Screen Junkies » Steve Zaillian

David Koepp Is The Latest Writer To Get Submerged By Jack Ryan Reboot

Geoffrey Golden — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 01:41:52 +0000

Here’s the easy part of this story: writer David Koepp has been tapped to pen a new version of the untitled Jack Ryan origin story film formerly known as Moscow. How we got to this point is a little crazy, so I’m gonn break it down step-by-step:

1. After the success of Star Trek, Paramount hired writer Hossein Amini to script a Jack Ryan movie for Chris Pine.

2. Paramount buys a spec script called Dubai and tells writer Adam Cozad to make that the Jack Ryan movie.

3. Unhappy with that take, Paramount hired Anthony Peckham to rewrite Cozad’s script.

4. Then writer Steve Zaillian was brought on, but quickly abandoned ship.

5. Project goes into limbo.

6. David Koepp gets 7-figures to rewrite Cozad’s script. Which of the hundreds of drafts lying around Paramount’s offices will be the starting point for Koepp’s version is anyone’s guess.

7. 40 more writers are hired and fired.

8. Eight years later, the screenwriting robot is finally complete and Robo-Writer 9000 electoni-pens the perfect rewrite in 4 minutes. None of the human writers get an on-screen credit.

Jack Bender (“Lost”) is attached to direct. That much has not changed… for now. (Deadline)

Chris Pine Reboot War: ‘Star Trek’ Defeats Jack Ryan

Geoffrey Golden — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 03:58:10 +0000

Paramount thought they could make a Chris Pine-starring Jack Ryan film before Star Trek 2. They thought wrong.

The studio had a plan to reboot Tom Clancy hero Jack Ryan in an origin story film helmed by Jack Bender (“Lost”), with Pine as the lead, a part that’s been portrayed by Harrison Ford and Alec Baldwin – good company. Rather than adapt one of Clancy’s many novels, the studio wants someone to rewrite a spec screenplay that had nothing to do with Jack Ryan. The new plot involves young Jack Ryan escaping a deadly helicopter crash. Sounds helicopter-y, and by working the name “Jack Ryan” in there, serious cashola can be acquired by audiences who hate new things.

Many writers are being interviewed, and many more have already banged the script and were kicked out of script’s bed the next morning. Steve Zaillian (Clear and Present Danger) made a deal to do the job last month, but he backed out. Unfortunately for lovers of helicopter destruction cinema, without a solid script, production won’t move forward.

So even though Paramount was trying hard to get this project off the ground before Pine starred as Captain Kirk in the next Star Trek, it looks like the Enterprise is traveling a whole lo faster than the Red October, even though J.J. Abrams hasn’t officially signed on to direct the sequel yet. Paramount hopes that little detail won’t stop them from shooting this Fall and hitting their June 29, 2012 release date.

Damon Lindelof, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are are working on the Star Trek 2 script. (Deadline)

Guess What Role Jason Segel Is Playing In DreamWorks’ ‘Undercover Cop’?

Penn Collins — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 00:22:45 +0000

Jason Segel and his everyman charms will be be infiltrating the Jersey mob, 80′s style in DreamWorks upcoming Undercover Cop. Based on a true story, Jason will play a down-on-his-luck divorce attorney…just kidding. He’s playing the undercover cop. DreamWorks may want to stop letting seven year-old boys name their projects.

The film will be produced by Steve Zaillian, who is keeping himself pretty busy as a writer with David Fincher‘s adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and a recently-announced Jack Ryan reboot. Meanwhile, Segel has been keeping busy with Bad Teacher, due out in June, and The Muppets, which he also co-wrote, coming out in November.

No word on whether Segel’s penis will be making another cameo in Undercover Cop, but insiders say not to rule it out. (THR)