10 Things You Didn’t Know About Jack Reacher
Jack Reacher is the hero in a long running series of novels that are filled with action and suspense written by Lee Child. Jack Reacher is a former officer in the US Army Military Police Corps and now spends his time traveling the country helping out people. This premise can lead to an almost endless set of stories, which is why there are so far over twenty books in the series. The books are incredibly popular which is why there have been two feature films based on the Jack Reacher. Recently, I watched the first film, 2012’s Jack Reacher, with the commentary by star Tom Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie and heard many things I did not know… in fact I found 10 things. Maybe it will be the same for you as I have 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Jack Reacher…
1. The Jack Reacher character in the novels is supposed to be 6’5” (1.96m) and everybody knows that Tom Cruise is certainly not. Tom Cruise only agreed to star if Lee Child gave his blessing and Child went as far to say that Cruise embodied many of the characteristics of Reacher and size doesn’t matter. (With a potential Jack Reacher series in the works recently announced, Lee Child has changed his tune preferring an actor who resembles the book Reacher.)
2. Child was very happy with Jack Reacher and Tom Cruise. That may be due to the fact that it was Tom Cruise’s idea for Lee Child’s cameo role as a desk sergeant.
3. Jack Reacher is mainly based off the novel One Shot and features a sniper heavy plot. Not only the actors portraying the snipers, but also all of the camera operators went to sniper school to learn the realistic techniques and movements.
4. The sniper school must have paid off because the tense opening sniper scene was filmed all in one take with two different cameras to give an actual reticle look without any digital trickery.
5. Speaking of CGI, there is only one use of CGI in Jack Reacher and that is during the finale with Tom Cruise driving backwards down a hill. That is in impressive fact when you realize how many stunts are in Jack Reacher.
6. The stunts in Jack Reacher that stick out most are the driving scenes. Tom Cruise did all of his own stunt driving allowing for some intimate shots were the audience can see actually see Tom Cruise behind the wheel. There was one shot done with a process trailer otherwise it would have been impossible for McQuarrie to get the shot. Tom Cruise was not happy.
7. A lot of the car chases were filled with accidents and took several takes. Some of the accidents ended up being the takes that are used in Jack Reacher, like when the Chevelle stalls or when Cruise couldn’t line up a turn and hit the police car, because they added even more realism. The accidents took their toll as 7 out of the 8 Chevelle’s used in filming were destroyed.
8. Even with all the dangerous stunt driving, Tom Cruise found the bathroom fight to be the most dangerous. The reason being that the potential for his melon being cracked open was totally in the hands of another actor. It was Tom Cruise’s idea to add the comedic touches to the bathroom fight and that makes me happy he survived the stunt.
9. Tom Cruise had his hands all over Jack Reacher, not only did he star, but he was also a producer. He didn’t take it easy on himself. It was Tom Cruise’s idea to add rain the to final fight. Did I mention that it was already being filmed in December in a very cold Pittsburgh?
10. Christopher McQuarrie wanted someone that American audiences wouldn’t be familiar with and that is how Werner Herzog got cast. It was Herzog’s idea to use the extra cloudy contact lens to make him look more evil and even though his character is Russian, Herzog was only ever going to use his native German accent. It was additions like that which made everyone enjoy having the award winning director on set.
