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January 21, 2008
One Ryan Rumor Debunked, a new Ryan in the making?
ONE RYAN RUMOR DEBUNKED, A NEW RYAN IN THE MAKING? Top:Harrison Ford, Philip Noyce Bottom: Ryan Gosling, Antoine Fuqua |
A rumor was shot down this weekend: Harrison Ford and director Philip Noyce are not reteaming to revive the Jack Ryan series in By Any Means Necessary. The source: Philip Noyce himself - at the G'Day USA Black Tie Gala in L.A on Saturday Jan. 19, where Noyce was an awardee. Who presented the award to him? Harrison Ford. (See pictures here) The rumor has been on the grapevine since the failure of Sum of All Fears (starring Ben Affleck as Jack Ryan) Sum was originally set to be directed by Noyce with Harrison starring as Jack Ryan, but Harrison pulled out of the project for script reasons - and Noyce followed suit. The two were replaced by Ben Affleck and director Phil Alden Robinson -- and the results were less than satisfactory. |
| Paramount owns the right to do movies on the Jack Ryan character, but they do not own the rights to Tom Clancy's novels. It's no big secret that Tom Clancy never fancied Harrison as Jack Ryan and that he rather saw him replaced by someone else. Nevertheless - money talks. Clancy developed a followup to Sum of All Fears called Red Rabbit before Sum went into production and was clearly not unhappy when Harrison walked. With the failure of Sum, Rabbit, Clancy - and Ben Affleck - were put into cold storage. Paramount obviously still feels there's money in the Ryan franchise and Philip Noyce was working briefly on a followup to Harrison's last outing as Ryan (Clear and Present Danger in 1994). The followup was to be called By Any Means Necessary - and the fact that Noyce was working on it inevitably fostered the rumor that Harrison would be signing up to revive the Ryan character with his original director. Now we know that neither Noyce nor Ford are attached to this project, nor is Noyce working on it anymore and this is what he confirmed on Saturday night. However - Noyce did indicate that Paramount still wants to do more Ryan, but that they're working to find a "young Ryan" replacement. He had "heard" that the choice could very well be 27 year old Canadian Ryan Gosling (Lars and the Real Girl) - and if ever realized, the script will not be based on any of Tom Clancy's novels or other work. By chance, Paramount picked up a script by Daniel Pyne in 2005. This script was called By Any Means Necessary but it was not about Jack Ryan. Naturally there's speculation that is the script Noyce was working on, trying to to turn it into a Ryan relaunch. The original Pyne script is about a cop who turns to a jailed mobster for insider information in order to stop a terrorist attack There is a project listed on IMDb Pro with the same title and the original Pyne plotline. The project is confirmed and is listed as "in development". There's yet no cast, no mention of Philip Noyce and 2009 is set as the opening frame. Director Antoine Fuqua (of music video fame, also the the original choice as director of American Gangster) will be at the helm. To us the indicating clue (despite titles -) is found, or rather not found - on the producers list: Mace Neufeld - key producer for all four previous Jack Ryan movies - honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for (among other things) his Ryan involvement. On Neufeld's plate for 2009 - with the Weinsteins: The Equalizer, a big screen treatment of the classic TV show about the veteran covert operative who, seeking redemption for his dark deeds, quits a CIA-like agency and puts a classified advertisement in the paper that reads simply: "Got a problem? Odds against you? Call the Equalizer." Take as is, but we find the lack of Neufeld on By Any Means Necessary pretty decisive. We willl, however, follow Gosling, Fuqua - and Neufeld - with considerable interest. | |
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Posted by Grethe at 01:57 PM