Alan Ritchson is the latest actor to don the role of Jack Reacher after Tom Cruise’s rendition of Reacher wasn’t able to entertain the audience. In the case of Ritchson, however, the world surely loves him as the new Jack Reacher but the role wasn’t without difficulties.
Stating that the team behind the Prime Video series, Reacher, wanted an as authentic Reacher as possible. Not willing to compromise on most of the things, Alan Ritchson revealed that he almost lost the role of Jack Reacher because of his height!
Alan Ritchson Was Almost Rejected Because of His Height!
Although the actor is already 6’3 in height, Alan Ritchson had some difficulties in trying to convince the producers to let him portray the role of Jack Reacher. Stating that the team behind Reacher wanted a 100% faithful adaptation of the novels, Ritchson was shorter than what the books described Jack Reacher to be.
After many difficulties, however, Ritchson was able to convince the team and he portrayed the role of Jack Reacher in the series. During his appearance on Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum, the actor revealed how he fought really hard to portray the role of Jack Reacher.
“You know, I fought really hard for Reacher. It took months and months and months to convince everybody that I was the guy. You know, I was passed on the first time. I think I mentioned to you that I was passed on in the very beginning of the process, like everybody was, and I think that was because I’m 6’3. Reacher’s 6’5.”
He further continued,
“I think they’re trying to, you know, everybody’s trying to get a super authentic version of Reacher on screen. And so, there’s always kind of an asterisk in my mind, you know, when it comes to this role. But I had to really fight for that. And now that we’re in it, it’s exploded.”
Although Ritchson is deemed as the better Jack Reacher, the actor revealed that the fame that he has been getting from all over the world is because it was Tom Cruise who first attempted the role!
Tom Cruise Made The People Aware of Jack Reacher
Back in 2012, Tom Cruise starred in the role of Jack Reacher in the movie of the same name. The actor further starred in a sequel in 2016 titled Jack Reacher: Never Go Back but the movie received average success. With the fame that Alan Ritchson got from Reacher, the actor revealed in Jonatan Blomberg‘s interview that it was Tom Cruise who deserved the initial credit.
“Never. Being compared to the most legendary actor of all time? The last film star? I would never tire of being compared to somebody of his stature.”
He further continued,
“There’s some great IP, the books are great, a lot of people have read them and enjoy the show because of them, but I think a lot of people enjoy the show because he made them aware of it.”
It seems that the team finally opting to choose Alan Ritchson as the star turned out to be a good thing. Reacher currently stands at a rating of 8.1/10 on IMDB and 94% on Rotten Tomatoes with two seasons to its name. The action series is available to stream on Prime Video in the U.S.
