UPDATE: Pike a “Great Piece of Casting” for “One Shot” With Cruise, Says Author Lee Child

When it was announced last month that Tom Cruise had been cast as Jack Reaper in the adaptation of Lee Child's thriller "One Shot," the author expressed some concern over the star's size versus the character as described in the novel.

"Reacher's size in the books is a metaphor for an unstoppable force, which Cruise portrays in his own way," Child said at the time.

So it was only natural to wonder what his feeling were about the news that Rosamund Pike had been cast as Helen Rodin, the lawyer defending a man accused of killing five men in "One Shot."

“I think that's a great piece of casting, but then, I wouldn't expect anything less from (writer-director Chris) McQuarrie," Child told PopcornBiz via email.

Here's the synopsis for the book from Child's website:

Jack Reacher is working on his tan with a Norwegian blonde on the beach in Miami. The weather is hot and he is so cool you could skate on him. But he doesn't like to stick around. He likes to be on the move. He was in the machine his whole life. Then the machine coughed and spat him out. Now he takes it easy. He's not looking for trouble. But sometimes trouble looks for Reacher.

A lone gunman hides in a parking garage and shoots into a crowd in a public plaza in a small Indiana city. Five random people die in a senseless massacre. The shooter leaves a perfect trail behind him and the police quickly track him down. His name is James Barr. It's a watertight case. After his arrest, James Barr refuses to talk. Then, to his lawyer, he utters a single phrase: "Get Jack Reacher for me." But Reacher's already on his way. What could connect this obvious psychopath with our wandering ex-army cop?

By the time Reacher hits town, Barr's been beaten badly enough to forget everything about the day in question. So Reacher begins to piece together the wealth of evidence; he does the math and comes to a few conclusions of his own.

Pike won the role after a screen test with writer Chris McQuarrie, who will be making his directorial debut on the film. Shooting will start this fall in Pittsburgh.

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