Uh… Ryan Gosling as Jack Ryan?
This can't be true...
A new rumor has surfaced that sounds just as ridiculous as the possibility of Ben Affleck taking over the shoes of Harrison Ford's Jack Ryan… Wait? What? That happened? When? The Sum of all Fears? Shit, I saw that! It was a Jack Ryan flick? Hmmm… maybe there is a possibility Paramount will want to continue to sabotage the once loved Tom Clancy character yet again.
The new rumor I am referring to has come from Moviehole, the Aussie king of rumors where they are saying the following:
Philip Noyce himself tells us that neither he or Harrison Ford are returning to the Jack Ryan series – but a new Jack Ryan movie is in the works… and it'll star Ryan Gosling! (at least that's what the filmmaker's heard). Noyce WAS attached to direct "By Any Mean's Necessary", briefly last year, but he's no longer involved.
This was an update to an article they posted earlier saying a new Jack Ryan tale (you remember Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger) was in the works and possibly with Harrison Ford back in the lead. The original scoop said the film would not be based on a Clancy novel, would be titled By Any Means Necessary and was going to be a direct sequel to Clear and Present Danger. Based on the fact Ford won't be back and Gosling is apparently up for the role that all sounds like BS to me.
What they need to do is tackle "Without Remorse" with a kick ass director and bonafide star in the lead role as Jack Ryan. I would be willing to accept someone like a Billy Crudup or Mark Ruffalo in the role. The person doesn't need to be an action star, they need to come off as intelligent and not entirely clean cut.
Late last year Paramount sent me the HD DVD Jack Ryan Collection, but since it was all effed up, due to the special features being dropped, the set was never released and I never did my "Who is the Best Jack Ryan?" feature, which was going to also serve as my HD DVD review.
Personally I think Alec Baldwin was a perfect Ryan in Hunt for Red October. He came off as a perfect greenhorn and was just convincing enough to pull off some of the action. Harrison Ford was a decent successor, but his films didn't quite match the impressive nature of October so he is a close second and then Affleck in Sum of all Fears admittedly wasn't awful, but it was the worst script of the four and ultimately the worst of the bunch as a result. Affleck was also too cleancut for the role, Liev Schriber would have been better even though he made a great John Clark.
As for this Gosling rumor, Ryan certainly isn't clean cut, but he is too much of a weak looking character if you ask me. None of his roles have ever inspired me enough to think he could pull off such a weighty role. Now Crudup and Ruffalo on the other hand would be masters. Or, imagine this, Robert Downey Jr. as Ryan…? Okay, that probably wouldn't work, but I just want more Downey… so sue me.
As for that Jack Ryan HD DVD set, I think Paramount is trying to get it put together for later this year with the features intact, no official word yet though.
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Without Remorse would rock, but don't you mean John Kelly/Clark in the lead role?
Anyway, I think that could be a rather difficult role for an actor. The way John goes back and forth between Clark, Kelly, and Snake would need to be done just right. I've known people who were special forces types. They can be totally happy and disarming, but they've always got that look deep in their eyes that tells you that they've already figured out a dozen ways to snap your neck. They don't do it on purpose, but it's just burned into them. That kind of internal struggle is something that always stands out to me from that book.
Another alternative as that role could also be Christian Bale. Personally I like him as Batman. The Batman/Bruce Wayne struggle is very similar to what goes on in Without Remorse.
I liked Alec Baldwin as Jack Ryan. The fact that he didn't end up playing him later on, and the other movies weren't as well done kind of bothers me. Reading about Jack growing from the greenhorn desk jockey into a very strong character over the course of the many books is cool.
It's not that obvious that I'm a Clancy fan is it? :D
Yeah kettch, you're right. Still, gimme John Clark… Gimme anything. Clancy novels have really only never been tackled properly. I didn't think I would ever say this, but a five-day miniseries on television would be the best way. His novels bounce all over the globe and they need a lot of running-time to truly be adapted properly.
Oh yeah. I totally agree. I think that Clancy stories are too involved for the attention span of the average moviegoer. Yet, it's his ability to juggle individual plotlines for five characters that really makes his books pop. When they cram them into a 110 minute movie, it just turns into cheese.
That said, I thought the Bourne movies were done well, for being such complex novels.
Well… The Bourne Identity is nothing like the novel. I read that book and once I put it down I was immediately like, "No way they can make that into a movie." Sure enough, they didn't make the book into a movie, they completely changed it. Good thing too, the book was just too massive.
That's often a hard choice that needs to be made. To hack, slash and smash the story to fit into a movie. Or to take the basic concepts of the original story, but adapt them for the big screen at the expense of accuracy.
It's a hard choice. Unfortunately movies are often produced for the masses and not the fans.
Or you can make a trilogy of 3-4 hour movies and call it LoTR.