Despite pursuing the role, here's why Dwayne Johnson didn't land 2012's Jack Reacher movie. Reacher is the creation of author Lee Childs and first appeared in 1997 novel The Killing Floor. The character is a retired military policeman who wanders America righting wrongs, with his physical description making him sound like Dolph Lundgren. Reacher has appeared in over 20 novels since his literary debut, so it was only a matter of time before a film adaptation came to .
Despite being one of the biggest movie stars in the world, it's fair to say Tom Cruise's casting in Jack Reacher was controversial among readers. Cruise's height was just one of many issues cited as a problem, but while Childs defended this choice at the time, he was much happier with Alan Ritchson's casting for Amazon's Reacher series. Ritchson, in contrast to Cruise, looks like he walked out of the pages of a Jack Reacher novel, and he perfectly captured the humor and intensity of the character.
Cruise still received good notices for his Jack Reacher movies, where he brought the character's larger-than-life personality out in different ways. One major issue facing the Jack Reacher movie - which was based on the novel One Shot - was finding an actor who fit Childs' description. The character almost certainly would have been played by Schwarzenegger or Stallone in the '80s, but few actors fit that template from the 2000s onwards. One exception is wrestler turned actor Dwayne Johnson - who has co-starred with Kevin Hart several times - who had the build and charisma of Reacher down. In 2017, Johnson revealed he pursued and auditioned for the part, but it went to Cruise instead.
Johnson's Stardom Wasn't In The Same Place When Reacher Was Produced
While Johnson as Jack Reacher would feel like a no-brainer now, it's important to where he was in his career during this time. While Johnson had been touted as a new action star with the likes of The Scorpion King or Doom, several bombs led to him appearing in comedies like The Tooth Fairy instead. His talent was never in question, but he hadn't found his breakthrough role. That would come to with 2011's Fast Five, where he played Hobbs, a DSS agent relentlessly pursuing Dom's racing crew.
Johnson was perfect casting for the role, and he followed up with various sequels and hits like San Andreas and the Jumanji films. When he auditioned for the lead in Jack Reacher - which is available on Prime - he was coming off an extended run of comedies and hadn't had a major solo action hit in many years. While he fit the bill of Reacher, the studio clearly felt he didn't have the star power needed to launch a potential new franchise. In retrospect, Johnson has said he's glad Cruise got the role and it was something of a learning experience, though he was disappointed at the time. Had he taken Jack Reacher, he may not have landed Fast Five, however, so maybe it did work out for all involved.
