LONDON 鈥� Tom Cruise has defended his role as Jack Reacher in the first of what could be a new action-movie franchise, despite being much slimmer and shorter than the character created by author Lee Child in the original books.
Cruise said he would not have taken the part if British thriller writer Child had been unhappy.
Child鈥檚 version of Reacher 鈥� a military sniper 鈥� is 6 feet 5 inches tall and weighs more than 200 pounds. Cruise, 50, is just 5 feet 7 inches tall according to the Internet Movie Database, and has a trim physique.
鈥淵ou know, [Child] created the character, I had my own opinion that I didn鈥檛 say to Lee and then he came back and pretty much reflected what I had felt about it. But had he said 鈥�;look I鈥檇 rather not,鈥� I would not have played the character,鈥� Cruise said.
Cruise described Reacher鈥檚 size as a 鈥渃haracteristic鈥� rather than a 鈥渃haracter.鈥�
Jack Reacher, to be released later this month, is based on One Shot 鈥� one of the series of best-selling novels by Child about the eponymous former soldier turned drifter who travels the United States dealing out his own brand of justice.
British actor Rosamund Pike, who plays the female lead, said she hoped there will be many more Reacher movies.
鈥淲e hope this is going to be a great big new franchise for Tom and for Paramount and so to be in the first one is always kind of cool. It鈥檚 witty, it鈥檚 fast-moving, the plot is 鈥� puzzling and incisive and quite dark in places. You know the humour and the violence in this film is pretty edgy and I like that about it,鈥� Pike said.
Cruise was also a producer on the Paramount Pictures movie, which is opening Dec. 21.
