A while back came the news that Dwayne Johnson wanted to go for the role of Jack Reacher back when the 2012 film was in development at Paramount Pictures.
Johnson was ultimately passed over for Tom Cruise in the Christopher McQuarrie-directed adaptation of Lee Child’s novels. Johnson closer resembles the book’s descriptions of Reacher in terms of height and size, but in turning it down it allowed Johnson to land a part in “Fast Five” which really helped his career.
Johnson recently held a Facebook video session in which he looked back at the time he was up for the role and says:
“In Hollywood, actors are kind of like in-a-box. There are actors that can vie for a particular role because it allows for them to have a certain look, skin color, size, etc. Fortunately, for me, there aren’t a lot of guys at all who look like me. So, all of my roles, from the beginning of my career, I’ve been a lucky son of a bitch that they’ve been created and designed for me – except Jack Reacher.
This was 10 years ago, and I was in a much different place, I recognize that. Tom was the biggest movie star in the world, and I was not. I got the call saying ‘Hey, you didn’t get the role’ Look, I didn’t even know if I had a shot for it, but the people around me at that time made me think that I did. I felt like I did, I felt like ‘Why not me?’. I’m positive that the role of Jack Reacher, because it was an established character, an IP that was well known and beloved around the world, that I wouldn’t have had the creative space to do what I wanted with the character. I look back in gratitude that I didn’t get Jack Reacher.”
Author Lee Child had previously discussed the lack of a physical facsimile of Jack Reacher in Hollywood, saying “there are none, not even remotely close”. The “Jack Reacher” franchise will soon be returning in the form of a major streaming series.
Source: Facebook
