"Reacher" star Alan Ritchson visits WIRED to offer up answers to his most searched for google questions. Where did Alan Rictchson grow up? How did he get his start in show business? How was Alan Ritchson cast as the lead in “Reacher?” What is Alan Ritchson’s workout routine? How did Alan Ritchson meet his wife? Does he have a stunt double? Who was Alan Ritchson in The Hunger Games? Alan answers these questions and many more on the WIRED Autocomplete Interview.
Season 3 of Reacher premieres February 20 on Prime Video (finale March 27)
Director: Justin Wolfson
Director of Photography: Ben Dewey
Editor: Cory Stevens
Talent: Alan Ritchson
Line Producer: Joseph Buscemi
Associate Producer: Brandon White
Production Manager: Peter Brunette
Production Coordinator: Rhyan Lark
Talent Booker: Mica Medoff
Camera Operator: Lauren Pruitt
Sound Mixer: Sean Paulsen
Production Assistant: Ryan Coppola
Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin
Post Production Coordinator: Rachel Kim
Supervising Editor: Christina Mankellow
Assistant Editor: Andy Morell
Season 3 of Reacher premieres February 20 on Prime Video (finale March 27)
Director: Justin Wolfson
Director of Photography: Ben Dewey
Editor: Cory Stevens
Talent: Alan Ritchson
Line Producer: Joseph Buscemi
Associate Producer: Brandon White
Production Manager: Peter Brunette
Production Coordinator: Rhyan Lark
Talent Booker: Mica Medoff
Camera Operator: Lauren Pruitt
Sound Mixer: Sean Paulsen
Production Assistant: Ryan Coppola
Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin
Post Production Coordinator: Rachel Kim
Supervising Editor: Christina Mankellow
Assistant Editor: Andy Morell
Category
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TechTranscript
00:00Hi, I'm Alan Richson, and this is a Wired Autocomplete Interview.
00:03My peck isn't large enough to do Dolce Jacket Slippery.
00:09Okay.
00:15Hi, where did Alan Richson grow up?
00:19That's a difficult question to answer because I was in the military,
00:21so we moved around a lot.
00:22I started in Illinois, was born in Grand Forks, North Dakota,
00:24but we didn't really live there.
00:25I was there for like two months.
00:26We went to Guam.
00:27I was in Guam for two years, but who remembers that?
00:29I remember feeding some kind of turtle on the beach once,
00:31but that was like probably a dream.
00:32And then I spent from fifth grade on in Florida.
00:35My dad retired there, so that's kind of where I grew up.
00:36But I left there.
00:37I started running away when I was 17.
00:39Don't really claim Florida's home.
00:40Moved back there.
00:41Had a house on the beach for like the first 12 years of my kid's life
00:44because my wife wanted help with the kids.
00:45But I didn't really go back because I was like,
00:47I'm out of here, and I was in LA.
00:48So it was like mostly LA.
00:50So I don't really, you know, I claim Florida probably.
00:53Why did they...
00:56What the F?
00:59Why did they cast Alan Richson as Reacher?
01:04Like millions of people are searching that question.
01:07Like what the F is this guy Reacher?
01:08He sucks?
01:10I don't know.
01:11I asked myself the same question and so did the studio
01:14because they went back like multiple times.
01:17Like I'm not sure this is the right guy.
01:18We want somebody bigger and stronger and faster.
01:21But yeah, I don't know.
01:22I asked myself the same thing and every day I fight for my job,
01:25you know, because there's like an asterisk by this thing for me.
01:27It was an easy get.
01:28It was an eight-month audition process.
01:31Okay, you think I felt wanted at the end of the eight-month process
01:34when they're like, fine?
01:36And then I find out after the fact,
01:38they promised the job to another dude
01:40and I was just like, I just happened to be like crushing the audition
01:45and they're like, I guess we have to like strongly consider this guy
01:48who was just supposed to be like somebody we threw in the mix
01:52and I ended up winning the role.
01:53So I too asked myself the same question.
01:56Thanks for that.
01:58Why does Alan Richson, that's a long one,
02:01look so tall in Reacher?
02:05I don't know, probably because I'm 6'3
02:09and not the tiniest dude you've ever seen in your life
02:12and we cast people that are 5'5 to play my friends on the show.
02:18Do people think I'm cheating?
02:20Do you think it's like camera, cool camera work
02:23that I'm taller than everybody
02:25because I'm taller than everybody in real life?
02:26What do you want?
02:27Alan Richson is a real long one.
02:29Arnold Schwarzenegger.
02:30That's my actual birth name.
02:32Alan Richson, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
02:34We're doing a movie together.
02:35Man with a Bag, Christmas movie
02:37where Arnold Schwarzenegger is playing Santa.
02:39He's got to hire the kid from his naughty list to get his bag back
02:42because he lost it
02:43and he needs somebody who thinks naughty to get it back.
02:45That's me.
02:48Get that stupid board out of here with those questions.
02:50Okay, board number two.
02:52This is going to give me PTSD.
02:54How did Alan Richson get his start?
02:57God, I was a model and I'm not proud of that.
03:00And when Abercrombie calls you,
03:02you know, you show up and you start roping the calf.
03:05I was a semifinalist on American Idol.
03:07I really liked my time in LA
03:09and I was like, I want to go back out there
03:10and be around these like artists that are super hungry.
03:12I had a modeling buddy who I was like,
03:14let's go play basketball and he's like,
03:15I can't go I got an audition
03:17and I was like audition?
03:19Well for how did you get an audition?
03:20And what is that?
03:21And he was like, it's an audition for like a commercial
03:24or something or a TV show.
03:25He goes, talk to the booker at the agency at night.
03:29If you want to do auditions,
03:30he'll send you stuff from the breakdowns
03:32and you can like try to book something.
03:34I was like, great.
03:34So I told him, I was like, give me some auditions, dude.
03:36I want to make some extra money.
03:37And the first three things I went out on I booked.
03:40Beowulf for Zemeckis.
03:42So I'm on set with these like legends eating lobster every day.
03:46Thinking like this is definitely for me.
03:47I want to do this playing Beowulf
03:49and doing the motion capture for Beowulf.
03:51And then I was in a horror movie called The Butcher
03:54because I died real good in that audition.
03:56And then Smallville was my third thing
03:58and I played Aquaman on Smallville
04:00and really kicked the shit out of that door.
04:01Just open it right up for myself and the rest was history.
04:05And then thousands of fails. Thousands.
04:09Until Reacher, which was almost a fail too
04:11because they had somebody else in mind.
04:12How did Alan Richardson meet his wife?
04:16We met in ballet in high school
04:21because we were both dual enrolling
04:23in a college music theater program
04:25and I had to take a certain amount of prerequisites
04:28that included ballet.
04:29And I thought she was a college student.
04:31So for the first semester up until almost the last day,
04:34I didn't talk to her until my buddy was like,
04:36she's actually younger than you.
04:37She's doing the same thing you're doing.
04:39So I had the guts to talk to her and we hit it off.
04:42Why do people want to know about my wife?
04:44You know, like what is so special about my...
04:46Alan Richardson exercise routine?
04:47I kind of just do whatever I feel like doing for the day.
04:51Like that's really going to lead a lot of people astray
04:53because most people are like,
04:54I feel like eating potato chips and not doing anything.
04:56I work out four or five days a week.
04:58It's mostly full body stuff.
04:59So I don't really go like,
05:01I'm going to blast my biceps until I can't lift a milkshake.
05:04You know, like I want to be able to lift the milkshake.
05:06I just like do a little legs every day,
05:08little arms, little chest, little abs, little cardio.
05:10And I just work out till I almost pass out.
05:14People like, they try to go for like the summer body mentality
05:17where they're like, I really let myself go over the winter.
05:19It's time to get back in shape.
05:20If you just never get to the point where you're like,
05:22it's time to get back in shape.
05:24You just do a little bit every day.
05:25They're good.
05:25Does Alan Richardson know how to fight?
05:29Oh, hell yeah.
05:31Somebody want to fight me?
05:32You want to fight me?
05:34No, that's a no.
05:35He doesn't want to fight.
05:36Yeah, I can fight.
05:37I mean the same way that people spend time like,
05:38like pursuing a black belt or something.
05:41Like I spend the same amount of time training,
05:43but it's mostly choreographed.
05:45You know, I do a lot of training to get ready for a season
05:47or to get ready for a new character or something
05:49and then we get in and yeah, I love to fight.
05:52I fought Tito Ortiz one time.
05:53I did a, I played a UFC fighter
05:55and so I spent months training.
05:57I got myself ready to work with Tito and Tito came in.
06:01He's a really good teacher and we trained,
06:03we trained together for a couple months
06:04and then we shot this movie together.
06:06He was like, you for sure could have been a fighter
06:08if you wanted to, if you want a different career,
06:10UFC is for you.
06:11I felt real good about that.
06:12I punched him in the forehead one time on accident.
06:17Next board.
06:18Okay, who was Alan Richson in Hunger Games?
06:22I was the guy that slit that little old lady's throat.
06:25Actually, I took an arrow to the face.
06:28So I played it like it was to the face
06:30and then I think they decided in post
06:32that was a little too gruesome
06:33to take an arrow to the face by Katniss.
06:35So they changed it to my chest,
06:37but I didn't shoot it that way.
06:39I didn't shoot it like I was taking a shot to the chest.
06:42My head snapped back like an idiot
06:44and the thing went in my chest and I'm like this,
06:47who does that?
06:47I wouldn't have died like that.
06:49Who does Alan Richson look like?
06:52You know what people say I look like all the time?
06:54John Cena, people are like Nordstrom would be like,
06:57John, oh my God, John, wait, you look, you ain't John.
07:00I don't think we look that much alike.
07:04I know John.
07:05I'm happy to be confused with John Cena
07:06because hands down, the nicest human being I've ever met.
07:10Disarmingly kind.
07:11It's actually annoying.
07:12I'm like, he genuinely,
07:13because I'm like, you're not faking it.
07:15You're seriously the nicest person I've ever met
07:18and it makes me feel bad about myself
07:20because I feel like a monster after I talked to him.
07:23Who is Alan Richson?
07:24Stunt double.
07:25Ryan Taron, one of the top stunt doubles in the world.
07:27He's worked for guys like Hemsworth.
07:29Boo.
07:31Momoa, boo.
07:33Me, yay.
07:35I stole him from Momoa on Fast.
07:37I did ask if he would mind if I'd use him
07:41and then he never got him back.
07:42He's been my stunt double for a very long time.
07:44We were working on a movie together recently
07:46and he just got pretty injured, not good.
07:48Demonstrating a stunt for me
07:49and so now I'm working with a guy named Luke Davis
07:52who is also amazingly talented
07:54and Ryan has moved to stunt coordinate.
07:56So now we design fights together.
07:57Who is Alan Richson in Titans?
08:00The hell do people Google this stuff for?
08:02Just watch the show.
08:03Like, if you want to know that bad,
08:05shouldn't you just watch the show?
08:07There he is in his tights.
08:08It's Hawk.
08:11What?
08:13Episode of New Girl is Alan Richson in?
08:15Oh my God, I got such a good story about this.
08:17The episode is called Micro Penis.
08:19No acting involved, bitches.
08:21Okay, so I was writing a movie at the time.
08:22I ended up making that movie, by the way.
08:24Thank you very much.
08:25It was midnight and I was falling asleep
08:27and I really wanted to like reach a certain point
08:29in my outline where I had like, you know, scripted this.
08:32I went to this diner that's open 24-7.
08:34I park in the parking lot
08:35and I'm walking through the diner at midnight.
08:37So there's nobody there.
08:38I was just gonna go eat and write around people
08:40so I wouldn't fall asleep
08:41and a blacked out Audi pulls up in front of me.
08:43And I was like, oh God, I'm gonna get mugged,
08:46but I can fight.
08:47So I wasn't worried.
08:48The window goes down and it's Jay Shondur Sekhar
08:52from Super Troopers in the car, right?
08:54Who I've worked with on Blue Mountain State.
08:56Hey, buddy.
08:57And I was like, what are you doing?
08:58I was like, dude, you can't just roll up on somebody
09:00in the parking lot at midnight like that.
09:02What are you doing?
09:02He's like, I was talking about you down at Fox today.
09:06Had a little conversation about you.
09:07I'm directing an episode of New Girl.
09:09I thought of you.
09:10I was like, cool, cool.
09:12What's the episode?
09:13It's like, well, you're a really cool dude.
09:15Everybody likes you and you know, you've got a micropenis.
09:20I was like, what?
09:21I'm sorry.
09:22So you have this episode called micropenis
09:24and you think of me?
09:26I'm the guy that you think of, Jay?
09:28And he's like, I thought you'd be great for it.
09:30You want to do it?
09:30I was like, yeah, I want to do it, Jay.
09:32Yeah, I'll do the episode and that was it.
09:34My audition was in a Trader Joe's parking lot at midnight.
09:38What does Alan Richson eat?
09:41What doesn't he eat is a question.
09:43Where's this cookie?
09:44Look at it.
09:45Wait, hold on.
09:49Cookies the size of scones, baby.
09:52Whose are these?
09:53This guy's.
09:54We've been munching on these all day.
09:55The problem is I eat whatever I want because genetically
09:58I can handle it.
09:59You know, some people got those genes.
10:00So, you know, 3800, you know, I don't know.
10:05I got a DEXA scan, found out my maintenance calories
10:08are 3800.
10:09Hawaiian gain weight, 4000.
10:11I want to cut 3600.
10:13What new movie is Alan Richson in?
10:16What new movie isn't Alan Richson in?
10:19Got like nine coming out, dude.
10:20It's crazy.
10:21War Machine for Netflix.
10:22I think, and you heard it here first, probably going to be
10:25the, no, not probably, going to be the biggest movie that
10:29Netflix has ever had.
10:30This movie is going to be a monster.
10:32This is the coolest thing they've ever made, guaranteed.
10:34There's a comedy called Playdate, which I love, Kevin James.
10:36And then we've got a movie called Motor City, which is an
10:38action movie with no dialogue.
10:40That is an absolute work of art, a 70s period piece.
10:42It was on the blacklist for like 15 years and every dude
10:45in town was attached.
10:46Very hard movie to get made and we finally got it made.
10:48I'm really proud of that one.
10:49We got Runner with Owen Wilson, an action movie with a ton
10:52of heart.
10:52We got Painter coming up, which is one of the coolest action
10:56films written by Derek Kolstad, who made John Wick.
10:58It's like a new John Wick.
10:59And we got Man with a Bag, which is a Christmas movie.
11:01Got to have some fun for the whole family.
11:03What does Lee Child think of Alan Richson?
11:06Well, I hope he holds me in such high esteem, as high esteem
11:10as I do Lee Child, because I have a great respect for that
11:13man. I mean, unless he's a really good actor or a great liar,
11:16I think he likes me.
11:18I think he probably wants to be my best friend and I am hoping
11:22that he'll fulfill my request to adopt me and to put me in
11:27his will.
11:29Oh God, I'm scared to see what's on the other side of this
11:33one. Ken Alan Richson.
11:37Really sing?
11:38Yeah, my first love was music.
11:40I had like 38 scholarships to universities and conservatories
11:44for music and that's what I started to go to school for.
11:46And then I was like, what the hell am I doing getting a degree?
11:49What are you going to teach somebody how to sing?
11:50You're going to teach me how to sing?
11:52If you sing, you sing.
11:54Like I'm not going to learn anything from you.
11:55And I did like nine plays and I was like, what am I going to
11:58like get a degree in like music theater and then go to Broadway
12:02and be like, here's my bachelor's degree in music theater.
12:05And that's going to get me something on Broadway.
12:07I don't even want to be on Broadway.
12:09They get paid like $11 and they live in shoebox apartments in
12:12New York and like barely eek by in life.
12:14And they're like the best entertainers in the world.
12:18And this is how they're rewarded?
12:19No, I'm going to quit school.
12:21That's what I says to myself.
12:22And then I became a model.
12:23What a loser.
12:25But it worked out because you know, that was a little stepping
12:28stone to Reacher and which is exactly how I drew it up.
12:32Is Alan Richardson playing Batman?
12:36This is, it's what's amazing to me about this, this rumor of
12:41the Batman or the Batman desire and the zeitgeist is the fact
12:44that James Gunn has personally announced publicly on his
12:48Twitter or X or whatever.
12:49He LOL, he's not playing Batman.
12:52He is not playing Batman and this thing will not die.
12:55I get asked every day if I'm playing Batman.
12:57Yeah, would I play Batman?
12:58Yes.
12:59Would I pay handsomely to be Batman?
13:01You wouldn't even have to pay me to be Batman.
13:03I would, yeah, don the suit.
13:05Gotham is mine.
13:06Look at that.
13:07I could, I don't even have to practice.
13:09It just comes out naturally.
13:10How?
13:12Oh shit.
13:12Oh, sorry, dude.
13:13I broke your board.
13:15How perfect is that?
13:16How strong is Alan Richardson?
13:19That strong.
13:20I did it on accident.
13:21I didn't even mean to.
13:22I just break stuff.
13:23It's like, how funny is that?
13:25I'm super strong.
13:27I don't even have to prove it now.
13:28Does Alan Richardson have tattoos?
13:32That's right.
13:33I think I have like, hey, how many do I have?
13:34Where's Kat?
13:37She knows.
13:38She knows and with great spite.
13:40She said the number 13 because she's the one that has to cover
13:43him for my roles.
13:44It's one of my favorite things to do is to get a tattoo and
13:46come in the trailer, bust open the door.
13:49She's like, oh, he's looking salty today.
13:51I got a new tattoo.
13:52She goes, oh God, I'm about to get 13 in the next five minutes
13:56because now is the perfect time to be getting tattoos too,
14:00by the way, because I'm playing this dude in a Christmas movie
14:02who's got sleeves down to here every day and I can't, I don't
14:05have time though.
14:06I gotta shoot every day and then on my off days, which is
14:10today, right now, I have a day off because it's a national
14:12holiday.
14:13Where am I?
14:14I'm here talking to you about my tattoos when I should be
14:16getting more.
14:17I'm a little weirded out.
14:19I gotta be honest that people ask these questions, but I'm
14:21happy to set the record straight and give a little context
14:24to my life, you know?
14:26Yeah.