Tom Clancy’s uneasy relationship with Hollywood

The world famous and best-selling author Tom Clancy has sadly died aged 66. And while he leaves behind a catalogue of impressive fiction, his work has also inspired some of the best spy-thrillers to hit the silver screen.
 
Despite their commercial and critical success, Tom Clancy’s relationship with Hollywood was often contentious. He may have appreciated the publicity and extra book sales, but he hated the lack of creative control. As he once said: “Giving your book to Hollywood is like turning your daughter over to a pimp”.

[Author Tom Clancy dies aged 66]

Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck all starred as his most famous character Jack Ryan. But what did Tom Clancy think about them all? Not much, especially a certain Mr Ford…

The Hunt for Red October (1990)
Hollywood’s first attempt to bring Jack Ryan to the big screen saw Alec Baldwin’s Ryan face-off against Sean Connery’s suspiciously Scottish-sounding Russian submarine captain.  Amazingly, Clancy wasn’t completely appalled by ‘The Hunt for Red October’, saying “they didn't screw it up too much”. This would be the high point of his relationship with Hollywood however…
 

Patriot Games (1992)
The second of the Jack Ryan series, ‘Patriot Games’ stars Harrison Ford in the role of Ryan. But Clancy wasn’t pleased with the casting, claiming Ford was too old to play the 31-year-old character. The author also disapproved of the many changes made from book to screen and in the end disowned the movie. “I think [Clancy's criticism] did hurt the film,'' said Harrison Ford. ''I don't think it should have. It's inevitable that a book changes in bringing it to the screen. It's generally accepted by those professionals that have had some experience with the process. And if one doesn't want to submit to the process, the simple expedient is not to sell your stuff.” Unfortunately, the feud didn’t end there as the box office success of ‘Games’ meant Ford signed up for another Jack Ryan movie. Speaking of which…
 

Clear and Present Danger (1994)
Ford found himself under fire once again from Clancy, though his biggest complaint was that the entire structure of his book was changed. The problem was his original plot wasn’t exactly cinematic. “There was no place for Harrison Ford in that film,” said director Phillip Noyce. And he’s right – Jack Ryan barely appears in the first half of the book and does most of his work from behind a desk. The script brought Ryan into the action sooner, but Clancy thought it was “really awful”. “If a camel is a horse designed by a committee,” he said in a baffling memo to the producers, “then this 'script' must have been crafted by a panel of maniacs.”

The Sum of All Fears (2002)
In an attempt to modernise and reinvigorate Clancy’s famous spy-thriller series, Ben Affleck took on the role of Jack Ryan in the rather mediocre ‘The Sum of All Fears’. Perhaps by this point, Clancy had grown used to Hollywood’s meddling and jokingly introduced himself on the DVD commentary as “the author of the book that [director Phil Alden Robinson] ignored." Thought of as a reboot to the original series, Jack Ryan is depicted as a much younger man, even though the movie is apparently set in 2002. The Arab Nationalists of the novel where replaced by a neo-Nazi terror group (though this wasn’t a reaction to September 11 as some suggested). The film got mixed reviews and it was the last time Affleck played the character.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2013)
The latest Jack Ryan movie is released later this year and will once again attempt to reboot the successful espionage franchise. The difference this time is it’s an entirely original story and not based on a Clancy book. Starring Chris Pine (‘Star Trek’) as the CIA analyst, it delves into Jack Ryan’s origins and shows how he was recruited into the agency. It co-stars Kevin Costner as a high-level CIA veteran and sees Ryan pitted against a Russian oligarch who has delved into international terrorism.

‘Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit’ is coming to cinemas December 26. We hope it does Clancy proud.