Paramount was reportedly set to shoot its untitled fifth Jack Ryan movie this summer after actor Chris Pine finished work on Star Trek 2, but if that goes forward, they'll have to do it without director Jack Bender at the helm. THR has confirmed that the Lost director has left the project due to a scheduling conflict with the SyFy pilot Rewind, which Bender will direct and executive produce. This may be the first time a SyFy project has interrupted a major studio franchise.
This is hardly the first hurdle for the first movie to feature the Tom Clancy character since 2002's The Sum of All Fears. The intended reboot has gone through a variety of script iterations with Adam Koxac, Hossein Amini (Drive), and Anthony Peckham (Invictus) all taking turns at the script at one point or another since 2008. David Koepp (Jurassic Park, Mission: Impossible) was hired to rewrite the script last April. Reportedly, the reboot is not based on one of Clancy's novels, and will find Ryan in the early days of his career.
After being attached to the Untitled Jack Ryan Moviefor over a year, Bender's exit can't help but raise the question of whether the Jack Ryan movie will ever get off the ground. According to the report, a search for a new director has begun "in haste," but the search could delay the production. Should a director be found in time, Pine will be the fourth actor to play Jack Ryan, following in the footsteps of Harrison Ford, Alec Baldwin, and Ben Affleck.
Posted 03.21.12 by Ryan