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Remember when Ben Affleck was Hollywood’s new dramatic ‘it’ kid? Just after Armageddon and Good Will Hunting, when he was said to be the next big action star on the block. He did that movie with Sam Jackson, Changing Lanes, and he scored a huge role as the next Jack Ryan in The Sum of All Fears. He was supposed to take over the franchise, reboot this iconic character made famous by the great Harrison Ford. It was going to be glorious… What happened to that?

To quote a sci-fi show that none of you have probably ever heard of, all of this has happened before, all of this will happen again.

Variety’s Mike Fleming is reporting today that Star Trek star and new Hollywood ‘it’ guy Chris Pine is in negotiations to play CIA Analyst Jack Ryan in the reboot of the franchise based on Tom Clancy’s novels. Producers Lorenzo di Bonaventura (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra) and Mace Neufeld are said to be currently working with writer Hossein Amini (The Four Feathers) on the next project, working from an original concept not taken directly from a Clancy book.

Pine’s breakout performance as James T. Kirk in this summer’s Star Trek, directed by J.J. Abrams, was impressive. And its not uncommon for an actor to be striking while the iron is hot, so I’m not surprised to see him adding this Jack Ryan movie to his current production slate, which includes starring in Tony Scott’s Unstoppable and D.J. Caruso’s next project, The Art of Making Money. But even so, it is hard for me to say yet what I think of Pine as Ryan. Affleck wasn’t a bad Jack Ryan, he just wasn’t Harrison Ford’s Jack Ryan. He was more like Alec Baldwin’s Jack Ryan. Pine could fit in well if he can play it straight. He was the right amount of smug and arrogant, but also charming for Kirk in Trek, but he’ll need to go a different direction to channel the serious, intelligent and resourceful Ryan. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out…

Your thoughts on Chris Pine as Jack Ryan?