This is something that Sorrel and I have often pondered. Although Jack does not have a beard, I cannot picture Ryan Reynolds without one. RR in Van Wilder and in the trailer for some romance movie that's on the TV at the moment, both Sorrel and I are struck by how awkward and goofy he looks without his beard:
Ryan Reynolds seems to get to keep the beard for more serious roles. In Smokin' Aces, Amityville Horror, and Blade he looks really good with a beard. It seems to me that he looks much more handsome with a beard, it gives him a certain manliness, and it emphasises his eyes (which seem to be very close together whenever you seem him
sans fluff)
The only problem that I can think of with Ryan Reynolds keeping his beard would be that Repairman Jack's greatest weapon is his anonymity; having a full thick beard is an obvious VDM (
visually distinguishing mark) that RJ would naturally avoid (doesn't he even mention this in one of the books? Or am I thinking of Andy McNab's character Nick Stone . . . ?)
I remember that Sorrel and I watched Smokin Aces around about the same time that RR was announced as being RJ, and we both agreed he'd be excellent. But then we saw him without his beard, and we got a little jittery . . . he looks like a goofy kid witout his beard.
And I for one want to see a Repairman Jack movie, not a Repair-goofy-kid Jack movie! :p