In Moscow, Chris Pine will be the fourth actor to assume the role of Jack Ryan in just five movies.  He follows in the footsteps of Ben Affleck (The Sum of All Fears), Harrison Ford (Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger), and Alec Baldwin, who originated the role on screen in 1990′s The Hunt for Red October.  How did we get here?  Why wasn’t Baldwin awarded a Bond-style run of films?

Baldwin would have liked to return for at least one more Jack Ryan film, but the negotiations to facilitate that return became heated and eventually fell apart.  Baldwin revealed in a recent blog post just how things went down, including a few vicious words directed to the studio executive who made it (not) happen: David Kirkpatrick.  (A taste: “Kirkpatrick was a beady-eyed, untalented tool…”)  Details after the break: