How fans of ‘Jack Reacher’ were right about Tom Cruise

If there's one criticism fans of the Jack Reacher book series had with its movie adaptation and its sequel, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, it was the star of the series. In the novels, author Lee Child's former Army MP protagonist would tower over his opposition — but the movies' producers cast Tom Cruise to portray the character. The less-imposing Cruise just didn't measure up to the part.

"Cruise, for all his talent, didn't have that physicality," writer Lee Child said.

By physicality, Child means the actor was too short to fit the role. 

Creative cinematography helped a lot.

Reacher readers got short with the creator of the hero when Crusie was announced as the actor for the film adaptation of the series. Child's Jack Reacher series is wildly successful, selling more than 100 million copies of his books and short stories worldwide. The two movies were considered successful in their own right, but never met the high acclaim of the novels.

In Child's book series, the character of Jack Reacher is a towering 6'5". Cruise is just 5'7".

Because Jack can't be sitting in every shot.

"I've got tens of thousands of letters saying they didn't like Cruise because he's too small, basically," Child told The Guardian. "Part of Reacher's appeal is that he's very intimidating. Even without doing anything, if he walks into a room, people are a little bit uneasy. It was felt that, for all his virtues, Cruise didn't represent that. So the readers were cross from the beginning."

Child, who worked in television before his writing career took off, likes that a television series can be produced without the need of an A-list actor of Tom Cruise's stature.

He's not short if he's always closer to the camera, right? Right.

As long as authors still have say in the screen adaptation of their work, it's nice to know the opinions of true fans can loom so large over any final creative decisions.