Northern Irish-born actor Kenneth Branagh is in talks to star in - as well as direct - the upcoming ‘Jack Ryan’ movie.
Branagh has previously been confirmed to direct Chris Pine (Star Trek) in Paramount Pictures’ latest instalment of the Tom Clancy novels, which is due to go into production later this year.
Now Paramount Pictures also want Branagh to also play the action thriller’s villain, Viktor Stazov, a financial expert who, with the help of the Russian government, masterminds a plot to devalue US currency and thus destroy the American economy, according to Variety.
Pine will play Ryan, the ex-Marine turned CIA analyst, in the role previously played by Alec Baldwin (The Hunt For Red October), Harrison Ford (Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger) and Ben Affleck (The Sum of All Fears).
The feature will be produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Mace Neufeld and David Barron. David Ellison is executive producing.
Branagh most recently directed Paramount’s comic book action movie ‘Thor’ and was this year nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as Laurence Olivier in ‘My Week With Marilyn’.
