By UPDATE: Reports are now coming in that the role has instead gone to Rosamund Pike. Though she’s not a patch on Hayley Atwell’s all-encompassing greatness, she is more than capable of delivering a perfectly respectable performance. Her casting is a bit of a kick in the teeth to anyone annoyed at the height issues surrounding Cruise being cast as Jack Reacher, though. The character is 6’5. Cruise is supposedly 5’7. Pike is 5’9. Expect to see Jack Reacher tottering around in heels sometime in 2013.
Fans of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series immediately saw any dreams of a credible movie adaptation of novel One Shot turn to farce when the lead character, who is defined by his formidable height and presence, was announced as being played by Tom Cruise, who is not exactly known for either of those things. Fortunately, things are looking up (a bit like Cruise, ho ho) with the news that Hayley Atwell is one of three actresses auditioning for the female lead. The character is a lawyer who falls in with Reacher after a sniper is arrested for the slaughter of five seemingly random people.
The other actresses reportedly vying for the role are Alexa Davalos, of Clash Of The Titans fame, and Rosamund Pike, whose career started as a Bond girl in the dreadful Die Another Day. Both have their merits, but anyone who saw Captain America will know that Atwell can do the tough-but-charming shtick without breaking a sweat and given how she’s half American, won’t find the accent to be a problem – in fact, she already did a passable one whilst being the best thing in the otherwise shambolic Prisoner TV remake from 2009. As a long-time fan, I’m certainly hoping that she continues to score big roles so we get to see more of her on the silver screen, and this is a project which definitely needs the kind of credibility she can offer.
[via Empire Online]