How did this come to you?
Did Tom approach you about doing it based on your previous work together?
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Edward Zwick:Yeah.
Im not sure that thats something that I could necessarily related well to.
He said, Well, just read the book.
With that in mind, I said, lets try it.
Were you familiar with the character at all before this?
I read one of the books.
It was a while ago.
I like the genre.
Its a really pleasant escape, so I did have some idea of what I was getting myself into.
What was it about Jack Reacher the character on the page that you liked?
To be free in a particular way.
Thats a strong wish.
Books and stories and fiction live in their own world.
Is it possible in the real world to actually get off the grid completely?
The answer is absolutely not, and that makes the fantasy even more powerful and desirable I think.
The phone that you carry around with you.
Its a reminder just how tethered you are.
Coincidentally as the culture gets more and more like that, the fantasy only goes stronger.
Thats something that Don Granger and Tom and Chris McQuarrie had together already thought would be the subject.
The (Smulders) character Susan Turner was very much Lees creation.
He meets her in the very first scene.
Maybe the first 50 pages of the book.
Then doesnt see her again until the very end of the book.
We both realized that could make for some interesting dynamics and some humor, and some jeopardy as well.
Were there other elements from other books that you brought in?
Only the very beginning, this idea of him having broken up a ring of someone selling illegals.
That is from another book.
Its almost you were picking up somethingin res, and that was a good idea I thought.
That little strand was taken from one of Lees other books.
When Reacher steals the guys ID and he goes to the TSA guard, that guard is Lee.
I thought that was a really fun opportunity.
Fans of his will get that, I hope at least.
You worked with Tom onThe Last Samurai13 years ago.
Has he changed at all in the way he prepares for a shoot?
What sense do you have of him as an actor today as opposed to an actor 13 years ago?
His preparation is unbelievably intense.
If you recall, there was no CG, that was the real thing with those crazy swords.
Theres a reason why a guy like that has a 30-year career.
Its not just because hes great looking, and can act.
Its because he has a sense of what makes the movie work.
He had that then and he certainly has that now.
Hes worked with really wonderful filmmakers in his career.
He wanted to see what my sensibility would bring and presumably he would do that with someone else.
This was the possibility for something a little bit more anthologized say thanMission: Impossible.
I think it appealed to him.
As an actor hes done some great stuff like that in his career.
Maybe a little less of it in this last decade.
He probably knew that.
Yeah, thats really astute.
I dont think people realize the astonishing amount of discipline and precision and risk that these require.
Its like an athlete, he somehow still has the resources to play hurt, and he did.
The thing is, you dont do that by just getting trained for this film.
Youre prepping a film calledThe American Can, about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Is that still next?
Its gone through a lot of changes in the last year.
Its not clear to me when or if it will go exactly.
Its in that development limbo that we love, that makes us want to rip our faces off.
Before we go, I was really curious about your thoughts today onThe Siege18 years later.
It didnt take rocket science to be able to sense that imminence.
Rather, the interrogation stuff, the surveillance, the Guantanamo punch in stuff, the torture.
There are things in it that actually maybe were more present than the event.
Jack Reacher: Never Go Backis out in theaters this Friday (October 21).
