First Look At Chris Pine’s Jack Ryan

UPDATE: Now with added Kevin Costner

First Look At Chris Pine's Jack Ryan

by Helen O’Hara |
Published on

Update: Paramount sent out a second picture over the weekend, which shows Kevin Costner's "legendary CIA field agent" called William Harper. It's been added to the gallery below.

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Through Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck incarnations, the character of Jack Ryan has never been less than entertaining and has often been at the centre of great thrillers. Next year, we get to see Chris Pine tackle the sometime-Marine, sometime-CIA analyst in, er, Jack Ryan, and here's our first look at Pine in character.

So what can we tell from this? Well, not much. It's not like Ryan has an iconic scar or haircut (unless you count short-back-and-sides as iconic) and looks much like a normal, albeit improbably handsome, bloke. We know that the story sees a young version of the ex-Marine, invalided out of the service after a horrific helicopter accident, become a financial consultant to a Russian billionaire* and get framed for an act of terrorism. Cue Ryan on the run.

This still is Manhattan-based, but we suspect there will be a bit of globe-trotting before either Ryan or Pine is done. Also on board are Kevin Costner, playing Ryan's patriotic mentor William Harper; Keira Knightley and Kenneth Branagh, pulling double duty as the villain of the piece and its director.

Jack Ryan is due out on Christmas Day, 2013 in the US, and presumably shortly thereafter here in the UK.

*Incidentally, contrary to some reports, this is canonical with the books. Ryan's background in Tom Clancy's novels includes a stint in business between leaving the Marines and being recruited as a CIA analyst, during which time he makes a fortune in stocks that enables him to essentially retire into public service. In the books he also becomes President and reforms the tax system, which would be a heck of an ambitious arc for the movies to attempt.

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