I had never read any of the Tom Clancy novels before seeing The Hunt For Red October and I also never knew that there were a whole series of stories revolving around the Alec Baldwin character Jack Ryan. Although Clear and Present Danger and Patriot games never quite measured up to Red October standards, they were both nonetheless amazing films, and I loved Harrison Ford in both of them taking over the mantel of Ryan from Baldwin.
Later on, Ben Affleck would become Ryan in “The Sum of All Fears” and he was actually pretty good in the role… but he was no Harrison Ford. Now with all these aging actors returning to roles that made them stars when they were younger (Ford himself for example going back to Indiana Jones) it seems Ford is open to the idea of returning as Jack Ryan. The folks over at MTV give us this:
Ford says the character still has appeal to him. “I think it’s a character I could easily play at this point if people were interested in seeing what happens to Jack Ryan as his life progresses,” he said.
Now keep in mind this is just Ford saying he’s interested in playing Ryan again… not that there’s any plans to make another Ryan movie with Ford in it. Still, I would much rather see Ford as Jack Ryan again then I would as Indiana Jones again.
By the way I was referring to the Harrison Ford Jack Ryan :P
Liked the first Jack Ryan film, second wasn’t bad too, but the Sum of All Fears felt really goddamn weird to me…I didn’t understand the reason to bring back ‘Jack Ryan’ as a character without Harrison Ford. Why not adapt the story and change the names of the characters? It didn’t give much justice to the previous films (in my opinion).
And to be honest I never actually thought there was any large fan-base going for them (the films, not the books). Is there?
Wait 5-10 years to REBOOT…
Jack Ryan becomes President at the end of Debt of Honor. (A Japanese Kamikaze flys a 747 into the Capitol building killing almost all of Congress)
He becomes President doesn’t he.
Well, if I didn’t miss my guess, when Ben took over, the idea was to indeed reboot/restart the Ryan films. The next film was supposedly going to be based on ‘Red Rabbit’ because not only at the time it was Tom Clancy’s latest book, it just so happened to have a “younger” Jack Ryan in it. Despite “Sum” doing respectable business, it never took place. There was talk of having a whole new script based on the character (s) only, but that hasn’t seen the light of day.
But as for Ford…there is a Clancy novel where Ryan becomes the US Prez; perhaps Ford can get two birds with a single stone: a Jack Ryan flick and Air Force One II…
how ’bout an aging Blade Runner?
I thought Sum of all Fears was pretty good, just released at a bad time… a movie about a terrorist plot released in the aftermath of 9/11
Sum Of All Fears was a prequel/reboot thingie.
As for this news…Harry, RETIRE. NOW.
If he comes back and does another one, it makes you wonder where ‘The Sum Of All Fears’ is supposed to fit in.