Jack Reacher is based on One Shot, the ninth in the series of Lee Child’s novels, so why begin in the middle, as it were? Producer Don Granger says, ‘One Shot is perhaps the most cinematic of all the books. Within the novel are presented several elements that we thought were important in a first movie. First, I think it’s got one of the very best introductions for Reacher – it’s a great way to bring him into the plot that’s already in motion. But secondly, and perhaps even more importantly, there’s a moral dilemma for him. He comes into the story believing one thing, and then has to realise that the facts are perhaps pointing in a different direction. He then has to decide whether to take the easy way out of this, or the tougher way, and in that decision, we get to realise why Jack Reacher’s different from any other movie hero.’
To take such a hero and transfer him to the screen would also require both a writer and a director comfortable with both action and enigma, with complex, detailed set pieces, big and small, and characters whose loyalties and motivations are suspect at best. In filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie, it became a case of one-stop shopping.
McQuarrie had to get much of the narrative out of his head without losing Reacher’s unique worldview. ‘It was about finding an interesting way to visualise his unique perspective so that it wasn’t always Reacher telling you exactly what he was thinking. Lee was so fantastic and so supportive throughout. If it worked, I think it’s largely because Lee and I really clicked on what we thought was most important to highlight about Reacher’s thought processes and outlook and how to translate that in a visual way,’ McQuarrie says.
The movie, of course, is anchored by the title character, played by Tom Cruise.
‘We really wanted to focus on an actor who could bring the gravitas the skill and the talent to make this a memorable role. And more importantly, someone who could bring out Reacher’s personality, which is very specific. When we told Lee who we were thinking about casting as Reacher and how we’d come to that conclusion, he was great about it. He said, “Why wouldn’t I want the biggest movie star who ever lived to play the character I created?”’ McQuarrie says.
For Cruise, Child’s stamp of approval was key. ‘Firstly, I’m very sensitive to it. This is Lee’s book and Lee’s character. His blessing was crucial to me. If he hadn’t, I wouldn’t have done it,’ says Cruise.
Cruise was thrilled, of course, to play Reacher, an incredibly rich, compelling and unique force of nature with such an archetypal code of honour.
‘Reacher is such a great character. He doesn’t have a cell phone, he doesn’t have email. He’s an analogue guy in a digital age. He’s off the grid. He pays for things in cash. People look at things through the prism of the colours of their life, but Jack Reacher does things the way we want to sometimes. In that sense, he’s sort of a Dirty Harry, a James Bond, a Josey Wales,’ Cruise says.
While Cruise does not resemble Reacher as described in the books, Child says that Cruise captured Reacher’s ethos and that was more important than any physical likeness.
‘Cruise, at his core, is a character actor in the most literal sense. He really gets into a role. He understood Jack Reacher. He projected his vibe. But the only real answer to that is, go see the movie. I guarantee you will come out of it, thinking, “What was I worried about?”’ Child sums up.
Moreover, McQuarrie notes, the physical attributes described in the book are nearly impossible to find in any performer. Recalls McQuarrie: ‘We were never going to find an actor who fit the rather extreme physical characteristics as are described in the books, so we decided first thing that could not be our primary concern.’
More important, McQuarrie says, were the unique characteristics that make Reacher so captivating that he knew would resonate with Cruise on a personal level. Reacher is a man comfortable in his own skin, a quality that intrigued McQuarrie and especially appealed to him in terms of how Cruise might inhabit that.
‘What I really like about Reacher is he’s a completely confident and centered individual, and a very comfortable loner. More than anything, he’s self-assured and very in tune with his environment,’ McQuarrie explains. ‘Most of the characters Tom is accustomed to playing in movies – he’s usually a man under intense pressure, and driven by the pursuit of the object of the plot. Reacher is somebody who never experiences pressure, who lets the entire story come to him. When you spend any time with Tom you realise that, as a person, he’s a lot more like Reacher.’
Which is not to say that Cruise is a vigilante or loner – rather, Cruise shares Reacher’s personable side. Even in the most stressful situations, Reacher displays a dry wit combined with a genuine concern. Reacher is not bombastic – he is thoughtful, deliberate and also, when he’s not under attack from bad guys, good company.
‘What was really exciting to me,’ McQuarrie continues, ‘was to be able to put Tom in a role where he’s playing somebody closer to himself, someone who’s a lot cooler, a lot more relaxed, a lot more amiable. What we were going for with Reacher is not really an intensity, but more a matter-of-factness. He seems to understand how everything is going to happen around him, and is just waiting for it to occur. Even down to his first big fight with the townies – he basically tells the guys, “This is the way the fight’s going to go,” and that’s how it goes. He gives them every opportunity to walk away, and they don’t do it.’
It helped to have a willing and supportive partner in Cruise, who also serves as producer. McQuarrie and Cruise worked together on Valkyrie and found they shared a similar cinematic sensibility and passion for films; they have engaged in an ongoing conversation about movies ever since. Their shared love of certain films – and even muscle cars – found their way into the fabric of Jack Reacher.
‘It has elements of a thriller and a suspense film, along with a very strong romantic streak running under it. What we’re trying to do is a little bit of a throwback, in style and tone, to the movies that Tom and I grew up on, the movies we really love. We were really trying to avoid a lot of the modern conceits of the genre. It has a feeling of Americana that has somewhat disappeared, and it’s something that our character is looking for,’ McQuarrie notes.
Production notes
Jack Reacher
Directed by: Christopher McQuarrie
©: Paramount Pictures Corporation
Presented by: Paramount Pictures, Skydance Productions
Executive Producers: Jake Myers, Ken Kamins, Kevin Messick, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Paul Schwake
Produced by: Tom Cruise, Don Granger, Paula Wagner, Gary Levinsohn
Associate Producer: Cliff Lanning
Unit Production Manager: Dana Robin
Unit Production Manager (2nd Unit): Andrew Saxe
Production Co-ordinator: Lindsay Feldman
Production Controller: Lori Scowley
Location Manager: Sam Hutchins
Location Manager (2nd Unit): Kate Marie Chase
Post-production Supervisor: Susan E. Novick
2nd Unit Director: Paul Jennings
1st Assistant Director: Cliff Lanning
2nd Assistant Director: Rhys Summerhayes
Script Supervisor: Jessica Lichtner
Script Supervisor (2nd Unit): Marvel Wakefield
Casting by: Mindy Marin
Pittsburgh Casting: Donna Belajac
Casting Associate: Kara Lipson
Written for the screen by: Christopher McQuarrie
Based on the book ‘One Shot’ by: Lee Child
Director of Photography: Caleb Deschanel
2nd Unit Director of Photography: Brad Shield
Aerial Director of Photography (2nd Unit): John Trapman
A Camera Operator/Steadicam Operator: B.J. McDonnell
B Camera Operator: John Moyer
Chief Lighting Technician: Colin J. Campbell
Visual Effects by: [hy*drau”lx], XY&Z, Shade VFX
Special Effects Coordinator: Kevin Hannigan
Edited by: Kevin Stitt
Additional Editing by: Stephen Rickert Jr
Production Designer: Jim Bissell
Supervising Art Director: Christa Munro
Art Director: Gregory Weimerskirch
Set Designers: Kate Dougherty, Drew Hittie
Set Decorator: Douglas Mowat
Set Dressers: Luke Andrade, Paul Bucciarelli, Martin Cabot, Jonathan Curotola, Josh Drylie, Samuel Noel, Ray Pivirotto, John Wylie
Graphic Designer: Christina Myal
Storyboard Artist: Robin Richesson
Property Master: Peter Gelfman
Construction Co-ordinator: Buster Pile
Costume Designer: Susan Matheson
Assistant Costume Designer: Elaine Davis-Perlmann
Costume Supervisor: Charlene Amateau
Makeup Department Head: Trefor Proud
Key Make-up Artist: Marianne Skiba
Make-up Artist to Mr [Tom] Cruise: Sarah Monzani
Hair Department Head: Angel Deangelis
Key Hairstylist: Nancy Keslar
Hairstylist to Mr [Tom] Cruise: Michael White
Main Title Design: PIC Agency
End Titles by: Scarlet Letters
Prints by: DeLuxe
Music by: Joe Kraemer
Orchestra Conducted by: Joe Kraemer
Music Orchestrated by: Tim Davies
Music Editor: John Finklea
Music Recorded & Mixed by: Bruce Botnick
Sound Mixer: Jay Meagher
Re-recording Mixers: Anna Behlmer, Terry Porter
Supervising Sound Editors: Mark P. Stoeckinger, Alan Rankin
Sound Editors: Scott Wolf, Jay Wilkinson, Bruce Tanis
Dialogue and ADR Supervisor: Kelly Oxford
Dialogue Editor: Julie Feiner
Stunt Co-ordinator: Paul Jennings
Assistant Stunt Co-ordinator: Robert Alonzo
Reacher Stunt Double: Casey O’Neill
Dialect Coach: Judi Dickerson
Armourer: Samuel Arthurs
Weapons Technical Adviser: Doug McQuarrie
Unit Publicist: Guy Adan
Cast
Tom Cruise (Jack Reacher)
Rosamund Pike (Helen Rodin)
Richard Jenkins (District Attorney Rodin)
Werner Herzog (The Zec)
David Oyelowo (Emerson)
Jai Courtney (Charlie)
Joseph Sikora (James Barr)
Robert Duvall (Martin Cash)
Michael Raymond-James (Linsky)
Alexia Fast (Sandy)
Vladimir Sizov (Vlad)
Josh Helman (Jeb)
James Martin Kelly (Rob Farrior)
Dylan Kussman (Gary)
Denver Milord (punk)
Susan Angelo (Oline Archer)
Julia Yorks (Chrissie Farrior)
Nicole Forester (Nancy Holt)
Alicia Murton (Mrs Sawyer)
Delilah Picart (Rita Coronado)
Peter Gannon (Mr Archer)
Joe Coyle (Darren Sawyer)
David Whalen (Mr Holt)
Tristan Elma (Marcos Coronado)
Sophie Guest (little girl)
Michael Minor (eyewitness)
Scott Martin (Wesley)
CJ Ramirez (secretary)
Teri Clark Linden (night manager)
Jarid Faubel (man on bus)
Sara Lindsey (woman on bus)
Jace Jeanes, Andrei Runtso, Efka Kvaraciejus (Zec’s thugs)
Lee Child (desk sergeant booking Reacher)
Tommy Lafitte (man with ballcap)
Kristen Dalton (Mindy)
Jordan Trovillion (goodwill shop cashier)
Annie Kitral (pawn shop cashier)
Lissy Gulick (diner waitress)
Catherine Albers (Jeb’s mom)
Larissa Emanuele (sportsbar waitress)
Jason McCune (construction foreman)
Shane Callahan, Joshua Elijah Reese (SWAT guys)
Nathan Hollabaugh, Christopher Stadulis (cops)
USA 2012©
130 mins
Digital
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Programme notes and credits compiled by Sight and Sound and the BFI Documentation Unit
Notes may be edited or abridged
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