ready to give up the Reacher’s role but the writer had made up his mind and the TV series will be there with a different actor. However, the writer further added that Cruise is a terrific guy, very considerate as well as talented and he could get another 20 years out of it but he needs to move on from Jack Reacher.

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