Cobie Smulders on ‘Jack Reacher’ and shooting in her hometown of Vancouver

By Victoria Ahearn, The Canadian Press

TORONTO – Military fiction became reality while Vancouver star Cobie Smulders was shooting “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back.”

The former “How I Met Your Mother” cast member plays a U.S. military major in the film, alongside Tom Cruise as the titular anti-hero.

She says her character’s backstory involved her being a graduate of the intense United States Army Ranger School, which seemed a lofty idea at the time.

“When we were coming up with these ideas, there had never been a woman who had ever graduated Ranger School,” the Vancouver native said in a phone interview.

“Then once we started shooting, there were the first two female graduates ever. So not only are we Hollywood-izing this story, but women in the real world are going through these things, are pushing the boundaries. And we just get to depict that onscreen and have many more people see it and see it as a reality.”

In theatres Friday, “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” is the sequel to the 2012 thriller and is based on Lee Child’s novel series.

Smulders plays Maj. Susan Turner, who is unfairly framed for espionage after a mission in Afghanistan turns deadly. Reacher, a former military major himself, busts her out of prison and they — along with a teen who claims to be his daughter, played by Danika Yarosh — set out to uncover the truth.

Turner is sensitive about sexism as it pertains to her job and, in one scene, gets upset when Reacher suggests she stay back in their hotel with the teen while he goes out on a dangerous mission.

“She’s had a career surrounded by men and really had to work very hard to get to what her ranking is,” Smulders said from Los Angeles.

“I don’t feel like Reacher in that moment is trying to put her in a box or trying to assert his male dominance over her…. However, because my character … is used to being passed over, has had these experiences, that stuff comes up for her and it’s a hot-button topic and she kind of unleashes that on him.”

Both Smulders and Cruise went through intense physical training as they shot in New Orleans, where director Edward Zwick used a real-life street party in scenes.

“He is the hardest-working person I’ve ever met in Hollywood or in the world, really,” she said of Cruise. “His work ethic is astounding.”

Smulders has also played an armed forces-trained character in several Marvel projects, as Cmdr. Maria Hill.

Asked if the character will be in “Avengers: Infinity War,” she said: “I don’t know. I never know exactly what is happening in the world of Marvel, but if they ever want me to come and play, I would be happy to.”

Smulders spent this past summer shooting her first film in her hometown of Vancouver since moving to Los Angeles 13 years ago.

It was the comedy “Why We’re Killing Gunther,” which marks the directorial debut of Taran Killam, a former “Saturday Night Live” star who is married to Smulders and has two children with her. Co-stars include Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“I had been wanting to — for so many years, ever since I moved away really — to come back and work in Vancouver on a movie, on something that keeps me there for a while, because all my friends and my family are all there,” she said.

“Every day was like, ‘I’m here and I’m in my city and my husband is making his first movie here?’ It was like pure magic.”

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