By Rych McCain
Snagging a lead role in a movie franchise is a lofty career break for any actor but having lightning strike twice with a second franchise lead is a rare blessing indeed. Chris Pine is now in this coveted position with his latest movie “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.” Fans of this young and handsome leading man have followed his early career through films like the Denzel Washington runaway train thriller “Unstoppable,” “Just My Luck” opposite Lindsay Lohan and “Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement” opposite Anne Hathaway to name some. But the real boost to Pine’s career was his portrayal of James T. Kirk, Captain of the Federation Starship U.S.S. Enterprise in the last two “Star Trek” movies which are sure to spawn more sequels.
Now Pine is now reprising the role of Jack Ryan, the ordinary super spy character created by master, best-selling spy novelist Tom Clancy. Hollywood brought Jack Ryan to the big screen first in “The Hunt for Red October” and again in “Patriot Games.” Both were box office blockbusters. Pine now brings us a young 2014 version of the character in “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.” This film does not disappoint and has all of the elements of a spine tingling, action spy thriller. Obviously people are curious as to the differences for Pine as Kirk in the future and Ryan in the present. Pine explains, “The great thing about the Jack Ryan films is that the plot and the stories kind of always take center stage. I think if you’ve done your job as the actor portraying jack Ryan, you are present enough to make an impact but you kind of let the story shine. We had a great story that David Koepp came up with. Obviously with Kirk, Shatner (William) made such a deep impression that it’s a whole different thing entirely.”
Pine showed his daringness by doing his own stunts. He elaborates on that; “I did plenty of my own stunts. I enjoyed doing them. I think most actors do it. You get to live out boyhood fantasies and you have people making sure that you do it safely.” Like the James Bond films with many actors that have played Bond, Jack Ryan has two predecessors in Alec Baldwin (Hunt For Red October) and Harrison Ford (Patriot Games). How does this affect how Pine approached playing his version of Ryan? He smiles, “I’ve always loved the series, I’ve always loved the spy genre, fiction and films so I just kind of well versed with the Clancy universe having watched the films growing up. And looking at the character and re-watching the films, what I most enjoyed for me was the difference in what I saw in how Alex portrayed and how Harrison portrayed the character. With Alex in “Hunt” you have this, what Alex does really well; confident, intelligent, analytical man who knows what he knows and is not afraid to say it. With Harrison, with his tweed coat and his Volkswagen Jetta, he’s the humble intellect and the classic reluctant hero. And I thought somewhere in that was kind of a great way to being looking at the character.”
Unlike the Bond films where 007 wears the latest of suits, jewelry and drives expensive sports cars, Jack Ryan is a laid back ordinary guy. What was Pine’s take on this image? He laughs, “In the beginning there was a big discussion about suits, so the costume designer brought in all of these beautiful Ralph Lauren suits and very kind of banker suits that looked awesome but the image I kept going back to was Harrison Ford’s look. That look to me, was the character. He didn’t care about suits or fancy watches; he had a 10 dollar haircut. That’s who he is.
Photo By: Paramount Pictures