Tom Cruise is perhaps most famous for his role as Ron Kovic in “The Making of ’Born on the Fourth of July’”. Throughout his 30 year career, however, Cruise has also played several Jacks. Let’s look!
A List of the Jacks of Tom Cruise:
Jack
Film: Legend [Link]
Year: 1985
Trivia: The sound of the unicorns at play is actually a recording of humpback whales!
Note: Filmed with a (then-quite-large) $30 million dollar budget, “Legend” grossed only around $15 million, making it quite a flop. Cruise’s first true blockbuster “Top Gun” was released just one month later.
Jack Reacher
Film: Jack Reacher [Link]
Year: 2012
Trivia: The character in the book series is described as being 6 feet 5 inches tall. Tom Cruise is 5 feet 7 inches tall.
Note: The rather-ridiculous character name purportedly originates from author Lee Child’s own lofty height. While struggling with the first book, Child and his wife were at the grocery store when an elderly woman kindly asked Mr. Child if he could reach a product on the top shelf for her. Child’s wife mused that if he couldn’t finish his book, he could always get a job as a professional reacher.1
Jack Harper
Film: Oblivion [Link]
Year: 2013
Trivia: Writer/Director Joseph Kosinski is not related to “The Office” star John Krasinski.
Note: With this film, Tom Cruise has actually played a Jack in two consecutive films.
Stay tuned for Cruise’s next Jack ____er role.
This completes our tour of the Jacks of Tom Cruise. I hope you have enjoyed this list. For a similar list, please see A Man for All Seasons, featuring Nicholas Cage.
Footnotes:
