Tom Clancy's Without Remorse

[Walts Ghost]

Originally Posted by Collider

Shawn Ryan Will Adapt Tom Clancy's 'Without Remorse', Set in Jack Ryan Universe

In perhaps the best news of the day, Paramount Pictures has chosen The Shield creator Shawn Ryan to adapt Tom Clancy’s best-selling 1993 novel Without Remorse into a feature film. According to Vulture, Transformers scribes Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci will produce the film along with David Ellison. The film is a means of establishing a new franchise for the studio, who recently sold their major Marvel titles to Disney.

Set in the Jack Ryan universe, Remorse tells the origin story of CIA operative John Clark (who figured prominently in other Clancy novels, most notably Clear and Present Danger) and his rise to prominence as a lethal government spy. The character was played by Willem Dafoe in the film adaptation of Clear and Present Danger, whilst Liev Schrieber briefly took on the role in 2002’s The Sum of All Fears. No word on whether this film will tie in with the previously announced reboot of the Jack Ryan series (tentatively titled Moscow), which will star Chris Pine (Star Trek). It’s also unclear if the film will carry over the 1970 setting of the novel, or if it will be a contemporary piece. The film is tentatively set for 2011. Hit the jump for more.


To say that I’m excited about this news is an understatement. I read Without Remorse nearly three years ago and have been an avid Clancy enthusiast ever since — I’m in the middle of Red Rabbit as we speak. Remorse is undeniably the author’s finest novel — taut, thrilling and violent, just the way we like ’em. Out of everything he’s ever done, I felt this was the one piece of his fictional writing that would perfectly transition to the big screen. Clark is a formidable character, one with great charisma and quite a lot of depth. His offing of the local drug cartel, utilizing nothing but a big ass hunting knife and a Snickers bar, is every noble man’s wet dream.

I’ve loved all of the film adaptations and admired what actors Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford brought to the table as Jack Ryan the younger and Jack Ryan the elder. Both did a commendable job in their respective roles, even if Baldwin inhabited the character more closely to the way I envisioned his novel counterpart.

There was no fourth film. Period.

The question is: how will Paramount handle the grittier scenes? With Ryan attached to write, one presumes he will bring the same realistic style featured in his popular television series The Shield. But what about the recompression chamber scene in which Clark (known as Kelly at the time) gruesomely (and memorably) tortures a drug runner for information, practically causing the man to implode? Will such scenes be omitted to accommodate a PG-13 rating? With the exception of Patriot Games, all of Clancy’s film adaptations have carried a PG-13 rating, which is ironic considering that the realism employed by Clancy to tell his stories is his biggest strength as an author, yet ultimately the first thing omitted from the stories during their transition from book to film.

I also question what Paramount and Ryan will choose to leave on the cutting room floor. In my opinion it makes sense to split up the novel in order to better accommodate the wealth of material within, especially the secret ops mission that takes place concurrently with Clark’s revenge mission against the Baltimore drug cartel. Such things should not be excised. I’m also not keen on the producers updating the story to fit a contemporary setting. Why not make a period film that segues into the “Ryanverse?” Hell, why not set the new Ryan series in the 80s where the character clearly belongs?

Whatever they decide to do, I think it would be killer to link this film with the reboot of the Ryan franchise. Call it “Jack Ryan Begins” if you will.

Does this mean Paramount will nix the idea of starting from scratch and go back to adapting Clancy’s novels? What do you think?

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Awesome news! I love the Jack Ryan series of books and movies so I'm really hoping this works as a cohesive movie universe with interconnecting characters This will make an absolutely fantastic movie!

[RocShemp]

That reminds me that I have to read my paperback of Without Remorse. I love Tom Clancy's books but I usually need a break after two or three of them in a row. They are very loooong reads.

[Illini007]

That's great news. This is definitely one of my favorite Clancy novels and the choice of Ryan to adapt it is perfect. The Unit and the Shield were excellent TV shows and I hope that kind of feeling is captured in the movie.

Now, if they could just get the Vince Flynn (and Bond) movies moving too, there might be hope for the secret agent genre to take off again.

[Walts Ghost]

Originally Posted by Illini007

That's great news. This is definitely one of my favorite Clancy novels and the choice of Ryan to adapt it is perfect. The Unit and the Shield were excellent TV shows and I hope that kind of feeling is captured in the movie.

Now, if they could just get the Vince Flynn (and Bond) movies moving too, there might be hope for the secret agent genre to take off again.

Definitely hoping so

And I love the idea of Jack Ryan having a full movie universe, so I can't wait to see how it turns out

[My_Two_Cents]

Clancy's Ryan universe was great for it's time, but I'd really love to see Flynn's Mitch Rapp series take-off on the big screen. That being said, Without Remorse is my favorite Clancy Novel (along with Rainbow Six), because I love John Clark. Casting will be everything in this movie, and I hope they get it right. Both of the past Clarks (DeFoe and Schrieber) were horrible choices IMO. I guess that's because I always pictured Tom Berringer as Clark everytime I read one of the novels. Of course, he's too old now.

[Deadset]

Originally Posted by Ricshoe

Clancy's Ryan universe was great for it's time, but I'd really love to see Flynn's Mitch Rapp series take-off on the big screen. That being said, Without Remorse is my favorite Clancy Novel (along with Rainbow Six), because I love John Clark. Casting will be everything in this movie, and I hope they get it right. Both of the past Clarks (DeFoe and Schrieber) were horrible choices IMO. I guess that's because I always pictured Tom Berringer as Clark everytime I read one of the novels. Of course, he's too old now.

As long as Matt Damon isn't in it...I'm fine

[KilloWertz]

Originally Posted by pj_campbell

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Awesome news! I love the Jack Ryan series of books and movies so I'm really hoping this works as a cohesive movie universe with interconnecting characters This will make an absolutely fantastic movie!

I liked the Tom Clancy/Jack Ryan movies as well, so I'll be looking forward to this and the reboot.

[Spike Killer]

I think Without Remorse would probably be the easiest of his novels to adapt to the big screen, but I really hope they don't change to plot to meet current PC standards. If they're going to do Without Remorse I hope they stay true to the source material and make it real dark and bloody.

[Walts Ghost]

Originally Posted by killowertz

I liked the Tom Clancy/Jack Ryan movies as well, so I'll be looking forward to this and the reboot.

Definitely Hopefully we get someone who can really act alongside Chris Pine's Jack Ryan as Clark, because they're definitely going to need to have a strong star against him. He's a great young actor

Originally Posted by Spike Killer

I think Without Remorse would probably be the easiest of his novels to adapt to the big screen, but I really hope they don't change to plot to meet current PC standards. If they're going to do Without Remorse I hope they stay true to the source material and make it real dark and bloody.

I hope it's made true to the source material, and I also hope that it's not changed out of Vietnam for the Gulf War....That just seems like a bad idea

[Longshot]

Originally Posted by Ricshoe

Clancy's Ryan universe was great for it's time, but I'd really love to see Flynn's Mitch Rapp series take-off on the big screen. That being said, Without Remorse is my favorite Clancy Novel (along with Rainbow Six), because I love John Clark. Casting will be everything in this movie, and I hope they get it right. Both of the past Clarks (DeFoe and Schrieber) were horrible choices IMO. I guess that's because I always pictured Tom Berringer as Clark everytime I read one of the novels. Of course, he's too old now.

Berringer is way too old to play Clark. Schrieber is perfect. He was awesome in Sum of All Fears.

[lobosrul]

Its been a very long time since I read Without Remorse but I recall it being one of my favorites in the Jack Ryan universe. He's just barely mentioned in this one I think.

If the film is set in the early 70's when its supposed to be I really look forward to it, if not, then meh.

Originally Posted by Longshot

Berringer is way too old to play Clark. Schrieber is perfect. He was awesome in Sum of All Fears.

Schrieber was too young to play Clark in Sum of All Fears, which was set in modern day (the early 90's when the novel was released). Without Remorse was set during the Vietnam War, when Clark was just a few years out of high school I believe. So, Schrieber is now too old to portray him in Without Remose.

[Samus Aran]

Originally Posted by pj_campbell

Hopefully we get someone who can really act alongside Chris Pine's Jack Ryan as Clark, because they're definitely going to need to have a strong star against him. He's a great young actor

Zachary Quinto for Clark!

People have been trying to make Without Remorse forever. Back in the 90s the now-defunct Savoy Pictures tried to make it with Gary Sinise as Clark. Wasn't John Singleton the most recent ex-director attached to some form of the project?

[Walts Ghost]

Originally Posted by Samus Aran

Zachary Quinto for Clark!

People have been trying to make Without Remorse forever. Back in the 90s the now-defunct Savoy Pictures tried to make it with Gary Sinise as Clark. Wasn't John Singleton the most recent ex-director attached to some form of the project?

I remember hearing them talk about the Gary Sinise vehicle of Without Remorse. I was really pulling for it to happen because I thought it would have been awesome, and I really like Gary Sinise. Too bad that never happened

[ArmyOfDarknessAW]

Sounds pretty good and I am a Tom Clancy fan so I can't wait to see more on this.

[Illini007]

I'll throw my vote to Christian Kane for Clark (although he's the same one I want to see play Mitch Rapp). He is currently on Leverage and used to be on Angel. He is part Native American (I forgot what tribe) and his Grandfather as a high ranking council member, so he says that his work with knives on Leverage is real as he has been using them for years.

[ArmyOfDarknessAW]

Originally Posted by Illini007

I'll throw my vote to Christian Kane for Clark (although he's the same one I want to see play Mitch Rapp). He is currently on Leverage and used to be on Angel. He is part Native American (I forgot what tribe) and his Grandfather as a high ranking council member, so he says that his work with knives on Leverage is real as he has been using them for years.

Christian Kane is great. I am up for any ex Angel cast member to get a role in a big movie. He is also great on Leverage.

[Walts Ghost]

Christopher McQuarrie Scripting, Possibly Directing Tom Clancy Adaptation ‘Without Remorse’

Paramount has put a lot of effort into rebooting the Jack Ryan character that moved from Tom Clancy novels to the screen many years ago, and now the studio wants to get moving on a potential spin-off. Without Remorse is Clancy’s novel featuring Clark, a military operative who wages a one-man war against a drug gang that has been coercing young women into working as mules.

Shawn Ryan (The Shield) scripted some time ago, and now Paramount is ready to bring in Christopher McQuarrie — who did script work on the latest Mission: Impossible, and wrote and directed the latest Tom Cruise vehicle Jack Reacher — to script and potentially direct. Will Cruise star in this one, too?

McQuarrie broke out big time as the screenwriter for The Usual Suspects, and not long after directed his first feature, The Way of the Gun. And then he seemed to fall away for a while. As is so often the case in Hollywood, that doesn’t mean anything other than that there was another hot writer, and then another, and all the time McQuarrie was doctoring scripts, and working on shows and features that didn’t get the green light.



But he ended up rewriting Valkyrie for Tom Cruise, and that set him up for a high profile second career stage. He worked on Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, even as McQuarrie’s script for The Wolverine was helping attract talent like Darren Aronofsky, before the director fell away from that project. Cruise has stuck with McQuarrie, who wrote and directed Cruise in Jack Reacher, and has reportedly retained to do script work on other Cruise films.

And now, though he didn’t end up with credit on Mission: Impossible, Paramount likes what he did with Jack Reacher, and is also sticking with McQuarrie. He’s already working on the Top Gun sequel script. Now he looks set to make this one.

Deadline follows up on a report that said McQuarrie seemed like the guy for this project, saying that the studio hopes he’ll be able to make the “incredibly bleak and violent storyline” into something a little more mainstream. If that happens, the film could be very much in line with Jack Reacher; they’re similar enough, at least, that it’s easy to see why Paramount might want him for the film.

And then there’s always the chance of creating a little espionage ecosystem, with the new Jack Ryan (Chris Pine, to be directed by Kenneth Branagh) and Clark potentially able to cross into films together. (The Clark character was already in Clear and Present Danger, played by Willem Dafoe.) Again, could Cruise play this character? Given the similarity to Jack Reacher, we’ll see how that goes, but it seems unlikely. Paramount is going to have a nice little stable of tough guys with similar names pretty soon; maybe the studio can just create its own Avengers.

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Sad that Shawn Ryan's version fell through. But I really like Christopher McQuuarrie quite a bit, so I'm very interested to see his take on the book.

[Walts Ghost]

Paramount Courting Tom Hardy for Jack Ryan Spinoff WITHOUT REMORSE; Kevin Costner Accepts Offer to Play CIA Liason in Both Movies

Paramount has been trying to reboot the Jack Ryan franchise for years now. The studio is finally beginning to make real progress—not only on the Jack Ryan movie starring Chris Pine, but also on the spinoff Without Remorse. The key was locking up Kenneth Branagh to direct and play the villain in the former. Kevin Costner has now accepted the offer to star in both films as the CIA liason for Jack Ryan and Without Remorse lead character John Clark. Christopher McQuarrie (Valkyrie) is in talks to write and direct Without Remorse, but it’s this next bit of news that will excite the legions of This Means War fans out there: Deadline reports that Paramount is courting Tom Hardy to play John Clark. More after the jump.

This Means War digs aside, Paramount would be wise and lucky to anchor its spy franchise with Pine and Hardy, two of the handsomest young charmers in Hollywood. The report does not address Hardy’s interest level, so we’ll have to check back to see if the actor wants the part as much as I want him to take it.

Deadline describes Costner’s character as “William Harper, a true blue American idealist who recruits and mentors both Ryan and John Kelly, the latter of whom becomes the CIA operative Clark by the end of Without Remorse.” The deal reportedly includes an option for Costner to headline his own film in addition to his supporting role in the Jack Ryan movie and Without Remorse.

Essentially, if audiences are ready to invite Jack Ryan back into their lives, Paramount is ready to capitalize on the demand. I hope you too see the appeal in an Avengers-style franchise targeted toward adults.

The synopsis for Tom Clancy‘s Without Remorse sheds some light on the relationship between Jack Ryan and John Clark.

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[Riddler The Slag]

Tom Hardy as Mr. Clark? Sign me the hell up for this one!!

[KilloWertz]

Sounds good to me if they can get it done.