READER’S DIGEST
May• 2019 | 99I write is completely disorganised.
Everything feels like a high-wire act.
Somehow magically, it always comes
out all right. It’s a drug.”
But success has a downside, he
says wryly. “If you are number one
for one week then you want to be
number one for two weeks. It’s a nev-
er-ending treadmill of self-torture.”
Be that as it may, the formula is
clearly working, with two Jack Reacher
movies based on the novels released
in 2012 and 2016. Child did an Alfred
Hitchcock-style cameo in each, which
controversially starred Tom Cruise –
whose reported height is a mere 1.7
metres. Fans famously deemed they
wanted a Jack with more ‘reach’.
“He is a charming gentleman,” says
Child in the actor’s defence. “None
of what you hear about Cruise in the
media is true. He is a thoroughly nice
guy. A very hard worker.”
Explaining his recent decision to
veto more movies, Child explains,
“Ultimately the readers felt he was not
an accurate representation of Reacher
and the readers are the most impor-
tant people to me.”
So, Cruise is out and Child is on
the lookout for an unknown actor to
fill Reacher’s very large shoes – and
hands, which he famously describes
as “like frozen supermarket chick-
ens”. On the horizon is a binge-watch-
ing Netflix-style TV series with long
seasons based on each Reacher novel.
Jack Reacher is one of the most pop-
ular characters in modern fiction. “He
is a mysterious stranger,” says Child
of his beloved character. “The noble
one who shows up in the nick of time,
solves the problem and rides off into
the sunset. He’s the modern version of
Robin Hood or Sir Lancelot.”
“He [Reacher] loves solitude but
worries about being lonely. I would
love him to find happiness but if he
settled down, bought a little house
somewhere and got a little dog,
that would be the end of the series,
wouldn’t it?”
Devoted ‘Reacher Creature’ fans
are ultimately the ones who keep
the series on top of bestseller listsFans demanded a taller actor than
Tom Cruise to play Jack Reacher