Per this report from Variety, it looks like Chris Pine’s turn as Jack Ryan has met a significant setback. Original director Jack Bender, known primarily for his work directing umpteen Lost episodes, has bowed out. Supposedly it’s a matter of workload for Bender, as his commitments in the television arena are becoming too much to juggle with Tom Clancy’s celebrated literary character in the fold.
That seems like something of a bullshit excuse. Paramount seemingly forgot that they fast-tracked this film when Pine came onboard, as it’s been laboring in script rewrites since he was first announced (with screenwriting heavyweight David Koepp getting a go last year). Bender has been working on this since 2010, and I highly doubt his executive producer credit on Alcatraz will be taking up his time for much longer. So, to me at least, this reeks of good ol’ fashioned creative differences.
If I were Paramount I’d be looking up Campbell, Martin in my rolodex right now (if a studio were so inclined to still use rolodexes). That poor soul’s in need of a layup with Green Lantern having shit the bed not too long ago. Reviving downtrodden spy franchises are like relaxing Caribbean vacations for that guy.
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I was thinking the exact same thing re: Martin Campbell for this. I think Green Lantern was him trying to step too far outside his wheelhouse. This should get him back in the game. It would be funny if they went back to previous Jack Ryan director Phillip Noyce to do it. His 2 Harrison Ford/Jack Ryan films were good, and the movie Salt proved he’s still got it.
Does anyone truly give a shit about Jack Ryan anymore? The character is too clean cut, too bland, too outdated. This property needs to be retired (a bit like Harrison Ford hardy har har).
Just a question because I’m curious: Do you guys give yourselves a time limit within which to come up with a snappy headline? Are items ever posted a bit later than planned because you were having writer’s block and couldn’t come up with a funny enough title? Anyway, you guys always do a great job. The headlines are hilarious!
I appreciate that! I’m usually under the gun with duties that extend beyond CHUD and contribute whenever I can. The time limit on headlines is as soon as I finish cranking out an article.
Brad Bird FTW.
Same here. A lot of times I’ll want to kick myself an hour later because I’ll end up coming up with something better than what I went with. It sucks, but on the whole I’d rather the news be published as soon as possible than hold for a better snarky/cornball play of words.
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