The Rock Says Producers Passed on Him to Play Jack Reacher
Sit down and let The Rock teach you a lesson on always seeing the bright side. In a recent Facebook Q&A video, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson tackled an especially interesting fan question: “Was there ever a role in Hollywood that you wanted and didn’t get?”
“That answer is yes,” Johnson says in the video. “And that role is Jack Reacher.”
The Jack Reacher film series is an adaptation of Lee Child’s novels about the former military figure turned action hero. Tom Cruise ended up with the role, starring as Reacher in the 2012 and 2016 films.
“In Hollywood, actors are kind of like in a box. There are a lot of actors that can vie for a particular role because it calls for them to have a certain look, skin color, size, etc.” Johnson says in the video. “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.”
Nevertheless, Johnson was confident going out for the role, even though it wasn’t written for him. After all, Reacher was described to be quite similar in appearance to Johnson: around 6’4”, hovering near 275 pounds, and an all-around “bad dude.”
When Johnson got the call that he didn’t get the role, he says he was disappointed. But, according to the actor, there were never any hard feelings.
“Now, this was over ten years ago, and I was in a much different place, I recognize that,” Johnson says. “Tom was obviously the biggest movie star in the world, and I was not.”
But not getting the role of Jack Reacher may have actually benefited Johnson in the long run. Soon after, he got a call to join the Fast and Furious franchise with the opportunity to build his own character. Had he taken the role of Reacher, there likely would be no Luke Hobbs.
Looking back on his career, Johnson also says he liked the amount of creative freedom he’s has with characters created for him, and fears that had he gotten the role of Jack Reacher that he “wouldn’t have had the creative space to do what I wanted with the character.”
To end the Q&A, Johnson puts it simply: “I look back with gratitude that I did not get Jack Reacher.”
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