Books
- Money, Dear Boy: Child has said of writing the first book, "I wasn't one of these people that felt compelled to write. It had to keep a roof over our heads, so it was totally, totally 110% commercially motivated."
- Technology Marches On: In the first novel, Killing Floor, which was first published in 1997, it's a plot point that cell phone numbers don't have area codes. As anyone can tell you, that is not the case with modern cell phones.
TV Series
- See here.
Films
- Ability over Appearance: Jack Reacher in the novels is 6'5" and muscular. Tom Cruise is 5'7" and slender, but utterly nailed the role, to the approval of author Lee Child.Child: With another actor, you might get 100% of the height but only 90% of Reacher. With Tom, you'll get 100% of Reacher with 90% of the height.
- Awesome, Dear Boy: Werner Herzog took the role of the Zec because he'd always wanted to play the villain in an action film.
- The Cameo: Lee Child himself has a bit role as the desk sergent at the police precinct, who shrugs affirmatively to Helen when Reacher gives his "There are three things cops never do" line.
- Distanced from Current Events: The film's New York premiere in was cancelled due to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting the day before.
- Fake American: Brits Rosamund Pike and David Oyelowo, Australian Jai Courtney and Josh Helman and Canadian Alexia Fast all play Americans.
- Hide Your Pregnancy: Rosamund Pike was pregnant during filming.
- Missing Trailer Scene: For some reason, the trailer for the movie featured an exploding cliff.
Regardless of the exploding cliff having something to do with the movie, not one explosion ever occurred in the movie. - No Stunt Double: Tom Cruise did all of his own stunt driving.
- On-Set Injury: During a fight scene, Tom Cruise had to kick an opponent. It took nearly fifty takes to get right and by the end Cruise's foot was extremely swollen, to the point he had to have his boot cut off to remove it.
- Playing Against Type:
- Werner Herzog plays the villain.
- Tom Cruise doesn't do any sprinting.
- Release Date Change: The film was moved from a February 2013 release to Dec. 21, 2012 as a result of World War Z's Troubled Production, which caused that movie's release to be moved to June 21, 2013.
- Throw It In!: When Jack Reacher's car crashes into some barrels, the car accidentally stalled upon the impact, but Tom Cruise was luckily able to restart the car before driving off again. Rather than do a retake, Christopher McQuarrie decided to leave it in the film, as he felt it added to the suspense of the scene.
- What Could Have Been:
- Nicolas Cage, Jim Carrey, Russell Crowe, Johnny Depp, Cary Elwes, Colin Farrell, Harrison Ford, Jamie Foxx, Mel Gibson, Hugh Jackman, Stephen Lang, Dolph Lundgren, Edward Norton, Ron Perlman, Brad Pitt, Keanu Reeves, Kurt Russell, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Will Smith, Sylvester Stallone, John Travolta, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Vince Vaughn, Denzel Washington and Bruce Willis were all considered for Jack Reacher. Dwayne Johnson, a fan of the books, pursued the role around 2007.
- Hayley Atwell, Alexa Davalos and Brit Marling screen-tested for the role of Helen Rodin. Christopher McQuarrie later cast Atwell in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning.
- Word of God: Christopher McQuarrie stated in a 2015 interview that the scars referenced and shown on Jack Reacher's body during the introduction to the character, were scars earned from his encounters in other Jack Reacher books.
- Working Title: One Shot, which is the name of the original novel.
