Producer Mace Neufeld spoke this morning at the Invictus press conference where he also updated the status of the next Jack Ryan film, set to star Chris Pine.
Neufeld confirmed that the new as-of-yet-untitled project will not be based on a Tom Clancy novel but will, instead, be an original screenplay.
The character of Jack Ryan has previously appeared in the Clancy adaptations The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger and The Sum of All Fears, the latter of which represented a previous attempt to reboot the franchise with a younger actor in the lead. Neufeld says that, while the plan is still to skew young with the casting of Pine, the story will not be an “origin story.”
“We pick him up when he’s on Wall Street,” says Neufeld, “…[but] the Jack Ryan movies have never been action films. They’re kind of ‘thinking man’s thrillers.’ Jack is referred to as a ‘water-walker’ because of his ability to jump ahead to conclusions. That’s very big in all the Jack Ryan films and that’s how we want to portray him. He’s a teacher. He’s a historian. He’s a linguist. And he’s really smart.”
The first draft has been completed by Hossein Amini and a rewrite by Adam Cozad is set to start soon.
