On tour for his latest Jack Reacher novel, Make Me, author Lee Child sat down at the Sanders Theater in Cambridge, MA with writer Stephen King--a huge fan of the series, now 20 long.
Just finished season 1 of Reacher and Ritchson nailed the role. He obviously looks the part, but I was impressed with his acting. He has all the qualities of Reacher and the supporting actor roles were very complementary. Waiting for season 2.
I did not expect Mr. King to be so good at the interview process as the interviewer….. he really draws Mr. Child out with some very insightful questions, both these guys are funny as heck too. I’ve always gotten the humor in their books nice to see it in person. Thanks for keeping this up.
Two great authors, I enjoyed the Jack Reacher movies and I'm a big Tom Cruise fan, but it was an odd choice. The Reacher show is great and the actor nails it.
I didn't know anything about Reacher when I saw the first movie, so I had no problem accepting Tom Cruise, but there was one line that jolted me out of the story. When they're framing Reacher for Sandy's murder, the bent cop asks the motel clerk which of her guests could have broken that girl's neck with one punch. And she immediately thinks of Tiny Tom? Why the hell didn't they change that line?
Check out the Amazon series 'Reacher'. I was hesitant, but it was really good. The series covers the first book, so it isn't rushed! And the actor looks more like the Reacher described in the books!
Odd choice? Tom Cruise obviously bought the rights to the series, as a vehicle for himself. You’re absolutely right, the series and the guy playing Reacher, is Reacher. Tom Cruise is a little guy pretending to be a big guy with what seems to be a case of hemorrhoids or early onset ulcerative colitis.
One of the joys of turning Reacher into a streaming TV show instead of a movie is having space for the small asides like helping and later rescuing a dog. And they've got the right actor for the part at last, plus two dozen books to provide the material, so there will be more. There MUST be more.
Stephen King is so beautifully human. Listening to him in this interview, I get a sense of having a conversation with someone a few barstools over, or on a long bus stop wait. It just like regular everyday jawing. There is zero air of fame-headedness about him. Love this guy.
@@davidhuston6677 , I have to disagree. Reacher's background comes from Caucasian roots. His mother is established as a white French woman and his father as a white American. Dwayne Johnson has a bit too much of the Pacific roots in his appearance to work as a faithful version of Reacher.
7 years late but my 2 favorite authors. About 10-12 years ago I was in a small town in Norway working. There was no cell service, no internet, and no TV in the hotel so I went to a tiny corner store that had one of those little metal turning racks full of paperback books. Only 3 of the books were in English. One was "Gone Tomorrow". I was never a "mystery" reader but it had a blurb on the back from my favorite author Stephen King. With my options limited I went with Steves recommendation. Well, that was it, I read through "Gone Tomorrow" twice and when I got home I picked up "Killing Floor" and never looked back. Have read every Reacher book and anxiously await the yearly release of Reachers next adventure. Thought the movies were just ok but love the new series and next season is my favorite Reacher book "Bad Luck and Trouble". Thanks for posting this!
What the hell does that feel like, to have an absolute living legend, as a fan? I mean really, I can't think of anyone, in any art, that can top Stephen King's status.
@Winslow Neither will King be when he pops his clogs. Irrespective he'll never 'top' old Willie boy, which is the salient point I make, and the issue of whether they're alive or dead is therefore rendered irrelevant. Where's your question mark and opening capital letter, by the way? Tut tut. :-)
@Winslow Ah! I've touched a raw nerve I note, and you've been furiously looking things up on Grammarly haven't you, oh naughty person. Bluster, sunshine, and evading the main point. Have a nice day, and note this: I'm kicking you back under that stone from where you emerged . Don't reply, you're muted. 'Rhetorical' LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
I don't watch 45-minute videos, but this was great! I've been a Stephen King fan forever, and recently started reading the Reacher books. Two brilliant guys.
+Breann Neal You sound just like me...a Stephen King fan forever and recently started reading the Reacher books ( I have only read Killing Floor but plan on collecting and reading the rest). I agree they are two brilliant guys. =)
Bravo, gentlemen. I'm currently reading my 12th Jack Reacher novel, "Bad Luck and Trouble" by Lee Child, so its happenstance that I accidentally bumped into this conversation at Harvard between Lee and Stephen.
What a treat! I'd never heard of Reacher until the Tom Cruise movie. I enjoyed the first one. He did as great a job as he could. I'm glad they found a big guy for the Amazon Prime series though.
I'm tha same way. I've been reading the books for over 20 years. And I enjoyed both movies. But i think they should have started either the movies or especially the series based on the novel. The Enemy. Where reacher was still on active duty. He could have solved that case and then show him getting retired and riding off in the sunset on a bus to start the next episode. That would have made more sense to me as opposed to start in the middle of the series
This was wonderful to watch. Thank you for this ! Mr. King and Mr. Child both sure are likeable guys. I haven't read a Jack Reacher novel before, I ought to pick one up .
Having been a big fan of Lee Child’s man-mountain of a character that Jack Reacher is, I honestly was furious when I heard Tom Cruise was going to play him.
I saw the movies before I read the books. I've read about half of them by now. But even without knowing how big he was supposed to be on the printed page - Cruise still seemed an odd choice. Fighter pilots are rather small so as to fit in those cramped cockpits. So Cruise looked sensible in "Top Gun". But he isn't the kind of guy who beats up hordes of brutes in every bar. I couldn't do that and I'm bigger than Reacher in the books. I was also college heavyweight judo champ. Reacher is a great character but hardly plausible. He's more like Superman but impervious to Kryptonite.
@@Agorante You said it Sir,,, "Like Superman, but impervious to Kryptonite" Reacher is impossible for all the human reasons, but in all of our lives, we have situations where we just need to believe there's someone among us who COULD have triumphed,,, Reacher fills that spot. Besides the fact that I grew up on Army bases from Augsburg Germany to Ft. Knox KY and was exposed to allot of regular government employees, the MP's I had exposure to, were EXACTLY the kind of people who support Reacher in the books, loyal, fierce, and more often than not, hard as nails. So it's even easier to fantasize that Reacher is possible. I hated my Stepdad for being a violent drunk, but I now, cherish my days on base, and in the base school systems and base hobby shops. Some of the best memories of my life come from those days. This was a great watch, even to catch it so long after it happened.
Lee Child is a fascinating understated character. Probably a Myers-Briggs introvert with radar observation and an ability of wit and facile storytelling which endears him to us. His years at Granada television developing such things as The Jewel in the Crown and Prime Suspect! Yes, he knows how to weave an interesting tale! The downside for him is that as an introvert he probably has to do book signings with mobs of people hearing the same thing over and over; he would of course be a gentlemen and non-dismissive. Appreciative even. Wish we had more guys like him around.
I have watched this new Jack Reacher Season about 5 times. I can't get enough. Ritchson IS Jack Reacher. I'm so in love I'm gonna read the books now cause I got all his expressions and mannerisms down. I CANNOT WAIT til the next season. And watching my favorite author with I suspect my next favorite author has been DIVINE❤🙌
Anytime I can hear an author speak, at signings, readings, etc, I take that opportunity. Whether it's insight on characters or on the individual's writing process, it's worth it. Looking for similar content on RU-vid right now.
Tom cruise could play the reacher character except for size. But because of his portrayal, you didn’t think about the size issue that much. It does make a difference. I’ve seen both actors do the role now and I can appreciate them both. Tom cruise is older and you can tell he’s seen a lot of life. Alan ritcherson is younger. There are moments when he appears older looking in different episodes. They don’t make younger majors but he is from West Point. That speaks to tradition and career choices. Reacher shows the price you pay to remain true to decency, integrity, and a strong personal sense of honor through out your life.
Just started reading One Shot after watching the films. I didn't realise the Mr Grant is English. His immersion into American culture is superb, the way he describes directions of travel and layout in towns; I really struggle imagining the layout of urban scenes that he takes great pains over because we English use completely different descriptions. It is only because of seeing the films that the positioning of the car park and the bridge make any sense. This is not a criticism, just admiration at that level of immersion.
As a failed sci-fi writer I learned early on that making the story realistic was hard. It's more than futuristic gadgets, rocketships, aliens, exotic locals, and exciting adventures. You need realistic characters. And that typically means fully fleshing out all the characters NOT just the good guy, his love interest, and the bad guy. It's super easy to set up all the descriptive specifics of the local, the plot, the conflict, and the rest of the mundane aspects of a story, but when the protagonist meets other people in the story it's easy to gloss over them by giving them stereotypical characteristics that everybody recognizes without effort. Those attributes are always one-dimensional cliches (the professor with the wrinkled shirt and jacket arm patches, the Chicano with the handkerchief headband, the mother holding a baby with children tugging at her skirt, the frazzled secretary delivering coffee to her boss, the bullies ganging up on the small kid, the college students racing to classes, and the most cliched character of them all, the used car salesman). Every single one of those characters can be seen on TV at any given moment. The real challenge is to create a living, breathing character that leaps off the page and into the imagination of the reader as a real person with hopes, dreams, and a purpose. I could never do that and that is why I failed at a writing career. If you want to make your story real, like a good meal, fill it with delicious extras that complement the experience that people can sink their teeth into. Most of the time the dialog of secondary characters is also filler except for the tiny bit of key information that they provide. If the character seems real it's because they have a back story and their dialog isn't like elevator music. That's why Stephen King and Lee Child are successful, their main characters are well fleshed out but their subsequent characters are 3D as well and they will haunt you long after you've finished reading the book.
is that so hard to make a realistic character with their past and future or dream? and what's the difference between writing character in short story and novel?
After watching Reacher on Amazon and watching Alan on podcasts and hearing his story all this Jack Reacher stuff is coming up on my YT feed and I don’t mind it one bit.
I appreciated Mr. Child's "defense" of Tom Cruise. And I agree that Tom is a very talented and very physical actor. He brought a lot of nuance and feeling to the role. But he still stank as Reacher. All the apple boxes in the world can only get you so far. At least for the first few episodes I've seen, the new Amazon series "Reacher" is doing a much better job. And the actor playing Reacher, Alan Ritchson, is doing a fantastic job, even if he is only six foot three.
He didn't stink. It was pretty good I think. I know that Reacher's size is a big part of that character but for what it was I thought Cruise's Reacher was pretty badass. Which is probably harder to do being 5'7" and probably the prettiest dude in a 100 mile radius than being an already 6'5" gruff guy. That said YES. Richson is the total package. He's big, he's smart, he's charisma and presence in boots. Not to mention Amazon can go all out with the gore and nudity which reinforces stakes in the story they're telling.
I hated Tom Cruise as Reacher. I've read every book and TC wasn't convincing as Reacher. He really sucked.. He was also the producer of the movies, so he casted himself. Just my thoughts on how he was able to play a role he had no business playing.
@@thomaschristopherwhite9043 For me it's not just the height it's that Cruise is great at intensity and Reacher for the most part is pretty laid back when he's beating people up. Cruise is really working, which is great in Mission: Impossible, but that's not what Reacher is about. Cruise is Ad-Rock, Ritchie is MCA.
Glad you enjoyed this talk, FB! We have many more, thanks to the chance to work with some great indie bookstores and libraries around Boston. Easy to search our website, forum-network.org.
After listening to and reading Jack Reacher and watching the 2 films which did not capture Reacher at all. And after watching the Reacher show, this conversation between 2 epic writers is amazing 👏
A truly insightful brain... A truly genius life... It must to take it to explore the human soul to horror.... A extreme experience in any form of life.... from insects to humans!!!
I think Stephen maintains his thinness deliberately d/t weight-bearing stress issues ever since he was hit by that guy in the van and almost lost his leg.
@@Elphaba1952 ~ True. And, long before that, King always made a habit of walking 5 miles a day. He was on just such a walk when he was hit by that van in June 1999.
Boy it feels like I’m paying the salaries of Lee Child’s and Mark Greaney, lololol just to say thank you ,from page one I was hooked on ever book I got ,just so well written and I added Mark because he makes me laugh subtle humor,well developed characters .Steven King is of course the master
@@sarahhiggins7285 Oh I don't know 38, Reacher could quite easily be that age in the earlier books, my problem with the casting is he's far too handsome and not tall or wide enough. I have an inch on this guy and am not as handsome, so I'm a better fit for for the role on two counts :) - Reacher is an implacable 6'5" slab of muscle and definitely not pretty, shame.
