So it’s official. First Alec Baldwin, followed by Harrison Ford, then Ben Affleck for a hot minute, and now Chris Pine. The “Star Trek” star will take over the role of Jack Ryan in the first adaptation of Tom Clancy’s book series since 2002’s “The Sum of All Fears.”

Just before this confirmation dropped—courtesy of producer Mace Neufeld—MTV News spoke with Pine about the prospect of becoming Ryan on-screen. After blowing people away with his reworking of William Shatner’s iconic take on James T. Kirk, how hard could it be to make Ryan his own? No easy feat, Pine said, but undoubtedly less daunting than his “Star Trek” challenge.

“I think it’s because Mr. Shatner’s portrayal of the character was so specific, [Jack Ryan] is a different beast,” Pine explained. “If you were to poll people, I think eight out of 10 people could tell you what role Shatner made famous. I think a lot fewer people could make that specific association between those actors and Jack Ryan. As great a job as those actors did, it’s just a different deal.”

Is there one Ryan –- Baldwin in “The Hunt for Red October,” Ford in “Patriot Games” and “Clear and Present Danger” — that stands out for Pine as the finest take on this CIA superstar? “No hyperbole, I like ’em both so much,” Pine said of the first two Ryan actors. “They’re both huge heroes of mine. But I might prefer Baldwin doing the Canteen Boy sketch on ‘SNL’ the most!”

A couple weeks after “Star Trek” opened with a $75 million first weekend and Chris Pine went from largely unknown actor to global superstar, the 29-year-old actor found himself a target of the paparazzi, who convinced there was something going on between him and “The Hills” star Audrina Patridge.

A couple weeks ago, MTV News honored Chris as one of the people we’re most thankful for in 2009, and during a wide-ranging conversation about the “Trek” franchise and the future of his career, talk inevitably turned to one thing Chris ain’t so happy about in 2009: those pesky photogs that targeted him earlier in the year.

“I certainly despise them with all my soul,” he said.

As prepared for the intrusion as he was before the blockbuster success of “Trek,” Chris admitted there’s truly no way to prepare for the reality of paps staking out your home and waiting to snap snap snap as soon as you emerge into daylight.

“In terms of the private life stuff, I understood what would or could happen because of my involvement in something so big, but you don’t really understand it until it starts happening and people are waiting outside your house,” he said. “And I live in an apartment on a busy street. It was pretty brutal when the movie first came out, and then it dies down and the paparazzi lose their interest and go after the next flavor of the day.”

For all the hassle of increased media attention on his personal life, Chris characterized the tabloid spotlight as a fair trade-off, or as he put it, “the deal with the devil you make.”

“I would say that artistically it’s been everything I wanted,” he continued.” ‘Star Trek’ has afforded me the luxury of choice in terms of what I want to do and where I want to take my career,” he said. “I don’t know how long that will last for, but certainly right now I’m enjoying that immensely.”

source: mtv.com

I’ve uploaded 3 photos of Chris from his photoshoot for the December GQ ‘Man of the Year’ issue. These are merely medium quality previews but the high quality resolution photos will be posted later this coming week, so stay tuned.

Gallery Link: Photo Sessions > Session #029

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.