10 Movie Characters Who Look Nothing Like Their Source Material

For anybody who has read Lee Child's Jack Reacher series of crime thriller novels, this one might be the most egregious book-to-film character translation in history.

Child's version of the drifting crime-fighter is a physical monster of a man, and that's putting it mildly. Standing 6'5" tall and weighing around 250 lbs, the former US military police officer possesses a 50-inch chest and hands the size of dinner plates. Reacher isn't exactly easy on the eye either, with notably rugged features befitting his real-life action-hero status.

As such, casting the diminutive Tom Cruise as this colossal destroyer was like giving Danny DeVito the leading role in a Tyson Fury biopic. Cruise is a bonafide action movie legend thanks to his turns in the likes of the Top Gun and Mission: Impossible franchises, but is utterly unbelievable as Reacher due to his physical appearance. In addition to having the wrong hair and eye colour, Cruise's slim physique resembles Child's charge if he were to be shrunk in the wash.

Fortunately, this dismal casting choice has been partially rectified by Amazon Prime's decision to install the hulking Alan Ritchson in the titular role for their take on Child's character. The first season of their 2022 show went on to receive a considerably more favourable critical response than Cruise's pair of Reacher-centric movies.