Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War director Andrew Bernstein and star Michael Kelly spoke with ComingSoon about the new movie. The duo discussed expanding the TV show, working with Sienna Miller, and more. Starring John Krasinski, Jack Ryan: Ghost War is now streaming on Prime Video.
“In this new film, Jack Ryan is reluctantly thrust back into the world of espionage when an international covert mission unravels a deadly conspiracy, forcing him to confront a rogue black-ops unit, and the clock is ticking. Operating in real time with lives on the line and the threat escalating at every turn, Jack reunites with battle-tested CIA operative Mike November (Michael Kelly) and former CIA boss James Greer (Wendell Pierce), their combined experience the only edge they have against an enemy who knows their every move. Backed by an unlikely new partner – razor-sharp MI6 officer Emma Marlow (Sienna Miller) – Jack and the team navigate a treacherous web of betrayal, facing a past they thought was long put to rest – making this the most personal, high-stakes mission any of them have ever faced.”
Tyler Treese: Such a pleasure to speak with you both. I really enjoyed Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War. Andrew, you did some great work in season two of the show. What did it mean for you to get the call when it came time to do a movie and you getting to bring back Jack Ryan?
Andrew Bernstein: The call was incredible and humbling to be able to sort of continue the franchise in the movie form. You know, we did some great work on the series, but we were all excited to sort of further the character and take the helm of that, and sort of dive it into sort of a new medium for this franchise.
Obviously, they’ve made a lot of movies before, but I was super grateful to work mostly with the cast again and then to bring new people in, like Sienna, who starts an amazing addition to our movie, and expand the franchise and sort of expand the way we tell our stories. It was fantastic.
Michael, there are some great action set pieces you get to be a part of, and you even got a fun chase scene. Did anything stand out as feeling different while filming the movie compared to the TV show?
Michael Kelly: Probably just my body feeling older [laughs], if I’m being honest. Things hurt a little bit longer after having done ’em. No, I gotta say Andrew, I don’t know about for you, but it really felt to me a very seamless transition from the series to the film that it felt like we were sort of doing a continuation of it in a way. It felt all very familiar, [with] obviously Sienna being the main difference [by] adding her to the cast and Max and J.J. and whatnot, but it felt very homey and comfortable, you know.
Andrew, this builds off the TV show obviously, but Jack Ryan has such a history in film. There will surely be some first-time watchers as well. So, were there any considerations made to make sure this was approachable for those who haven’t seen the show, saw a new Jack Ryan film, and wanted to check it out?
Andrew Bernstein: Yeah, it’s a great question. And we talked about that a lot from the very beginning, from the very inception of starting to talk about this movie. We wanted to obviously bring the fans along we’ve had and we’ve built from the series, but we want this to be its own standalone movie and to have people, so in terms of how we introduced characters, how we made sure that people weren’t confused and bring the history of the series a little bit into the movie it was a great concern that people who weren’t confused when they watched the movie.
So, we did talk a lot about that. Again, to Michael’s point in terms of sort of how it felt from the series to the movie, we wanted the movie to sort of be its own thing, to feel different, to look different. We shot it differently. Our sort of touchstones weren’t the series, but like Patriot Games we talked a lot about in sort of the earlier movies. So the references were different, so it felt a little different.
Michael, you mentioned Sienna Miller, who joins the cast of the movie in a really fun role. She’s such a bolt of energy to this film. You also got to work with so many returning faces, but what stood out about getting to work with her as a scene partner?
Michael Kelly: I mean, she’s so good, right? She’s a phenomenal actress. And I think lends a real, you know, sense of gravitas to the film with her. She’s just so good, so talented, but she’s also this incredibly beautiful light on set, right? This person who’s just so much fun to be around. And she slid right in with us. Within two hours. It was like, “Oh, she’s been with us for the whole six years,” however long we’ve been doing this. You know, she slid right in it. We could not have asked for a better addition to the cast.
Thanks to Andrew Bernstein and Michael Kelly for taking the time to talk about Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War.
