‘Jack Ryan: Ghost War’ Interview: John Krasinski and More

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(L to R) John Krasinski and Sienna Miller star in ‘Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War’.

Premiering on Prime Video May 20th is the first movie based on the TV series ‘Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan’ starring John Krasinski (‘A Quiet Place’) entitled ‘Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War’.

Directed by Andrew Bernstein (‘Ozark’) and co-written by Krasinski, the film once again stars Krasinski as Jack Ryan, Wendell Pierce (‘The Wire’) as James Greer, and Michael Kelly (‘House of Cards’) as Mike November, as well as new cast member Sienna Miller (‘G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra’).

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with John Krasinski and Sienna Miller about their work on ‘Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War’, developing the screenplay and the direction Krasinski wanted to take the character, introducing Miller’s character and her experience working with Krasinski on the action sequences, what it means to Krasinski to play Jack Ryan, and why the character still resonates with audiences today.

John Krasinski in ‘Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War’. Photo Credit: Jonny Cournoyer / Prime Video. © Amazon Content Services LLC.

Moviefone: To begin with, John, can you talk about the process of developing the screenplay and the direction you wanted to take the character in for this movie?

John Krasinski: Great question. I think for me, the development of the screenplay, when we decided to do a movie, I really had the confidence to make that decision based on the show. The show, I think because we were able to do such long form storytelling, you really got to know these characters, you got to fall in love with the characters and you saw their dynamic. So, once you know them that well, you can put them in different, more pressure cooker situations. I knew that would be the draw to doing a movie. Obviously, I wanted it to be respectful since those movies I grew up on are my favorites. As far as the difference, I think we very quickly found that when you condense the story into two hours, it becomes a lot more of a thrill ride. So, we have huge action set pieces and tense moments and the arrival of, in my opinion, a magic ingredient that this world has needed for a long time in Sienna. Not only is she this incredibly strong female presence, but she’s also just a force to be reckoned with. No one’s really put Jack in check like this before and it was so much fun to have her. We’re so lucky.

(L to R) Emma Marlowe (Sienna Miller), James Greer (Wendell Pierce) , and Jack Ryan (John Krasinski) in ‘Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War’. Photo Credit: Jonny Cournoyer / Prime Video. © Amazon Content Services LLC.

MF: Sienna, what was it like introducing your character to this franchise, and can you talk about her partnership with Jack and creating that relationship on screen with John?

Sienna Miller: Well, John wrote this script and wrote an incredible character in Emma. She’s so mysterious, she’s tough, and she’s guarded. She really has Jack on the back foot, which is something that was really fun for John and I to play. We’ve known each other for a long time, so it felt quite organic to work together. Then just having his expertise in every scene with me, if I had any question about anything to reference or if I looked stupid holding my big gun, he would fix my silly arm and put it down. He just basically made this whole thing wonderful and made me look cool doing it.

John Krasinski as Jack Ryan in Prime Video’s ‘Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan’ Season 4. Credit: Attila Szvacsek/Prime Video. Copyright: Amazon Studios.

MF: John, what has it meant to you personally to have the opportunity to play this iconic character and why do you think Jack Ryan still resonates with audiences?

JK: That’s a great question. For me, it’s been nothing short of an honor to play this character. I think that as a kid, he was one of my favorite characters to watch. I’m a superhero fan just like the everyone else, but I think because he doesn’t have a cape, you really hope that there’s someone out there like Jack Ryan representing us on the front lines and making the hard decisions to keep us safe. I hope that’s the draw because that certainly was the draw for me.

(L to R) Sienna Miller, Michael Kelly, and John Krasinski in ‘Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War’. Photo Credit: Jonny Cournoyer / Prime Video. © Amazon Content Services LLC.

MF: Sienna, can you talk about the action sequences and how you prepared for those scenes?

SM: It was a total departure from anything I’d ever done before. I suddenly found myself at, I think 4:00am tied to the top of a bridge overlooking Dubai. It was baptism by fire, but with this incredible group of people keeping us safe and I loved it. It was a reason to get fit for once in my life, so that was good. It’s just fun to increasingly as I get older, I’m more drawn to trying new things, doing fight training, weapons training, and all this stuff. Learning new skills is thrilling and with John and Andrew, it was a rip roar of a good time.

‘Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War’ director Andrew Bernstein.

MF: Finally, John, why was Andrew Bernstein the right person to direct this movie in your opinion, and did it help to have a filmmaker involved who also worked on the TV series?

JK: Andrew was one of our favorite directors on the show and he was just not only highly skilled, but really understood our world and understood what we were going for right from the jump. He was a name that when he came into our universe on the show, we were so lucky to have him from all the huge projects he had worked on. Certainly, the first thing I thought about Andrew was that he could easily direct a movie. I was shocked that this was his first film and so he was more than ready, and he proved it.

John Krasinski in ‘Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War’. Photo Credit: Jonny Cournoyer / Prime Video. © Amazon Content Services LLC.

What is the plot of ‘Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War’?

When an international covert mission unravels a deadly conspiracy, Jack Ryan (John Krasinski) is forced back into the world of espionage to confront a rogue black-ops unit.