Tom Cruise Set As Jack Reacher In ‘One Shot’

It seems that Tom Cruise’s name pops up in association with every other tentpole pic nowadays. He was a onetime candidate to appear in both Guillermo del Toro’s At the Mountains of Madness (before it collapsed) and Pacific Rim, began circling Joseph Kosinski’s Oblivion this past spring, and was offered the role of ex-military investigator Jack Reacher in Paramount’s adaptation of the novel One Shot.

Just as Cruise eventually signed on for Oblivion, he has also now accepted the part of Reacher in One Shot, reuniting him with Oscar-winner Christopher McQuarrie (who scripted the Cruise vehicle Valkyrie and co-wrote this winter’s Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol).

Deadline has confirmed that Cruise is officially locked down for One Shot, which will once again feature the A-lister kicking butt and taking names. It’s a role most similar to his turn as the professional assassin Vincent in Collateral, as can partly be gleaned from the One Shot novel synopsis below:

Six shots. Five dead. One heartland city thrown into a state of terror. But within hours the cops have it solved: a slam-dunk case. Except for one thing. The accused man says: You got the wrong guy. Then he says: Get Reacher for me.

And sure enough, ex–military investigator Jack Reacher is coming. He knows this shooter—a trained military sniper who never should have missed a shot. Reacher is certain something is not right—and soon the slam-dunk case explodes.

McQuarrie is both writing and directing the One Shot adaptation, which is expected to begin filming this fall. Cruise will wrap up work on Adam Shankman’s Rock of Ages before moving on to McQuarrie’s project. The actor will then proceed forward with Oblivion by the first half of 2012.

Cruise’s involvement with One Shot already has fans up in arms, due to his obvious lack of resemblance to the Reacher character – who, as described by original author Lee Child, is 6’5” and 250 pounds worth of scarred muscle, with chilling blue eyes and dirty blonde hair. Child has gone ahead and expressed his support for the actor’s casting, saying “Reacher’s size in the books is a metaphor for an unstoppable force, which Cruise portrays in his own way.” It’d be more shocking to hear Child badmouthing the project so early on, of course, but he does have a point: Cruise can still sell a punch like few others (see the M:I – 4 trailer for proof of that).

We’ll keep you posted on the status of One Shot as more information is released.

Source: Deadline

Check Out Screen Rant's Prometheus Photo Gallery