When it was revealed that Dutch bodybuilder Olivier Richters was set to play Paulie in Reacher Season 3, it was clear that he was a great pick for the role. In the book Persuader, Paulie is a massive man (yes, he’s even bigger than Reacher) who works for Beck and Quinn, and he notably has an epic fight with Reacher. Truly, Richters is amazing in the role, and he towers over everyone. So, I had to ask if they used any visual tricks to make him look even larger, and the actor hilariously told me no.
You can see when watching Reacher that visual tricks and clever framing are used to make Alan Ritchson look even bigger than he already is. However, when I asked Olivier Richters if they used anything like that for Paulie, he was quick to laugh and say, “No.” His co-star Brian Tee – who plays this season’s big bad Xavier Quinn – also quipped:
They didn’t need to.
That totally makes sense, too. Olivier Richters is massive. For reference, he’s 7’2”, and Alan Ritchson is 6’3”, so without even trying, the bodybuilder towers over Reacher’s star.
That’s why visual tricks were not necessary, and the Paulie actor took that as a compliment, telling me:
I had nothing in my shoes or whatever. But I was whispered, I don’t know, if I can tell, Alan is the tallest of every season but this season, which was a compliment to me. So no, but what you see is what you get with me.
While Alan Ritchson stays under 10% body fat and is a very large guy, he’s by no means a giant. Plenty of people are around six feet tall, so it makes sense that occasionally, Reacher uses camera and framing tricks to make him look even bigger than he is.
That wasn’t necessary for Richters, and while all three actors I interviewed were laughing, Anthony Michael Hall proved that by saying:
I remember shooting at the mansion, and Olivier had to duck under the front door. I go, ‘This man is a presence.’ But it was a great experience for all of us.
I had a similar thought when I started watching the season of Reacher that’s airing on the 2025 TV schedule with my Amazon Prime subscription. Paulie is such a great and important presence on the show, and he’s one of the biggest physical adversaries the titular character has faced. And Richters is able to fill those shoes easily, thanks to his already massive physique.
As he hilariously said, no visual tricks were needed because:
7’ 2” is enough; I don’t want to be 7’3”.
You know what? That’s so fair. There’s really no need to make him look bigger on screen when he’s already massive. In turn, that makes the part he plays in Reacher even more impressive!
Now, I’m somehow more excited to watch Olivier Richters go head-to-head with Alan Ritchson’s Reacher because we know that when it comes to Paulie, what we see is exactly what we get, no camera ticks necessary.
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