Jack Ryan Has a New Writer
Filed under: Action, Thrillers, Mystery & Suspense, Paramount, Scripts, Newsstand, Remakes and Sequels, War
Jack Ryan will live again, if Paramount gets their way. According to The Hollywood Reporter, they've hired Hossein Amini to pen a brand new Jack Ryan picture for the studio. Amini is best known for his classic literature adaptations like Jude, The Four Feathers, and The Wings of the Dove (for which he was nominated for an Oscar). But he seems to be moving into action films these days, like the upcoming Elmore Leonard adaptation Killshot, and he's currently working on James Sallis' Drive for Hugh Jackman. So, Tom Clancy should be a relative breeze in comparison to Leonard, Sallis, and Thomas Hardy.
However, he won't actually be adapting a Clancy book -- Amini will be penning an origin story that reboots the character into a young man, and puts him at the center of an original story. Paramount is hoping that Ryan can become a new franchise, just like they're aiming for with Star Trek, G.I. Joe, Transformers, and Avatar: The Last Airbender, among others.
But really ... is Jack Ryan really worth franchising? I enjoyed The Hunt for Red October and Patriot Games like most of the civilized world, but am hard pressed to name anything very memorable about Ryan. He's not James Bond, with cars, women, and martinis, or Bourne with his amnesia, lethal skills, and boxes of passports. What is he, other than a smart guy who thwarts international plots? I've never read the books, so I could be missing something important. But from what I can see, he just has a cool name, and that translates to a brand these days?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-20-2008 @ 2:12PM
Maria Stahl said...
Elisabeth, read the books! Pretty much nothing like the movies. And much better. Start with The Hunt for Red October.
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12-20-2008 @ 2:50PM
JimeneX said...
I'm starting to hate Reboots. A new Jack Ryan movie with Harrison Ford would be incredible. Didn't he say he wanted to play the character again?
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12-20-2008 @ 4:09PM
Dorv said...
Harrison Ford as Jack Ryan in Executive Orders would be outstanding, but there's no way that movie will ever get made.
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12-20-2008 @ 5:59PM
MRC said...
Reboot... Again?! I thought that's what the whole Affleck thing was about a few years back?
Anyway, I wonder if they could ever get Baldwin back? He did a great job with The Hunt for Red October... the last thing I want to see is another reboot with another well known character reduced to "their early years." If Ryan was so interesting back then, why didn't Clancy start there years ago?
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12-20-2008 @ 6:55PM
Dorv said...
Red Rabbit. Clancy thought enough of the concept of a reboot to try a variant himself.
12-20-2008 @ 6:10PM
Inconnu said...
Harrison Ford was too old when he started playing Ryan back in 1992. Enough already.
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12-21-2008 @ 1:10AM
MRC said...
Dorv,
Is Red Rabbit a reboot? This says that it is within the established Ryanverse continuity falling between Patriot Games and The Hunt for Red October: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Rabbit.
But I have not actually read that particular book... so I'm relying on you and the Wiki people for accuracy.
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12-21-2008 @ 7:42AM
Wood Dog said...
Read the books, they are great.
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12-21-2008 @ 7:12PM
Dusty said...
I loved Baldwin as Ryan in OCTOBER and was disappointed when they tagged the wooden Ford for the role.....He was even too old then let alone bringing him back now. To me the only decent part of PATRIOT GAMES was Sean Bean as Sean Miller and they made sure his time on screen was limited.
I would like to see them bring back Ryan younger, 40 something, this time around. I am voting for someone like Flanigan who has now completed five years as Colonel Sheppard on SGA. He fits the look and the essence of Ryan and has proven he can act, but more important to me, is not wooden like Ford.
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12-22-2008 @ 12:25AM
Frank said...
If they want an interesting Tom Clancy character to base a francise on then use John T. Kelly/Mr. Clark for chrissakes. Without Remorse is one of his best novels ever and is the perfect origin story to use for a movie.
JTK>Ryan
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