Now that those with an Amazon Prime subscription can stream the brand-new adaptation of James Patterson’s popular Alex Cross books, the bestselling author is getting real about his thoughts on the previous iteration of the thriller novels starring Tyler Perry. In a recent interview, Patterson shared he thinks Perry was “screwed” by Alex Cross director Rob Cohen.
Tyler Perry took a break from the Madea movies in 2012 to star in an adaptation of James Patterson’s 2006 novel Cross to re-introduce audiences to the great Black detective character after Morgan Freeman previously played him in two films, 1997’s Kiss The Girls and 2001’s Along Came A Spider. Here’s what the author had to say as Aldis Hodge now takes up the role for the latest series on the 2024 TV schedule:
Well, in the movies you get two hours, and they didn’t have time to really develop Sampson, so Sampson was always an afterthought. But in this, he’s great. I think I’ve been very lucky, and it’s kind of a little unusual, in that we’ve had two actors play Jack Reacher. Sherlock Holmes, God knows how many people [have played him], and we’ve got three really good actors, different approaches [who’ve been Alex] with Morgan, Aldis and Tyler Perry. Tyler got screwed by the director.
When Tyler Perry played the role in 2012, CinemaBlend gave the movie one out of five stars in our Alex Cross review, with Eric Eisenberg sharing it had a “ridiculous story,” and a “waste of talent” as well. The movie also earned an 11% on Rotten Tomatoes, and the audiences didn't like that much more, with the aggregator website having it a 47% on that side of things.
The movie also bombed at the box office, making just $34 million worldwide off a reported $35 million production budget. While Summit Entertainment had planned to make a sequel called Double Cross, its poor reception led to it being cancelled. During James Patterson’s interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the author also said this:
The director just screwed him. The director came in, this is bizarre, but every night he would sit there and rewrite the script. So we would go out, Tyler would get the new script, which is tough, and it would be a first draft, essentially. And Tyler, when he was in Gone Girl, it was a small part, but you were like, 'he can do this' — he’s a great guy.
The Alex Cross director previously had made the first The Fast and the Furious movie, along with XXX and the third The Mummy movie with Brendan Fraser. James Patterson did not mince words regarding his thoughts on how Cohen handled the second iteration of his Cross books, but he certainly did not blame Tyler Perry for his performance. As he continued:
So I’ve been lucky in terms of having three very different guys, and I love all of the takes. Aldis is great. I just finished the Pacino autobiography, and Al really gets into it. He just goes deep and I feel a lot of that with Aldis. Right from the first time I talked to him, he’s like, 'I’ve got to get in, I’ve got to understand this guy.' And you will see scenes where you see two or three sides of him in the same scene, which I think is really great.
The latest adaptation of the Alex Cross books is poised to be a success for the material, as Season 1 has already landed as No. 1 in the United States for Prime Video, earned positive reviews from critics, and has already been renewed by the streamer for a second season. All eight episodes of Cross can be streamed now! You can check out what other upcoming book adaptations are on the way here on CinemaBlend. There are two other books of Patterson’s, Eruption and Run, Rose, Run, which are currently in development as well.
