Mace, you’ve produced all the previous Jack Ryan movies. Chris is the fourth actor to portray the character in this franchise. Can you talk about why he was right for the part and what he brings to the character going forward into the future?
Mace Neufeld: He was the right age for the character (laughs).
Chris Pine: Thanks man!
Mace Neufeld: He’s an extremely attractive young man. Those were the first two things I knew about him. Then I saw him in Star Trek and I was kind of blown away. But still…
Chris Pine: You’re getting warmer Mace. Keep on going.
Mace Neufeld: And then I happened to go and see him on stage twice. I saw him doing Farragut North which later became The Ides of March which George Clooney did. And then I saw him do a very bloody show called The Lieutenant of Inishmore which he did with an Irish brogue. Then I found out his father and mother were both actors, working actors. I said, “This is the guy for me.” Not only is he the right age and good to look at, but he really knows how to act and he’s serious about his craft, and that’s what appealed to me.
The Cold War ended some 20 years ago, but there’s still the shadowy presence of the Russians along with China for us in the world. Was there any concern about portraying Russia as the villain, especially since Russia and China are such a big market today for U.S. movies?
Lorenzo di Bonaventura: You always have different considerations, but the truth is this villain needed to be an oligarch, because when you think about the character, and what Ken did so great, was that there’s an entitlement to the oligarch. There’s vast resources to the oligarch and there’s also this shadowy relationship with the government which none of us can quite pin down.
If you try to think about where else that kind of character exists that they could actually hatch such an extreme thing, it’s really the only place you could play it. The script actually originally was placed in Dubai. It got moved there because it just felt like that was the most believable place. Also, we needed Moscow because you needed Jack Ryan to feel like there was nowhere to turn. If you’ve been to Moscow, it’s a really exciting and great city, but it still feels like you should be a little careful about which way you’re going to step. And so, you wanted that sense of pressure on the plot and on the character. I produced Salt and it did great in Russia, so we’ll be okay.
Mace, what do you think it is about the character that Tom Clancy created all those years ago and why people still can’t get enough of Jack Ryan after 30 years?
Mace Neufeld: I think he’s referred to in Clear and Present Danger disparagingly as a Boy Scout, but those qualities that a Boy Scout is supposed to have. “On my honor, I’ll do my best to do my duty to God and my country” and help old ladies across the street and know how to start a fire with two pieces of wood; those are qualities that appeal. Number two, he’s really smart. He’s got this great ability to process information very quickly and jump to a conclusion before most people and then have to defend his conclusion. And the third thing is I think he’s somebody you’d like to have as a friend, particularly living in the house next door to you, because if your house started to burn down and you were on the second floor and you had to throw your baby out of the window, you knew Jack would catch it. Those are three of the qualities I think that appeal to people.
Chris, what was your chemistry like with Keira Knightley, even when the cameras weren’t rolling?
Chris Pine: I don’t know if I’ve ever had more fun with an actress. She could not have been any more professional. She’s younger than I am and she’s done probably three times more films than I have. She’d show up, super smart, friendly, charming, in it, in the moment, and then she’d wrap. There was zero drama with Keira Knightley. It was the most lovely, wonderful experience you could ask for. And she was just present. She took her job really seriously. She would ask the right questions. I think what I respond to more often than anything is just intelligence, and she was just sharp as a tack. The scene that I remember most was the scene that we have with Kevin here when she gets on board with our plan to take down Viktor Cherevin. It was just a great joy to work with someone like Kevin who’s been doing it for so long and with Keira who’s been doing it much longer than I have. I just felt like I was an apprentice. She was lovely.
The Jack Ryan character was really down to earth. Was there any concern about presenting him with a sexier image in this film? Did that ever come up?
Chris Pine: Are you saying I’m not sexy? Because I will take you down (laughs). I remember that in the beginning there was a big discussion about the suits, or the wardrobe, so our wardrobe costume designer brought in all these beautiful Ralph Lauren suits and great banker suits that looked awesome. They were sharp as a tack, but the image I kept on going back to was Harrison Ford in his tweed jacket and his misshapen tie and his Volkswagon Rabbit. I just thought that, to me, was the character. He didn’t care about suits. He didn’t care about fancy watches. He had a ten dollar haircut. That certainly gave him a kind of a Men’s Warehouse look, but I thought, especially given that he was working on Wall Street, that he was that guy. He was the odd man out. He wasn’t the guy with the Lamborghini. He’s the guy who could notice a nice Ducati but didn’t have one himself. Ken and I talked about that a lot, how here’s a man who has a trajectory at such a young age, at 21, already getting his Ph.D. at the London School of Economics.
We did the chronology and that doesn’t happen often at all. He’s a man who would have gone into the private sector before 2001 and made a fortune, I’m sure, but because of the man who he was, he is selfless in nature. He’s not the kind of classic American capitalist. He’s something different. So, for me, he wasn’t Jason Bourne with all of his sexy, kung fu tricks. He wasn’t James Bond with his great suits and his Aston Martin and a bevy of beautiful women. He’s a man whose virtues lay in a different ballpark and they were something much simpler.
And to what Mace said, I had this argument with Ken all the time about when I turn to Keira and I’d say, “But I made a promise. That’s why I couldn’t tell you that I was in the CIA.” And I was like, “Isn’t that the dumbest thing ever? If she was the woman that he loved, wouldn’t he just turn to her and be like, “Look, I’m in the CIA.” And I never agreed with him. But in watching it and in seeing that scene, I think that’s exactly what makes him so great because it feels so archaic awfully and ironically that someone would be a man of his word who said, “If I make a promise and I’m not going to say it, then I’m not going to do it.” That simple man, even though he’s complex and intelligent, I think related too to the aesthetic and to the feel of the guy. You could pass him in the street and really not think twice or look back. He just so happens to be the man that’s saving the world.
That concludes the press conference, but we’d like to thank everyone for taking the time to participate. Be sure to check out Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit when it hits theatres this Friday.