Another round of Prime Video’s Reacher is in the books, and if I were to place my vote, it feels as if season 3 has been the most riveting. A considerable part of that has been the addition of Olivier Richters to the cast. Also known as The Dutch Giant — because of his towering 7-foot-2-inch, 350-pound frame — he really gives Jack Reacher a run for the money.
Season 3 picked up with Jack Reacher in Boston as he found himself partnered up with the US Drug Enforcement Administration to investigate a questionable rug-importing business. This is where Reacher first meets Paulie, and throughout the eight-episode season, a muscle-bound will-they, won’t-they plays out. The wait paid off for viewers. The season finale, Unfinished Business, found the two going toe-to-toe in an explosive, drawn out brawl that the series may struggle to outdo when the show returns for season 4.
To help unpack the finale’s epic fight scene, Richters joined me for an insightful chat over Zoom to discuss the intense training, choreography and shooting schedule that went into bringing this fight to life on the streaming service.
Spoiler warning: If you’ve gotten this far in the article and haven’t watched the season 3 finale of Reacher, I must warn you that there are spoilers featured below. Tread lightly, friend.
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The Dutch Giant had to manage his sleep routine
Before he got the part as Paulie, Richters had already made a name for himself in the bodybuilding world, breaking a Guinness record as the tallest bodybuilder on the planet. In fact, it was series star Alan Ritchson who tracked him down and championed him for the role. It wasn’t until Richters was on set that he learned just how impactful his character this season would be.
«When I got on set, they told me, ‘There’s going to be a huge fight, and we’re going to train you three to four months for it,'» he said. «I’m like, ‘Oh, that wasn’t in the contract, but I’d love to do that!’ It was a great opportunity, of course, that I was going to get half an episode of a battle.»
Yes, you read that correctly. He trained that long to ensure this sequence came to life perfectly. «It was two hours in the morning of stunt training, two hours in the afternoon, and then I still had to do my gym training in the evening,» he revealed. «In between, I was also sleeping in the afternoon because otherwise I could not do it. So, I was sleeping 10 hours a day and eating seven times a day for three to four months straight to become the best fighter and biggest guy for the season finale.»
A devastating work schedule
Richters has already conquered the bodybuilding realm, and had taken on recent roles in projects like Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and the Marvel flick Black Widow. But according to the Dutch Giant, his work for Reacher «was the most intense thing physically» he’s ever done.
So, let’s break this down a bit. After those initial months of training, the fight choreography kicked in. The production schedule allotted three full shooting weeks, most of which were at night, to get this scene in the can. To ensure the actors sustained their energy, Richters explained, «The way we trained was that I did one-minute choreographies so that the 15 seconds would be easier for me on set.»
That doesn’t sound too bad. But according to Richters, it «devastated» his body and «pushed me to my limits.»
There were many moving parts involved in bringing the scene to life. From a location standpoint, the knock-down, drag-outtakes place in multiple setups — from the door of a semitruck to the shed to the rough waters below the cliff to, finally, the guard station. With each new battle locale came higher stakes for Paulie and Reacher and a personal challenge for Richters to conquer.
«The water scene was really intense because I have a fear of water,» explained Richters, who’s said that at one point in his life he almost drowned. «So I had to overcome that, and I did.»
That water sequence made me feel like I was watching two superhumans fight. If this had been a horror movie, Richters would’ve been Jason Voorhees. Richters brought me back to Earth and told me they weren’t in the ocean. I totally knew that.
«It was a pool where they built mountains around it,» he said. «There were huge machines creating the waves, and water guns that made the waves where we are being pulled under. We had divers in the pool for protection. It’s not nice to talk about money, but Amazon invested a lot in the water scene. If I were to make a movie, how much money would we spend on a water scene of a few minutes? It was a lot, and I really appreciate that they did it for the fans.»
Lost toenails and damaged ligaments
When it comes to filmmaking, night shoots are a different type of endurance test. Considering his training and workout schedules and the fact that he had to eat seven 1,000-calorie meals each day while also getting enough sleep to keep his body in peak shape, this experience was more challenging than he anticipated.
«I was fighting from 8 p.m. to 6 in the morning when the light of the sun was coming up, and I had to sleep in the morning and then get back to set, and that was for three weeks,» he continued. «We hugged each other in the last scene; we were so done. We both broke a bone, we lost toenails, and ligaments were damaged. After those three weeks, I went into seven months of rehab.»
Through it all, Alan Ritchson had his back. «And he didn’t have to do that,» Richters said, «but he did it out of love for the character and the series. He put as much effort as me in the end battle. He was always on time for the stunt training and always went to the extreme ends. Even when I thought, ‘Hey, we got this fight scene,’ and the director also said so, he’d say, ‘No, let’s do it one more time. It can be done better.’ You know, we always pushed it to the limits.»
