Ahead of the release of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan: Ghost War, we were able to catch up with director Andrew Bernstein and star Michael Kelly ("Mike November") to break down the global threat that brings good ol' Jack Ryan (John Krasinski) out of retirement.
In addition to talking about what's coming for Jack this time around, Bernstein also talks about transitioning the acclaimed Prime Video series into a full-length feature film. Then, Kelly talks about his evolving dynamic and friendship with co-stars John Krasinski and Wendell Pierce, before sharing a quick tease about Mike November's new philosophy heading into the movie.
The cast features John Krasinski, Wendell Pierce, Michael Kelly, Betty Gabriel, Sienna Miller, Mckenna Bridger, Max Beesley, Douglas Hodge, and JJ Feild.
Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan: Ghost War starts streaming May 20!
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ROHAN: Andrew, as someone who helped define the look of the series, Ghost War feels significantly more visceral. What was the biggest challenge in scaling this world up for a feature film while still balancing that classic Jack Ryan tightrope, where he has to be equal parts brilliant CIA analyst and capable action hero?
ANDREW: Yeah, it's a great question, you know, when we started thinking about this movie, it was very clear to all of us that we wanted it to feel like a movie. We wanted it to feel different than the series, you know, yes, we did this amazing work in the series, but we wanted the movie to be a standalone thing. People can come see it who had never seen the series. So, as we thought about how we were going to film it, we wanted it to look different than the series. We wanted it to sort of feel different than the series. We wanted to be able to see how we were going to balance, as you said, Jack Ryan as an analyst, and also keep the action elevated, to make it feel movie quality, which I think we did with all that stuff, but, to me, it's all rooted in character, and the most important thing was sort of making people interested in our characters, and then all the other stuff would fall in place.
ROHAN: Michael, the chemistry you share with John and Wendell is pretty special. How did that dynamic shift on this film specifically, and how much of thE brotherhood we see on screen is just a natural extension of your real-life working relationship at this point?
MICHAEL: Yeah, I don't think it shifted. Evolving is probably the better word there that, you know, they're great friends of mine, like, they’re really, really good friends of mine. Our worlds are always, you know, we live in the same town, we hang out, like we are really good friends, and I think that that's what's kind of been special about these characters, and how it really translates to on screen presence, that they have a history, you know, when I joined them in season two, they had already had this bond and relationship, and I remember one of the first scenes that we shot was me driving the two of them in a car, and we just hit it off pretty instantly and we became very fast friends. And then, cut to now, Sienna comes and joins us, and she slid right in too and became part of the family. It's just, like Andrew said before, there is this family that we have there, this Jack Ryan family that I think that that really comes through in the characters and in the film. It translates to that.
ROHAN: Andrew, considering how the show ended, how did this story help you and John approach the task of getting Jack Ryan back to where he needed to be by the time the credits roll?
ANDREW: Yeah, it was super important for us to sort of honor how the series ended, and that Jack really didn't want to come back, and that he was really conflicted about, you know, what he was doing when Wendell sort of presents to him that, hey, can you come back? You know, one of the big conflicts in this movie, one of the big themes of this movie, is sort of the idea between black and white and good and bad, and sort of the gray areas that this espionage world works in, and how Jack relates to that. And so, it was super important for us to sort of honor the history of this character, to sort of honor his analyst background as much as we could, and sort of make him feel, you know, again, our touchstones for this movie were the early Jack Ryan movies, The Patriot Games, you know, those early movies. It necessarily wasn't the series. It was those movies that we sort of look back on for reference.
ROHAN: Michael, you have a standout line where you tell Greer, "The three of us, we’re the only family we’re gonna have." Would you say that's the definitive 'Mike November' philosophy?
MICHAEL: I think, yeah. I mean, you know, it's funny, because I think Mike's always known that, you know, that there's not a lot outside our worlds, right? Like, it's very hard to have a life outside that world. I think for these men and women in the CIA, it's a difficult life. It's a very difficult life. You know, having to not necessarily lie, but hide yourself, right? So, your work people are your family, and I think it's something that Mike knows. Jack calls, he goes, you know, that's my brother, that's my family, that's who he wants to be around, and it's funny that he drops that philosophical moment on Wendell’s character at a time when he needs it, you know, to tell him, you know that this is what it's about. We can do this, we can do that, but this is what it's about, and nothing's more important than that. I love that scene so much.
In Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan: Ghost War, Jack Ryan is reluctantly pulled back into espionage when an international covert mission unravels a deadly conspiracy. Racing against time, he joins CIA allies Mike November and James Greer and sharp MI6 officer Emma Marlowe to battle a rogue black-ops unit in a high-stakes, deeply personal fight.