Tom Cruise's casting sparks backlash from fans

Tom Cruise is arguably Hollywood's biggest star, but his casting in the Jack Reacher films came under fire from fans at the time, and the author said they were "right."

Lee Child, who has written the thriller novels, said in an interview with The Independent that the character is described as being “extremely tall” (he’s 6ft, 5in) and “extremely broad, long-armed and long-legged.”

The Mission Impossible star, meanwhile, did not match these stats, though the writer raved about working with the megastar on the films.

“I thought the first movie in particular was excellent. It was a really crisp hard-edged thriller. Working with Tom was a pleasure and a privilege – he’s a really smart guy, he’s a smart filmmaker, he’s real fun. But you cannot escape the fact that Reacher is a huge guy,” he said.

“I mean, that is a component in his entire approach to the world and the world’s approach to him,” the British novel continued. 

"He’s huge, he’s implacable, he’s scary, and for all Tom’s ability in getting the internals of Reacher out, he is not huge and he’s not scary."

"So the readers were terribly upset about it and I think, ultimately, the readers were right," he concluded.