Paramount Pictures has begun negotiations with Chris Pine to play CIA analyst Jack Ryan in the reboot of the franchise based on the Tom Clancy novels.
Pine is positioned to topline his second Par franchise. He played James T. Kirk in “Star Trek,” the JJ Abrams-directed summer hit, and will reprise in the sequel.
Pine is separately in talks to team with director D.J. Caruso in the Paramount drama “The Art of Making Money,” early next year.
Talks are just getting underway, but Pine is expected to come aboard the Jack Ryan film as the project takes shape. The studio and producers Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Mace Neufeld are working with a script draft by Hossein Amini, based on an original concept. They are still in deep development and it is unclear whether Pine would make another “Star Trek” before the Jack Ryan film. He will clearly be working often for Paramount over the next several years.
Pine, currently starring with Denzel Washington in the Tony Scott-directed “Unstoppable” for Fox, is vying to be the fourth actor to play Ryan, the CIA analyst in the Par film series.
Alec Baldwin originated the character in 1990’s “The Hunt for Red October,” Harrison Ford played him in 1992’s “Patriot Games” and 1994’s “Clear and Present Danger,” and Ben Affleck played Ryan in 2002’s “The Sum of All Fears.”
