In the last of our set visit reports we talk to Chris Pine, who follows in the footsteps of Harrison Ford, Alec Baldwin and Ben Affleck as the latest actor to take on the role of Jack Ryan. What director Kenneth Branagh is keen to emphasise is the nature of this incarnation of Tom Clancy’s hero, he is a quiet man, an analyst not a fighter, called upon to do the right thing. The film is out in cinemas today and we caught up with the actor on set to talk about his take on the character and the process of working with Branagh and co.
He is in the middle of a physically intense day of shooting with a subway bound fight to look forward to in the afternoon but Pine is in an upbeat mood, ‘It’s been really good. Ken [Branagh – Director] runs a really smooth set so we work nice clean 10 / 12 hour days so it’s very civilised.’
Taking on the mantle of Jack Ryan, and the legacy of the role
I love the Ryan franchise, I’ve always loved these films. I’ve spoken before about my love of Harrison Ford and what he’s done in his career and the types of characters he’s played and I loved Alec Baldwin and what he did with the role and I’m a huge fan of spy fiction. I also liked (considering what I’d done with Kirk) the kind of brash, at times arrogant, behaviour and how Kirk’s selfishness can often get people into trouble. What I loved about the Ryan character is people describe him as the ‘everyman’ but he’s a quiet guy. I always think of Ryan in Patriot Games where he’s driving the Volkswagen Rabbit, and has the rumpled jacket and teaches at Annapolis and his wife drives the Porsche. I like that Jack’s more comfortable reading history and nonfiction in the library than anything else, he’s more comfortable in his head. Kirk’s a man of brawn, fists and Ryan is a man more comfortable with his intelligence, a quieter guy.
Seeing the film come together
This film is three years in the making so we’ve had a lot of time to sit with the script and the story and develop all of it. Ken’s obviously come in late in the game and Kiera came in last minute but Ken made sure that we had at least two weeks of solid prep time and that included talking, talking through the scenes, what we wanted to accomplish, the arc of the story, the character. Keira came in with a lot of notes, ideas and things she wanted to do and I think the best thing working with other actors is that as long as there are a lot of questions then it’s a good thing, it means things are up for change.
I think too what’s important about the Cathy character is that the bad guy is willing to do anything for his cause, he’s willing to sacrifice anything for his ideology and Jack is not. Jack is in love with his wife and that’s more important to him than anything in the world. That is actually paramount, the choice between saving his wife or saving the world that is a very difficult decision; he’s very human, he’s not a superhero.
Death-dealing and dealing with Death
The first thing that pops to mind is how we deal with death. I think often times in action films people just die and then the ninth bad-guy dies and then someone else falls of a balcony but this one looks more at what if you were in a situation, you being you and you had to fight for your life and had to kill someone. The action is intensely real and personal I think so death becomes a very real thing. People talk about Jack being the ‘everyman’, he’s not Jason Bourne, he doesn’t know kung-fu but tries to figure it out like MacGuyver.
The pressure of the role
It’s a huge studio film, there’s a lot of studio presence on set and a lot of people have opinions and a lot of people are depending on this to do well. It is different than Star Trek in that I’m playing Jack Ryan, the title character and the only thing you can do in that situation is pray for the best, surround yourself with good people that you trust.
I think we have a distinct unique new character, the kind that I saw when I watched Alec Baldwin in The Hunt for Red October or Harrison Ford in Patriot Games. He’s a quiet, intelligent, confident hero. He’s not wearing a cape or fighting the system, he’s a good man and it’s almost the simplicity of the character which sets him apart. If you track the Clancy character, he becomes President at one point and you want Jack Ryan to be President because he’s a good man! He’s not going to follow the orders of his superiors because they’re his orders, he’ll follow his heart.
The cast and Kevin Costner
What’s fun about acting is that it’s a constant apprenticeship, stories are passed down from generation to generation and I think when I’m 60 or 70 and I’m working with the young buck and I can say ‘I did a movie with Kevin Costner’, that’s the stuff of what dreams are made of.
He’s like a consummate movie star. I love watching him, he’s got an incredible command of his technique and watching a man who’s been doing it for so long who was the biggest movie star in the world for so long. Even how he does a closeup you learn how a guy knows how to use the camera. Obviously Kevin having written and directed before, I pick up things by osmosis but he does bring a weight. There’s a gravity which does come with age.
Kenneth Branagh on set
Here you have a guy who at 27 had been doing rep for 10 months straight, finished on a Friday then on a Monday went onto Henry V and was his first film. I It’s fun watching him and watching Kevin, they have very different ways of attacking things. Even how Ken runs his set, it’s very structured environment but he’s so clear about what he wants. . We just shot a part of a fight sequence which again would have taken forever but he’s like bam bam. You seen that in his acting too, he’s very specific.
It’s a very focused film. The film has huge themes obviously kind of Shakespearean themes, literary dramatic themes but the structure is very tight. It’s a difficult thing to do in that Jack is a character of smarts, an analytical mind and you need a plot which services and mirrors that, you dont want to make it so obtuse and complicated than the audience can’t understand what’s going on. You have to balance that with making it fun and exciting and move Ken again is very sharp and his story points are very clear.
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is out today.
