Alan Ritchson Channeled His Reacher Character by Catching a Burglar (Extended) | The Tonight Show

-Welcome to "The Tonight Show." -That's an impossible act to follow. JLo getting you sloppy drunk off her Delola, handing out autographs left and right. What do I came with? Came with nothing. -No, it's all right. We can probably find something for you to give out. You want to give this Sharpie to somebody? -I will sign this and I'll fling it? Yeah! Yes! Yes! Yes! -You want to sign the Sharpie? ♪♪ He's signing the Sharpie and giving the Sharpie. -Yes! Who wants the Sharpie?! Yeah! -There you go.

That's fantastic. -My man! -Nice catch, bud. See? There you go. See? You can top that. You can top that. -Look at them fight for it. It's what the cameras don't show you. -Come on, brother. -Oh, thanks, man. -You just got a signed Sharpie from Reacher. Yeah, come on. -It was a pretty sloppy signature. -Alan, can we talk about "Reacher," by the way? I know you have your film, "Ordinary Angels." That's what you're here for. But "Reacher" is -- You're filming Season 3 right now. -We are almost --

Well, yeah, we're nearing completion of Season 3, yes. [ Cheers and applause ] It's been -- Yes. Thank you. -It's a runaway hit. It is a smash hit. -It's been a big success. It was -- You know, it's a really hard-fought win, though, this one. -It was. -Like, it was -- Yes. This was not an easy get. I was never supposed to be Reacher. -Really? -Big asterisks by this role for me, so I feel lucky. -So, you have to audition and -- -You had to audition, and they were auditioning -- You know, they wan

ted the exact specifications. He's 6'5". I'm 6'3". I'm automatically out. But I fought for this. I fought for this. So, before Season 1, you know, usually, there's an audition process. You go in one or two times. If you're lucky, you screen-test. But this was during COVID, so there was, like, ample opportunity to just, like -- Where was I gonna be? Like, on a film? I'm in my basement. -Yeah. So was the rest of the world, yeah. -So was the rest of the world. So they go, "We're gonna read you one

more time. It was pretty good. Skydance or Amazon wants to see you." So I'm like, "Okay. I'll do it again." So I show up ready. But I was cheating, because I had this great setup in my house. I had an amazing camera, like a film camera, lights. I was micing myself up. I was doing the whole thing. -You had everything. -Yeah. -Yeah, you have to. -You got to. You're competing against the world's finest actors for the part. So, I get near the end. We're screen-testing for this thing. This is, like -

- This is the most crucial step. And I mic myself up, do my little -- you know, little pat myself dry. -Yeah, of course. -We get in there, and I do a scene. And it went really well. I made no mistakes. It was solid. And Don Granger of Skydance, been Tom Cruise's partner for a long time. The guy's a legend. He goes, "Yeah, um, that was a little distracting. Did you guys hear the -- it sounded like drums or something." And Nick Santora, the showrunner, was like, "Yeah. It almost sounded like a hea

rtbeat to me. It was all I could hear. Like, we need to do it again." And I was like, "Oh, my God." They go, "Are you wearing a microphone?" -You were that nervous? -Oh, my God! I was that nervous. My heart was pounding so hard that it distracted the entire screen test. So I go, "Pssh! No." -"I'm not wearing a..." -I go, "No." And I snuck off camera like this and I ripped the microphone off and I went back in. And none the wiser, and I ended up with the part. So I got lucky, but I almost lost it

. -You were good. -Yeah. And here we are, Season 3. -You're so good at it. -Well, thank you. -It's fantastic. So, do you ever feel like you're Reacher in real life, though? Like, do you go out and you're like -- -We don't have a lot of similarity. I mean, if you've ever been to dinner with me, you see that I eat like a tired ox. 'Cause I've actually had people in other countries -- I've, like, filmed in South Africa. And I go like, "I'll just have four entrées." "No, we're not going to bring you

that many entrées." -Really? Yeah. They go, "No, we don't do that here." -I'll eat my food. I eat a lot, right? Reacher eats a lot. But I also love justice. I'm, like, a -- You know, who doesn't? You know? I'm not going to wait for the clumsy, you know, fickle justice system to take care of things for us. I'll do it myself. -Yeah. Wow. -So, I'm on a date -- I'm on a date with my wife. -Okay. -Cat. We're in Old Montreal, shooting a show, and we got all dressed up, walking down the cobblestone st

reets. It's dusk. It's beautiful outside. And she sees feet dangling out of a window. And she goes, "I think somebody's breaking into that car." She spotted it before I did. And I was like, "Oh, the glass at his feet. I think you're right." So, this guy pulls out of this car, and he's got like four duffel bags of stuff. And he starts running towards us. And I was like, "That dude definitely just broke into that car." And we lock eyes as he passes, and I was like, "Oh, no. He's definitely, like,

an Acme villain, and I'm going to have to do something about this." And she goes -- She looks at my eyes and she goes, "We're on a date." I go, "Please. I have to do this." She goes, "Please don't do this." "I'm gonna go." So, I took off and I started chasing this dude, and by the time he got past us, he was scooting pretty good. He turned the corner. You know, so he took a left. I took a left. I see him at the end of the street. I'm like, "I'm gonna hunt this dude down." So, he takes another le

ft. I come around the corner, and the dude, like David Copperfield, he's gone. And there was not that much time. I made up some ground. He's gone. And somebody from way down the block goes, "He's under the van!" I look under the van, and like 3 feet in front of me, he's like this... And he started scooting. Like, he does this little scoot. "I'm gonna go that way. I'm gonna go that way." I go, "Just give it up, dude." He leaves the duffel bag, and I was like, "I'm not done yet." So, he just gets

off and starts running, and I'm side by side with him now, because I'm pretty fast. He also was fast, but I was faster. So, I'm side by side. I'm like, "Dude, don't do this." And he starts to ball up his hands like he's going to punch me or something. I'm like, "Don't touch me. I'm going to have to end it." And he goes to push me, and I lovingly -- I love all people. I'm a pacifist at heart. I gently take him like a shot put, like a discus and I twirl him right into the building, and he just sli

des down like a cartoon character. -In real life. -Real life, yeah. -Alan takes care of business. -Thank you. -Wow! -Yeah. -Wow! -Yeah. And the cops -- You know what the cops said? The cops actually -- It was in French, so I'm not sure they said this, but I think what they said was, this guy was, like, the most prolific car burglar in Old Montreal, and we finally got him. And the owners of the car showed up, and they were like, high-fiving, like, "Thank God. Thank you for saving our stuff." It w

as a wonderful day. -You got to meet everybody. -Yeah, it was a wonderful day. -What a great ending. -Yeah. -Come on. -Yeah. [ Cheers and applause ] Yeah. -Yeah. If that were me, I'd be like, "Oh, he just broke in the car." I'd be like, "Let's go that way." -Yeah. -There's another way to get to the restaurant. -Reservation's in 15. We don't have time. -Yeah, let's go stop -- Yeah. Let's talk about "Ordinary Angels," okay? This is based on an incredible true story. -Yes. -And how did you know abo

ut this? -Well, I mean, so, you know -- So, talking about "Reacher" -- Just back it up a little bit for context. So, "Reacher" comes out, Season 1. It's, like, an overnight success. So, it airs, like, Thursday at 7:00 p.m. in the U.K. By Saturday at like 11:00, it was the biggest show in the world. So, by Monday, I had like 40 offers for the biggest action movies in the world. And I was like, "This is great, but I don't think the next thing I should do should be an action movie." And so this lov

ely little film lands on my desk, "Ordinary Angels." And I couldn't believe that this was a true story. It's a heartbreaking story about a father who loses his wife to a rare genetic disorder and then loses his daughter and then his other daughter comes down with it, and he he fights tooth and nail, including nature, to get her to a kidney transplant in time to save her life. And so that's where the movie picks up. And I said, "I have to do this." And I go meet with the director, who did a pheno

menal job. And the first thing he says to me when we sit down is, "You're definitely not who I had in mind for this part." -You're like, "I've heard this before," yeah. -Yeah. I was like -- -What do you want? 6'5"? -Yeah. I go, "Yeah, totally. I can do small and frail." Just watch. And I go, "I, too, would not cast myself for this part," because, you know, the real Ed Schmitt was rail-thin. He had no resources, not well-fed. He was a roofer, very blue collar. And he didn't look like he could pun

ch his way out of a blizzard. Like, you know? Like, you're waiting or, like, a Marvel character to step into this movie. And I go, "But I have three kids. I know what it would be like to -- you know, the pain of losing them and how far you'd go to save one of your kids. And I can bring that to the part." And I begged for it. And, luckily, I got it. And Hilary Swank is in the movie. She's brilliant. -You nailed it. -Yeah. Thank you very much. It's a beautiful film. Bring your tissues. All true. A

nd it inspires -- It will inspire you. It will give us hope in humanity again. And it's a call to action to dive into your community and just help, broken toys and all. Just to help wherever you can, so... -That's great, buddy. -Thank you. -I want to show everyone a clip. Here's Alan Ritchson in "Ordinary Angels." Take a look at this. -The donor liver's only viable for six hours. Look, I've had patients who have missed that window because they couldn't get a flight, so I would recommend that you

arrange to have a plane stand by. -Wait. Sorry, wait. Are you telling me we need a plane now? -Well, I would recommend -- -What do you mean? Like what? Like a private plane? -Look, I -- -Is that what you -- -I know this is a lot to take on. -A private plane? How exactly do you recommend we get a plane, doc? No, tell me. Ma, how do we do that? How do we arrange a plane? -We'll figure it out. We will. Ed, I'll get you a plane, I promise. -You'll get a plane? A private plane? -I will. -Mm-hmm. -Ye

ah. True story. Alan Ritchson, everybody. "Ordinary Angels" is in theaters February 23rd. -Thank you. -You're a good man. We'll be right back with a performance from Gary Clark Jr. Stick around.