Reacher's Showrunner Didn't Shy Away From Letting The Actors Improvise
When Nick Santora came on board as showrunner for Amazon's "Reacher" series, he had one guiding principle in mind. As he told /Film, "My version of what I want to do of this [show] is whatever Lee Child says works." And that approach has seemingly served him well.
Child is, of course, the original author of the Jack Reacher books on which the show is based, and has had 28 novels over which to characterize his bulky protagonist. And for Santora — who's just overseen the Arnold Schwarzenegger action-comedy series "FUBAR" for Netflix — that made his job as showrunner on "Reacher" easier. All he had to do was follow the blueprint... to some extent.
While Child (who served as executive producer on the show) and his intuitions were the north star for Santora and his writers, that doesn't mean every line was set in stone. After all, this pulpy, absurdly good fun action series isn't exactly an Aaron Sorkin-style drama. This means that ultimately, Santora was free to stray from the original Jack Reacher novels whenever he saw fit.
At times, that meant changing aspects of the story. Season 1 of "Reacher" was based on the first novel, "Killing Floor" — but it made some changes, such as bringing in Maria Sten's character, Neagley, when she doesn't appear in the book. But it also meant that while Santora did his utmost to adhere to Child's vision, he wasn't averse to actors trying new things on set.
'That's great, do it'
Early in "Reacher" season 1, the titular ex-Army policeman (Alan Ritchson) and police officer Roscoe Conklin (Willa Fitzgerald) go to a bar, in a scene that effectively functions as the pair's first date. And during their flirty back and forth, Alan Ritchson improvised by breaking out a trick whereby he used his arm to pop open a beer. That prompted Fitzgerald to suggest her character open a beer by smacking it off the table. As she told CinemaBlend, "It wasn't written like that. I basically pitched it to Nick [Santora] and he was like, 'That's great. Do it.'"
And as it turns out, that easy-going attitude to improv was pretty much characteristic of Santora's approach overall. Despite his steadfast commitment to Lee Child's original vision, it seems the showrunner was completely open to trying new things on set. Fitzgerald herself elaborated on that point in a separate interview in which she was asked about how much creative freedom Santora gave her. The actor responded:
"Nick is fantastic, and welcoming collaboration. We did a lot of improv in certain scenes. And I think Nick had already written all of the scripts before we started shooting it, but certainly there were changes that were made as we were shooting because of certain things that we were bringing, or certain things that we wanted to add more of, because we'd found success in the way they'd played in other episodes."
Long may the improv continue
It doesn't sound like Nick Santora was okay with completely rewriting scripts or adding entire scenes — something that the "Perry Mason" showrunners did by adding major scenes into the recently concluded season 2 midway through filming. But it seems Santora has found a workable middle ground between the Aaron Sorkin-esque adherence to teleplays and the kind of improv-focused method of a "Curb Your Enthusiasm."
This, in the case of "Reacher," appears to work well, especially because the show isn't all gruesome crime scenes and prison brawls. That said, some of the fight scenes might well be considered improv in light of the fact Alan Ritchson told /Film he was learning combat choreography in parking lots the day before shooting specific fights. But there's also a sense of humor to "Reacher" that gives the show its unique tone, and it sounds like the on-set improv may have helped define much of that.
"Reacher" season 2 is almost upon us, and we'll have to wait to see whether the extemporaneous aspect of the production remains — especially since the upcoming run of episodes will see a whole new cast take over, Ritchson notwithstanding. In the meantime, considering there was so much improv going on, it sounds like they should release a "Reacher" season 1 blooper reel to tide us over.