Paramount Tries Again with New Screenwriter for Jack Ryan Film

We haven't heard too much recently about the reboot of the Jack Ryan series, based on a character created by Tom Clancy and previously played by three actors (Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck) in four films (The Hunt for Red October 1990, Patriot Games 1992, Clear and Present Danger 1994, The Sum of All Fears 2002).

We know that Chris Pine will assume the role if and when a movie is made, but Paramount, which owns the film rights to the character, seems to be having a tough time coming up with a suitable script. Deadline|New York has the latest news (together with a brief summary of previous attempts to get the project going): Steve Zaillian has been brought in to rewrite (maybe even write from scratch) a screenplay that will feature a pre-CIA Jack Ryan. Unlike the previous films, which were all adapted from Clancy novels, this will be an original story.

Zaillian is familiar with the character (he wrote the screenplay for Clear and Present Danger), and most recently completed the script for The Girl with Dragon Tattoo, the English-language adaptation of the popular Stieg Larsson thriller.

The studio hopes to begin production sooner than later as Chris Pine is also committed to the sequel to 2009's Star Trek, which has a tentative 2012 release date.