Alan Ritchson took the long way to stardom, acting for almost 20 years straight before he landed the starring role in “Reacher.” Between 2006, when he portrayed Arthur Curry/Aquaman on “Smallville,” and his 2022 debut as the ex-military policeman in Prime Video’s popular series, Ritchson had a career that’s nothing short of fascinating. There are even two separate “American Idol” bids hidden in the man’s oeuvre, alongside an appearance in one of the worst shows ever. But he also took time to produce a Kristen Stewart-led thriller in the form of “Seberg,” which represents just as much of an outlier in the Ritchson canon as his starring role in a grindhouse-inspired sci-fi series that deserved more time.
To be clear, the “Reacher” star didn’t actually appear in “Seberg,” but he did help produce the 2019 political thriller. Directed by Australian filmmaker Benedict Andrews, who previously oversaw the 2016 Rooney Mara-starring drama “Una,” “Seberg” told the real-life story of Jean Seberg (Stewart) and the FBI’s attempts to silence and intimidate the actress following her support of the Civil Rights movement and romantic involvement with Black Panther member Hakim Jamal (Anthony Mackie). The movie also starred Jack O’Connell as FBI agent Jack Solomon and Margaret Qualley as his wife, Linette. Vince Vaughn plays agent Carl Kowalski, who’s assigned alongside Solomon to surveil Seberg via the FBI’s COINTELPRO program — a real-life surveillance project that ran from 1956 to 1971.
“Seberg” premiered at the 2019 Venice Film Festival ahead of its United States release on February 21, 2020. Despite a standout performance from Stewart, however, the film fared poorly with critics.
Read more: 5 Years Ago, Director Christopher Nolan Clashed With Warner Bros. Trying To Save The Box Office
Seberg was a fascinating disappointment
Kristen Stewart’s Jean Seberg is seen in closeup with palm trees in the background in Seberg – Amazon Studios
“Seberg” currently holds a 36% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which obviously wasn’t what anyone involved with the film was hoping for. At the very least, critics were impressed with Kristen Stewart’s performance in the lead role. Richard Roeper wrote in his Chicago Sun-Times review that the actress did “fierce work as the radicalized ’60s actress” but that “the biopic too often wanders elsewhere.” Clarisse Loughrey of the Independent felt that, by the end of the film Jean Seberg had been “edged out of her own biopic,” while the Los Angeles Times’ Robert Abele praised Stewart for being “enough of a force to give Seberg’s darkest moments their due,” even while the “superficial soup that is the movie” failed to live up to that central performance.
It’s hardly worth noting the box office performance of a movie with a limited, awards-qualifying release, but the $655,178 it grossed wasn’t anything to write home about either. Still, the film had its fans, with Jeannette Catsoulis of the New York Times describing it as a “flawed and fascinating film about fame and martyrdom” and David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter writing, “Stewart keeps you glued throughout, giving a coolly compelling performance that becomes steadily more poignant as the subject unravels.”
Exactly what Ritchson’s involvement as producer was remains unclear, but it is interesting to see this credit in his diverse filmography. Shortly after “Seberg” debuted, the actor branched out into directing with his 2021 thriller “Dark Web Cicada 3301,” which he also produced, co-wrote, and appeared in. His directorial debut is a must-watch for “Reacher” fans, though those same fans might not be all that taken by “Seberg,” even while Ritchson himself seemed proud of the film. In January 2020, the actor promoted the biopic on his Instagram, celebrating the UK opening of the movie “about actress Jean Seberg and the torment she endured at the hands of the FBI in the 1960s.”
Alan Ritchson will be producing a lot more in future
Alan Ritchson’s Jack Reacher is seen in closeup as he stands by a bus in Reacher – Prime Video
Though he’s best known for traveling the United States and hitting bad guys in “Reacher,” Alan Ritchson’s career is taking off in a major way outside of his hit Prime Video series. For one thing, “Seberg” and “Dark Web Cicada 3301” are far from the last films he’ll produce. The actor’s own production company, AllyCat Entertainment, inked a first-look film deal with Amazon MGM Studios back in 2023, with the company set to produce Patrick Hughes’ as-yet-untitled movie based on NAVY SEAL Mike Thornton. Ritchson also executive-produced his upcoming action comedy “Playdate,” in which he also stars alongside Kevin James, and is a producer on his Arnold Schwarzenegger Christmas comedy “The Man with the Bag” (the premise of which you won’t believe).
As if that weren’t enough, the perpetually busy Ritchson will soon produce and star in “Painter,” a new actioner from “John Wick” writer Derek Kolstad, which seems like the perfect movie for “Reacher” fans (who otherwise would likely be as impressed with “Seberg” as the critics were). Alongside these production duties, Ritchson has a packed acting slate, proving he’s about as effective at his job as Reacher is at his — and to think, none of this would have happened if Ritchson had ruined his “Reacher” audition like he almost did back in 2022.
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