CraveOnline: Well, let me ask you about this film. Since it is an origin story, and you’re reintroducing this world to younger audiences who may be experiencing Jack Ryan for the first time, was there any temptation to include John Clark in this film?
Lorenzo di Bonaventura: [Thinks] No.
Mace Neufeld: No, we never discussed it.
Lorenzo di Bonaventura: Well, there was a character, remember? In the original script there was a character that was kind of like John Clark.
Mace Neufeld: Hossein [Amini]’s script.
Lorenzo di Bonaventura: Yeah, there was this draft where we had a character who was similar to John Clark, but…
Mace Neufeld: John Clark has his own series now, starting with Without Remorse.
And that will have Kevin Costner in it as well? That’s what I’ve heard.
Mace Neufeld: I have no idea.
Lorenzo di Bonaventura: I have no idea. I’ve heard that as well. We’re not involved with that one.
Really, you’re not?
Lorenzo di Bonaventura: Yeah, no.
That will be completely unrelated to your franchise?
Lorenzo di Bonaventura: That’s an interesting question that has not been answered to the fullest extent. It is at Paramount with their financing partner who was also the financing partner on this [Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit], so I’m sure there will be some discussion about that, but I’ve heard the same thing.
You’ve had nothing but classy directors on this franchise from day one. But it was interesting because Kenneth Branagh had done so many Shakespeare adaptations and smaller dramas, and then he did Thor, and now he’s doing Jack Ryan. Did Thor prove to you that Kenneth Branagh had this movie in him, or was that incidental?
Lorenzo di Bonaventura: I think it was important.
Mace Neufeld: Important. Very important to Paramount, certainly.
Lorenzo di Bonaventura: Well, I think also, you know, you knew he could direct, but you didn’t know he had the interest to reach a larger audience. So Thor in a way was like, oh, he really doesn’t want to go after a larger audience and by the way, knows how to do it quite well! So in that way, for myself, I’ll say I was like, that’s great. I wasn’t sure. It opens your mind to saying alright, it’s clear now.
Was he responsive when you came to him with the idea?
Lorenzo di Bonaventura: Very quickly. Very quickly.
Did he say, “Oh, I love Jack Ryan! Let’s do this!” or did he have to familiarize himself?
Mace Neufeld: The first lunch I had with him, he had seen all of the movies in a kind of marathon. He had read a couple of the Clancy books. He already was thinking about locations. He was very upbeat about doing it. He certainly convinced me.
Lorenzo di Bonaventura: He knew the series. He definitely knew the series. I think you said that Mace has gotten all these great directors, and it’s a very attractive character because he plays in a very intelligent space, and as we know, the question of intelligence in movies is sometimes a very difficult subject and it’s a fearful subject for a lot of people in Hollywood. So to be able to embrace, I won’t say “intellectualism…”
