Paramount Inks Deal With Christopher McQuarrie For Tom Clancy's 'Without Remorse'

It seems it's all about world building right now. With Marvel proving it can make a billion dollar success by tying together their superhero movies, other studios are giving it a shot. Universal will show the connective tissue between "The Bourne Ultimatum" and "The Bourne Legacy" on Friday, and you can bet Warner Bros. has that strategy in the back of their mind as they consider greenlighting the massive "The Dark Tower," and the folks over at Paramount may be considering the same thing with their Jack Ryan reboot.

Last week, it was reported that Paramount wanted Christopher McQuarrie to tackle their long-brewing adaptation of Tom Clancy's "Without Remorse," and it looks like it's coming together, with Deadline updating today that a deal is pretty much good to go. Set in the 1970s, the story focuses on John Kelly (who later became John Clark, played by Willem Dafoe in "Clear And Present Danger" and Liev Schreiber in "The Sum Of All Fears"), a mercenary and Vietnam vet, who teams up with a prostitute/hitchhiker/ex-drug mule to take on the dealers that employed her. But when she gets kidnapped, gang-raped and killed, Clark goes on a quest for vengeance. Paramount have been hot for McQuarrie, thanks to his work on "Jack Reacher," and this seems similarly gritty, so it's win-win all around.

The site also suggests that perhaps if/when Kevin Costner signs on to the role he's been offered as Jack Ryan's advisor/mentor in Kenneth Branagh's reboot, he could crossover here, and it's an interesting suggestion. Though it presupposes the setting will be updated and that the studio wants to start connecting up their Jack Ryan/Tom Clancy movies, which seems a bit counter-intuitive compared to developing a standalone hero in a few movies on his own first. But it's a thought, we suppose. At any rate, Paramount loves being in the Tom Clancy business -- could he be what Robert Ludlum is to Universal? Time will tell.