{"id":1261,"date":"2025-01-31T11:37:44","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T11:37:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/mens-health\/alan-ritchson-interview-inside-look-at-reacher.html"},"modified":"2025-01-31T11:37:44","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T11:37:44","slug":"alan-ritchson-interview-inside-look-at-reacher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/health\/alan-ritchson-interview-inside-look-at-reacher.html","title":{"rendered":"Alan Ritchson Interview: Inside Look at Reacher"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Our product picks are editor-tested, expert-approved. We may earn a commission through links on our site. Why Trust Us?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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This story is part of Fit at Any Age: New Frontiers\u2014a next-level guide to the latest science and tips for a stronger, longer life.<\/em><\/p>\n

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MY SENSE OF<\/strong> men\u2019s measurements has been badly warped by height inflation on dating apps\u2014anything above five-foot-eight is a mystery to me\u2014but I know Alan Ritchson is tall. Tall<\/em> tall.<\/p>\n

I meet the 41-year-old in the basement of a house where he\u2019s doing our photo shoot, halfway between Atlanta and his log cabin in Jasper, Georgia. A large, plastered-over beam drops down from the basement\u2019s ceiling, and everyone else moves under it easily. But whenever Ritchson approaches the beam, I feel the same bolt of stress as when a particularly large truck is about to pass under a particularly low overpass. His swoop of coppery hair barely clears the beam each time.<\/p>\n

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He seems taller than his six-foot-three frame. (That\u2019s six-foot-eight on Hinge.) Perhaps it\u2019s because of the size of the rest of him: With even the slightest movement, at least a dozen muscles visibly activate. Or perhaps it\u2019s because his identity has been so fused with that of former military police officer Jack Reacher, whom Ritchson plays on Amazon Studio\u2019s hit series Reacher<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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The character is famously enormous. His creator, author Lee Child, dryly explains that Reacher follows a long tradition of male writers making their heroes one inch taller than they are\u2014Child is six-foot-four. Size is so central to the character that when noted short king Tom Cruise played Reacher in a film adaptation, he was met with skepticism. Child says, \u201cThere was a huge amount of pushback from the book fans and so on, saying, No, we need a man mountain here.<\/em>\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Ritchson makes everyone and everything around him seem dainty. When he\u2019s done posing for photos, we adjourn to a den and squeeze onto a slightly-too-small love seat. On his left wrist, he wears a thick Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore watch. On his right wrist, two silver bracelets, one sparkling with gemstones, move fluidly over a tattoo of a lotus flower. Around his neck, he wears a silver chain with two rings. So bejeweled, he toes a dangerous sartorial line between rock-star pastor and off-duty celebrity, but his face\u2014the cologne-ad glower, the total symmetry, the strong cleft chin\u2014marks him as the latter.<\/p>\n

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He\u2019s always had the look, but the celebrity is new. And as celebrity tends to do, it is compounding rapidly. Reacher<\/em>\u2019s second season became Prime Video\u2019s most-watched title during its premiere weekend in December; in February, Ritchson starred opposite Hilary Swank in Ordinary Angels<\/em>; and he has a role in Guy Ritchie\u2019s The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare<\/em>, out in April.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

In a crowd of lanky whippersnappers, Chalamets and Elordis who broke out by age 25, Ritchson is an unlanky outlier. His decades-long road to Reacher-dom was strewn with professional, physical, and mental-health land mines. What clicked?<\/p>\n

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HIS SIZE SURELY<\/strong> helps. But he has not always looked so invulnerable. As a late-blooming teenager in Niceville, Florida, he was bullied, especially once a tumor began pushing his chin bone out. \u201cWhen you haven\u2019t hit puberty and you\u2019re 17 and you\u2019ve got a face growing out of your face,\u201d he says, smiling, \u201cit fortifies a sense of kindness that I\u2019m grateful for.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

He had his chin bone shaved down, and shortly thereafter he met his now wife, Catherine, in a ballet class. It was months before he spoke to her. Finally, he recruited a friend to find out whether she had any interests that might serve as an in and learned she enjoyed ice skating. \u201cAfter the millionth time of us sitting next to each other, inches away, tying our shoes\u2014so now it\u2019s super <\/em>awkward\u2014I was like, \u2018So I heard you ice-skate.\u2019\u2009\u201d Ritchson is an ultra-animated storyteller, and as he recounts their interaction he sounds as joyful as a teenager telling a friend that he and his crush had spoken at long last. \u201cShe was like the sweetest thing in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

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After graduating from high school, he studied theater arts at Northwest Florida State before moving to Miami to model. For a few years, he was a Forrest Gump of early-aughts cultural touchstones. He posed for Abercrombie & Fitch in the randy Bruce Weber days. In 2003, when he was 20, he auditioned for American Idol<\/em>. \u201cThere was this one guy, his name was Alan Ritchson, and he was totally hot,\u201d Paula Abdul said in his debut episode. He made it to the second round but was cut after a too-confident performance of \u201cOn Broadway.\u201d<\/p>\n

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He pivoted to acting in 2005, scoring a part as Aquaman on Smallville<\/em>. So began a long cycle of high expectations and profound disappointments, the volume of false starts exceptional even in Hollywood. He was told he would star on an Aquaman <\/em>spin-off. \u201cThe town was like, \u2018You\u2019re riding a rocket right now,\u2019\u2009\u201d he remembers. \u201c\u2009\u2018This is going to be a real wild ride. Your life is about to change.\u2019\u2009\u201d The role of Aquaman went to Justin Hartley instead.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

He kept gathering small roles and finally nabbed a multi-season run as bombastic football captain Thad Castle on the Spike TV sitcom Blue Mountain State<\/em>. This time, he thought, he\u2019d made it. \u201cI just sort of expected that there would be a cornucopia of comedies for me to choose from, and nobody really wanted to see me for anything.\u201d He was becoming jaded, and he was tired of being the \u201cloud funny guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next, he auditioned for 2011\u2019s Thor<\/em>. He still sounds rueful when he describes his performance. \u201cI didn\u2019t take it seriously,\u201d he says. \u201cI was like, \u2018They\u2019ll throw me the part if I look like the guy; nobody really cares about acting.\u2019\u2009\u201d After the audition, the casting cabal told his team the role had been his to lose but he hadn\u2019t shown that he had \u201cthe craft.\u201d Chris Hemsworth would be Thor, and Ritchson would simmer for another decade.<\/p>\n

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Tormented by the fumble, he practiced the scenes for three weeks with an acting coach following the audition. Then he asked to join an exclusive acting class with Deborah Aquila, who cast The Shawshank Redemption<\/em> and who is now executive vice president of casting at Paramount Television Studios and CBS Studios. He was not, as he had expected to be, a shoo-in.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAll I had to go on when he came in was\u2014bless his heart, this man, I love him\u2014he was so earnest and he really, really wanted to take the next step,\u201d Aquila says. \u201cHe had done Blue Mountain State<\/em>, and I watched episodes of it. And I was scratching my head going, \u2018How am I going to help this man?\u2019\u2009\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

She assigned him a monologue, researched more of his work, made pro-and-con columns, and allowed him to join. Aquila recalls the eagerness with which Ritchson approached the process. \u201cI remember that face. He kept looking at me, like saying, \u2018Yeah? We\u2019re good?\u2019 With those twinkly eyes,\u201d she says, laughing.<\/p>\n

The class was Ritchson\u2019s Batman Begins<\/em> moment. As Bruce Wayne emerges from Ra\u2019s al Ghul\u2019s monastery in the mountains ready to fight 600 men, so too did Ritchson emerge from Aquila\u2019s class with an understanding of \u201cthe craft.\u201d He still faced disappointments. There was, for instance, the time he auditioned for a role in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire<\/em> that ultimately went to Sam Claflin; Ritchson was told that he was too old for the character and, at 30, unlikely to break out.<\/p>\n

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But his IMDb swelled with brief appearances on major series\u2014Black Mirror<\/em>, New Girl<\/em>, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine<\/em>\u2014and he found a lucrative niche in superhero movies. In 2014, he played Raphael in the live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles<\/em>. And three years later, he auditioned for the lead on the show Titans<\/em>. \u201cI was so confident. I was like, \u2018This is the best damn audition I\u2019ve ever had in my life. There\u2019s no way they can do this show without me,\u2019\u2009\u201d he says with mock bluster. He was so sure he\u2019d gotten the gig that he bought a Tesla. The role went to Brenton Thwaites instead. Ritchson was told he was too old again. For years, he had been reaching for lead roles and falling just short.<\/p>\n

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\"alan<\/p>\n

But the foundations had been laid for his performance on Reacher<\/em>\u2014a performance that should not be nearly as captivating as it is. The character is the antithesis of the \u201cloud funny guy.\u201d When Ritchson\u2019s Reacher speaks, he is like the quiet talker in a meeting: economical and sinister.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cFor all his mountainousness, something baffled and childlike is looking out of his eyes, and when he walks, he looks not at home in the world,\u201d The Atlantic<\/em> writer James Parker wrote in a review, impressed by Ritchson\u2019s \u201cunexpected depth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aquila points out that the actor often seems to pause before taking action. \u201cThat\u2019s a thinking person, right? Because that person has seen stuff,\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s how the backstory serves you.\u201d Child was drawn to the same transcendent quality in Ritchson\u2019s audition. \u201cThe physicality was dead on,\u201d he says. But it was more than that. \u201cYou could see him thinking; you could see him three seconds ahead of everybody else, just kind of patiently waiting for everybody else to catch up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hollywood noticed. \u201cI had about 50 offers the weekend after season 1 of Reacher <\/em>opened [in 2022],\u201d Ritchson says. \u201cI knew my life had changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

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RITCHSON<\/strong>\u2019<\/strong>S PHYSIQUE HAD<\/strong> changed, too. Before the show, he\u2019d followed the same circuit since his teens: He would run to a park; do pushups, pullups, dips, and situps; and then run home. Occasionally he\u2019d visit a gym for a few sessions if he felt he was getting too skinny or if he wanted to get bigger to play a superhero role.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

He began weight training in earnest\u2014two hours a day\u2014for season 1 of Reacher<\/em>, with instructions to gain 30 pounds. He also hired nutrition coach Daniela Kende (the wife of Pete Ploszek, Ritchson\u2019s co-turtle Leonardo in TMNT<\/em>) to help him eat better. At the time, he was dining at Mastro\u2019s in Los Angeles several times a week, \u201ceating filet mignon and prime rib and king crab.\u201d He is an intuitive eater, he explains, and gives in to his cravings. If he wants a hot dog, he does not question why he wants a hot dog\u2014he simply procures one. Before Kende\u2019s intervention, he says, every day was a cheat day. Now he follows an 80\u201320 balance: 80 percent of the time he eats clean, and the remaining 20 percent he eats his preferred Mastro\u2019s fare. He gained his prescribed pounds, and he felt better.<\/p>\n

But along with the deluge of offers Ritchson received at the end of the first season, he says, he got a phone call from an executive at Skydance Television, which coproduces the show, informing him that he\u2019d lost too much weight. He\u2019d tried to keep up his lifting cadence while shooting, but working seven days a week was demanding.<\/p>\n

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Ritchson had more time\u2014a year and a half\u2014between the end of the first season and the beginning of the second, and he needed it. He was \u201cutterly fatigued and broken,\u201d and he had an injured shoulder. A few months after he finished shooting season 1, his doctor suggested he try testosterone-replacement therapy. Though he still exercises five days a week\u2014\u201cpeople can think what they want, but I work out very hard\u201d\u2014he says TRT has made it much easier to maintain his gains.<\/p>\n

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He has little patience for any stigma around supplemental testosterone. He recently heard someone describe it as \u201csteroids with a doctor\u2019s note,\u201d and he balked. \u201cI guess it is,\u201d he says now. \u201cI didn\u2019t even know that it was considered an anabolic steroid to some people. It was just: There was a hormone that was missing for me, and I needed it.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

He returned to Reacher<\/em> like a kid coming back to school after a summer growth spurt. Some viewers thought he\u2019d gotten too big. But others liked his new aesthetic. \u201cThe more grizzled look works for me much more than it did for the first season,\u201d one Redditor wrote. \u201cLike he has grown into the role.\u201d He has graduated from Abercrombie to Carhartt, at least.<\/p>\n

That rugged appearance has helped him move into the dramatic realm. From the variety of post-Reacher<\/em> roles offered to him, he decided to play beleaguered father Ed Schmitt in Ordinary Angels<\/em>, in which a determined woman (Swank) rallies a town to help Ed save his daughter\u2019s life. The film was a swerve. \u201cI needed a stark juxtaposition,\u201d he says with a shrug; he wanted to portray someone who was unlikely to drown an assailant in a vat of wet cement.<\/p>\n

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Ritchson had only a month and a half after Reacher<\/em> to lose as much weight as he could. Swank didn\u2019t know what he looked like before meeting him on set. \u201cHe wasn\u2019t as big as I thought he was going to be, per what I was told.\u201d When she realized how much he\u2019d transformed his physique for the role, she was stunned. \u201cIt\u2019s such a great reminder not to pigeonhole people. Because we can be so much more than people allow us to be when they give us the opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Even with the success of Reacher,<\/em> and even with roles that better demonstrate his range, he is aware of the precarious ness of Hollywood. \u201cThe industry\u2019s funny. It can\u2019t be relied on. You have to be very patient with it,\u201d Ritchson says.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

And there are challenges that his current momentum, fanned by the success of Reacher<\/em>, has not erased and never will. When he was 36, he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and since then he has been learning to monitor and manage it. Every week, he sees a psychiatrist, who tries to detect any symptoms, and his wife and his assistant, who both have a deep understanding of the disorder, know what to look for and how to help control his behavior.<\/p>\n

At home, his manic episodes manifest in relatively harmless ways. \u201cIt\u2019s this thing like\u201d\u2014his voice gets quiet and his eyes get a glimmer\u2014\u201cI gotta find a perfectly white pair of shoes that look like a tennis shoe but aren\u2019t<\/em>. Three days later, eight pairs of shoes show up that are all identical. And I\u2019m like,\u2018Oh, shit, I\u2019m manic right now.\u2019\u2009\u201d The consequences can be more severe on the job.<\/p>\n

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Although depressive periods are more common than manic ones for many people with bipolar disorder, Ritchson deals with the latter more often, and he says he can exhibit symptoms on set in problematic ways. \u201cWhen I\u2019m feeling depressed, it doesn\u2019t really matter, because I am so focused at work. I could go weeks without people even knowing I feel a certain way,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen I\u2019m manic and I feel like something isn\u2019t living up to its best potential, it usually comes out in a very\u2014not in a mean way\u2014but in a \u2018this has to be better\u2019 way. Like a very, almost obsessive \u2018this has to be better.\u2019\u2009\u201d<\/p>\n

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The stunt coordinator for Reacher<\/em> resigned after the first season, Ritchson says, because he felt the star was being too reckless and wasn\u2019t following his instructions. When the coordinator didn\u2019t want him to do a fight scene, for instance, Ritchson would refuse to leave the set. \u201cI was like, \u2018I\u2019m doing the fucking stunt.\u2019 It was manic behavior.\u201d (The coordinator ultimately agreed to return to the show.)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

But from his bipolar disorder, Ritchson has built a sense of identity insulated from the capriciousness of an acting career. Five years ago, he says, he was haunted by suicidal thoughts, and he found that talking about his mental health openly\u2014on his YouTube channel, InstaChurch\u2014gave him a greater purpose. The possibility that sharing his experiences could make others feel less alone in their own tunnels of mental illness has pulled him out of those periods of suicidal ideation.<\/p>\n

He has found other ways to detach from acting. Soon he\u2019ll head back to his cabin to have dinner with his wife and their three sons. \u201cI have brisket waiting for me, and the best mac and cheese, from a place called Bigun\u2019s, and fried okra, and mashed potatoes and gravy, with key-lime pie for dessert.\u201d A mountainous repast, \u00e0 la Reacher.<\/p>\n

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And maybe tomorrow he\u2019ll race his Ducati V 4R along the winding mountain roads in Georgia, a pastime he considers meditative rather than terrifying. \u201cIt\u2019s like a mental bath.\u201d The V 4R is a track bike, the fastest Ducati you can legally have on the road, and it tops out at 186 miles per hour. (He also has a Harley-Davidson Sportster S in Toronto, where he is buying another house and shooting season 3 of Reacher. \u201cI carve through traffic like it\u2019s a game of Tetris,\u201d he says.)<\/p>\n

He doesn\u2019t mind that his career has moved slowly. But he loves going fast.<\/p>\n

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SPEED ROUND<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

Most Reacher thing Reacher does?
<\/strong>\u201cEats like a horse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Favorite chess piece?
<\/strong>\u201cQueen\u2014most powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Favorite workout anthem?
<\/strong>\u201c\u2009\u2018Hi Ren,\u2019 by Ren. It\u2019s the greatest song ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frenemy exercise?
<\/strong>\u201cWeighted lunges.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amount you bench?
<\/strong>\u201cI\u2019ve actually been asked this question a million times and I\u2019d never tested myself until a week ago. I threw up 355. I did it six times, so that was not my max. I didn\u2019t feel safe doing more, because I was alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Best cheat meal?
<\/strong>\u201cMac and cheese. For sure. Love mac and cheese.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our product picks are editor-tested, expert-approved. We may earn a commission through links on our site. Why Trust Us? This story is part of Fit at Any Age: New Frontiers\u2014a next-level guide to the latest science and tips for a stronger, longer life. MY SENSE OF men\u2019s measurements has been badly warped by height inflation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1262,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}