Because the times that Tom started, I literally had to yell, ‘Slow down!’ as we were running. “But it was important to him that I be Jack Reacher’s equal.

“I could have easily been in this film running behind him, hair flying in the wind,” she said. And when they started running, he let her get a head start so she wouldn’t look like a damsel in distress, tagging along with the hero. At the table read, she remembered, the actor asked for her opinion on where her character stood. But her nerves were calmed as soon as it became clear the 54-year-old veteran wanted her input on the film. Meeting Cruise for the first time did prove intimidating, Smulders admitted. You don’t do a TV show for nine years and not end up being very comfortable with the kind of improvisation and changes that happen on a big movie.” “I’ve seen a lot of people who just do too much with Tom - somehow the moment takes on too much import, and any naturalism goes out of it,” said the filmmaker, who also directed Cruise in “The Last Samurai.” “We needed someone who could go toe-to-toe with a major movie star who was really capable of holding the screen. We needed someone who could go toe-to-toe with a major movie star who was really capable of holding the screen. And he’s seen actors get freaked out by working with Cruise before. It’s a lot of pressure.”Įd Zwick, who directed the film, couldn’t detect the actress’ anxiety. I’m going to have to play the weak card.’ And when you shoot a big movie, you just feel so many more eyeballs on you. “At the beginning,” she recalled, “I was like, ‘I just don’t think I can do this. There’s a lot of running in the movie - from bad guys at an airport, on rooftops, even through a New Orleans parade - so Smulders spent four hours in the gym every day to prepare.Įven though she was in the best shape of her life, she said, she still didn’t feel ready to run alongside Cruise. When she was cast, she was recovering from a broken leg (she tripped in her apartment) and needed to put in extra hours training for the film’s physical demands.

The “Jack Reacher” sequel certainly provided routine. “And then immediately I went, ‘Oh my God, I miss my schedule,’” she said, laughing at herself.

She was yearning, she said, to be part of the creative process again and bored of doing the same thing for so many years. Since “How I Met Your Mother” wrapped in 2014, the 34-year-old has oscillated between big blockbusters like this and low-budget independent films like Andrew Bujalski’s “Results” and Clea DuVall’s “The Intervention.”Īfter nine seasons on the CBS sitcom, Smulders craved the kind of messiness the indie film world provides.

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