Screen Rant interviews action genre veteran Robert Patrick to discuss his Reacher season 2 role and reflect on 40 years of playing tough guys.

SUMMARY

 Reacher Season 2 delivers a thrilling conclusion with intense action and a satisfying resolution for fans of the Lee Child adaptation.
 Robert Patrick’s portrayal of the villain, Langston, adds to his legendary tough guy reputation and provides an exciting matchup against Alan Ritchson’s Jack Reacher.
 Screen Rant’s interview with Robert Patrick reveals his enthusiasm for the role, his dedication to performing stunts, and his appreciation for showrunner Nick Santora’s storytelling skills.

The sophomore season of Reacher has come to a close with all the righteous aplomb one would expect from a Lee Child adaptation. The titular Army veteran made good on his promise to throw Shane Langston (Robert Patrick) out of a helicopter into the forest below, complete with a grisly closeup of his dead body, broken and mangled on a perfectly placed tree trunk.

While the enigmatic A.M., played by Ferdinand Kingsley, was the immediate threat during season 2, the true villain was Langston, played by Robert Patrick, one of the most legendary tough guy actors of all time. Over his career, Patrick has gone up against just about every iconic action hero, from Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone to Bruce Willis and John Cena, making it only fitting that he gets to go up against Alan Ritchson’s Jack Reacher.

Ahead of its premiere, Screen Rant interviewed Robert Patrick to discuss his Reacher season 2 role, reuniting with showrunner Nick Santora after the CBS show Scorpion, and reflecting on his days making low-budget action movies with indie producing icon Roger Corman.

Warning: SPOILERS lie ahead for Reacher season 2!

Robert Patrick On Reacher, Roger Corman & More!

Screen Rant: I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I’d like to think I don’t get starstruck anymore, but holy cow, I’m excited to talk to you, sir!

Robert Patrick: Oh, you’re too kind. Well, very cool, man. I’m excited to talk to you!

First of all, you fought Arnold in T2, shot it out with Stallone in Cop Land, you went up against John Cena more than once, and now they’ve got you with Alan Ritchson. When are they gonna let you fight a skinny guy?

Robert Patrick: (Laughs) Yeah, really! I guess when I get skinny? I dunno. I always seem to go up against a larger opponent, but that’s the Irish in me. I’ll fight anybody! I’m not afraid of anybody.

You know, it’s funny, Zak, when Nick Santora called me up and asked me to come do this, his first question was, “Can you still fight?” And I said, “Hell yeah, I can still fight!” He said, “Can you get thrown out of a helicopter?” “Hell yeah, I can get thrown out of a helicopter!” I think he was worried about my age, but I said, “Yeah, I can still do it.”

The first thing they did when they flew me up to Toronto was evaluate me. The stunt guys, I can’t recall everybody’s name that worked on the show, but they had great stunt people on that show. They did a great job, and they evaluated how I could move and if I could do it, and I passed all the tests, so I got to do it! I had a lot of fun doing it.

Alan is very detailed, he’s very aware of the camera. He’s very aware of where he needs to be and how to throw a punch. They’re very effective in the way they shoot it. It’s powerful, it’s visceral, which is what that character needs to be. It’s fun to be a part of it!

Oh man, I bet.

Robert Patrick: Working with Arnold and James Cameron, that was a bit more detailed and specific, we had more time to shoot the things we did, but it was equally fun to do. And John Cena, he beat the s–t out of me in Peacemaker, that was a riot!

We were laughing our a–es off while we were doing it! He comes from the wrestling world, so… A lot of people don’t know this, maybe people who are young enough to be reading this don’t know, but I started out with Roger Corman back in the ’80s.

I’ve been in the business for 40 years. In 1984, when I got started, I got started because I was rough-and-tumble. I could fight, I could fall. Lots of people thought I was a stuntman!

Making movies in the Philippines, you kind of have to be a stuntman by default, right?

Robert Patrick: Yeah! All those movies I did down there, I did, like, six or seven movies like that, with Roger Corman. I was learning my craft as an actor, but the main reason I was so successful was because they were like, “This guy is a stuntman!” I didn’t realize the business was going to go the way it went in the ’80s with action heroes.

I didn’t want to be an action hero! I wanted to be a f—n’ dramatic actor! My guys, the guys I looked up to, were guys like James Dean and Marlon Brando. Even though I was good at it, I never really wanted to be an action guy. Even though I can do it.

I guess I’m patting myself on the back, but I’m more of an old school guy, like a John Wayne guy, I’m more of a “throw the punch” kind of guy. I’m not, like, a karate guy. I can’t do Jean-Claude Van Damme and all that stuff, but ya know — that’s what’s interesting about Reacher.

I think he’s got a little bit of that old school John Wayne, with a little more training and finesse of the Jason Statham kind of guy, the guys who do more of the trained martial arts stuff.

You mentioned being evaluated, you’re 60, or 65, something like that, none of my business.

Robert Patrick: I’m 65 years old. Watch yourself, call me sir!

Of course! But when they do those evaluations to see if you can throw a punch, take a punch, are you annoyed, or are you pleased with yourself that you can show off that you’ve still got it?

Robert Patrick: Uh, yes, I am annoyed! Like everybody, getting old is a thing, and I don’t think I’m old. In my mind, I’m still the 20-something actor who was running around the woods in the Philippines for Roger Corman! So I still think I can do that.

However, you know, as you go, you find out that maybe you can’t, and that’s a hard thing to deal with. I guess, if you look at it from an athlete’s point of view, you’ve got to know when it’s time to hang it up, and that’s a hard thing to do. And I ain’t hanging it up yet! And this is proof that I can still fight and throw a punch and get thrown out of a f—-n’ helicopter.

Well said! Speaking of throwing out of a helicopter, that little exchange you have at the end of, I think it’s episode 4, where you say, “What is it that you want?” And Reacher says, “I want to throw you out of a helicopter.” I recorded that clip and sent it to my friends and was just like, “You have to watch this show, it’s the coolest thing.“

Robert Patrick: There are friends of mine that stumbled on the show, and now they call me and say, “Ask me what I want, Robert!”

Screen Rant: (Laughs) Oh, that’s perfect.

Robert Patrick: And I’m like, “Oh, fine. Okay… What do you want?” And they do the line, they have a lot of fun. “I want to throw you out of a helicopter.” That’s Santora. Nick Santora is a wonderful guy, he’s a dear friend of mine. We’ve had dinner, he’s been to my house many times, I know his family really well. I love the guy, he’s a great guy! We get along.

He brought me on. He thought about me when the situation arose, and he brought me into it. I love working with friends. It’s a great feeling to work with people and have them want to work with you again. You get to collaborate, and go further and further with your relationship. It’s a good feeling.

It’s such a wonderful sensibility that the show has, it’s got old-timey cowboy vibes, like you said, John Wayne.

Robert Patrick: That’s Nick Santora! I mean, Lee Child created the character, and that’s great, and those books are great, but to adapt this into a teleplay and turn it into a story that we want to watch, that’s Santora. He’s got a lot of heart.

He started with The Sopranos, and Prison Break, and I worked with him for four years on CBS with Scorpion. That show had a lot of heart. He understands what he’s doing, he understands all of that, and he’s a super gifted guy.

Did you cross paths on The Sopranos? Or was he not writing on the show yet?

Robert Patrick: I was early on The Sopranos. I was in Season 2, and Nick came in near the end.

You were great on that, by the way. You’re always the heavy, the tough guy, and —

Robert Patrick: It’s funny you mention that, Zak. When you get introduced to the world as a heavy, you’re working against that for the rest of your career. My favorite character I ever played was John Doggett on The X-Files, where I was a hero with a heart of gold, but I was still an edgy guy.

That’s my favorite character I ever played. Scorpion was a little blend of that, it’s kind of that, and is probably my second-favorite character. As much as I get cast playing bad guys, I do enjoy playing a good guy.

But David Chase, when he did The Sopranos, he was thinking about that role. We had met for a film a couple of years prior to him creating The Sopranos, and for some reason, he thought of me for Davey Scatino.

He called me and said, “This isn’t a part you’d normally get cast in, but for some reason, I think this would be a good thing for you to do. It’s against type, you’re gonna get your a– beat by James Gandolfini.”

I’m gonna be honest with you. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Alan Ritchson, John Cena — the guy who terrified me the most was Jimmy Gandolfini. God rest, Jimmy — He’s f—-n’ intense! I thought he was going to bite my head off! We did that scene in one take, and it was against type.

There’s something similar here, with the way it went with Ritchson. The first time I ever groveled in my career was to James Gandolfini. And the second time I ever groveled in my career was to Alan Ritchson, because I’m pleading like a little b—h!

You know what I mean? I’m like, “No, please! Wahhhh!” And it’s fun! I should have described that in a more generic way, but I let ‘er rip, I apologize.

No, are you kidding me? That’s fantastic, don’t worry about it. Oh man, I have so much more I could ask, but I’ve got time for one more.

Robert Patrick: Make it quick, kid! (Laughs) By the way, I like Screen Rant a lot. I like you guys.

Oh, and we loved your 20th anniversary well-wishes! We appreciated that very much! Okay, so you’ve had an incredible career, some of my all-time favorite movies, you’re always a standout part of them.

Is there something you’ve done that you’re particularly proud of, that you feel just didn’t get the eyes on it that it deserved. Everyone knows Terminator, but is there something you want to go, “Hey, if you liked that, if you like me, check out this movie that came and went, or this show,” or something like that?

Robert Patrick: You know, there’s a bunch of little independent movies that I do, that really test me, that give me really complicated and juicy roles to play. A film I produced called Last Rampage was one of them.

Another film I did, called What Josiah Saw, it’s just so f—-n’ out there, it was really challenging. I think the performances that I’m the most proud of, that’s hard to say. You know, Walk the Line is something I really hope people get to see, that I did with Joaquin, and of course, the other film I did with James Mangold, Cop Land, I think that’s an underseen gem.

But yeah, man, I think so, those two films I mentioned were independents that were done for, like, a million bucks. I put my heart into it. You put your heart into everything you do, and I wish people could see those, because they’re pretty good!

About Reacher Season 2

Reacher Season Two begins when veteran military police investigator Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson) receives a coded message that the members of his former U.S. Army unit, the 110th MP Special Investigations, are being mysteriously and brutally murdered one by one.

Pulled from his drifter lifestyle, Reacher reunites with three of his former teammates turned chosen family to investigate. Based on Bad Luck and Trouble, the 11th book in Lee Child’s global best-selling series, Reacher Season Two stars Alan Ritchson in the title role of Jack Reacher, with Maria Sten, Serinda Swan, and Shaun Sipos as key members of the 110th MP Special Investigations Unit.