John Krasinski talks Jack Ryan, A Quiet Place and the CIA

THE last thing you’d expect is to be swarmed by armed CIA guards pointing guns at you.

WHEN John Krasinski’s car pulled up at the CIA gates in Langley, Virginia, fully armed guards came out and pointed their guns right at them.

His driver had accidentally pulled up to the employee’s entrance and they were definitely not employees.

“That was crazy, it was surreal,” Krasinski tells news.com.au. “By the time my brain had processed it, it was almost over. It was very obvious we were not meant to be there, so mission accomplished by those guards.”

Krasinski was at the CIA because if you’re going to play a spy in Amazon Prime Video’s expensive TV reboot Jack Ryan, where else do you go for training?

“The background work that I did, that was the most fun was going to the actual CIA and getting to meet those people, it was incredible,” he says. “That’s something I’ve wanted to do since I was a little kid. I think my brothers and I were huge into pretending to be spies.

“Then to actually go to the CIA and get to meet the real people is extremely cool for me, and also extremely moving and insightful.

“It was a much more diverse, open and generous group of people than I was expecting. I thought it was going to be the most boring interview of all time because they wouldn’t be able to tell you anything.

“But they were so open, not only about the stuff they do, but also about their personal lives, how it affects them, their marriages and their kids. That stuff was really fascinating to hear because those are the small details you can bring to your character.”

A long way from Scranton. Picture: Jan Thijs/Amazon via AP

Krasinski is taking on a role that’s already been played on the big screen by Alec Baldwin, Ben Affleck, Chris Pine and, most notably, Harrison Ford in Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger.

The native Bostonian feels like he has a “free pass” because the longer-form of TV storytelling allows him to delve deeper into the character than his predecessors.

He’s seen the movies before — as a fan — but was too scared to rewatch them lest they be in his immediate consciousness.

Created by novelist Tom Clancy, the Jack Ryan character was born in the Cold War-era and his enduring appeal seems to centre around how relatively uncomplicated he is. He’s a boy next-door hero — clean-shaven and upstanding.

“The thing that’s always great about Jack Ryan is his moral compass,” Krasinski says. “That’s one of the reasons I’ve always loved Jack — that character trait.

“He has a moral compass on our show and it becomes quite obvious that it’s not always easy to make the right decision in a complex situation but he stays the course on being a good person.”

Krasinski says that it was important to the showrunners Carlton Cuse and Graham Roland, who previously worked together on Lost, that Jack wouldn’t be an anti-hero, which is one of the ways the show aims to distinguish itself from other post-9/11 political thrillers.

“It was time for an actual hero, a real hero that you root for, and is a good person,” he says. “I love, specifically, Homeland and I love what Claire (Danes) does with it. But (Cuse and Roland’s) whole point was to move away from a very gritty, dark show and get into more of a feel-good, big commercial experience.”

Jack Ryan functions as an origin story for our hero spy. When we meet him, he’s a desk-bound analyst at the CIA, tracking financial transactions before he’s pulled on to a plane by his boss James Greer (The Wire’s Wendell Pierce) to foil an international terrorist plot. Australian actor Abbie Cornish plays Cathy, a doctor and Jack’s love interest.

“I absolutely loved working with Abbie. I think one of my favourite things about her is that she’s a rapper. I had no idea. She went on tour with Nas — that was quite a shock!”

John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place has grossed more than $US300 million globally.

The blockbuster series, which cost $US8 million per episode, has already been renewed for a second season by Amazon. Which means Krasinski, who is best known for playing Jim on the American version of The Office will be sticking around on our TV screens for a while.

Headlining a high-profile TV show has coincided with the actor’s phenomenal success as the director, co-writer and star of A Quiet Place, which made $US332 million worldwide, from an estimated budget of $US20 million.

The thriller, which co-stars his real-life wife Emily Blunt, is the highest grossing non-franchise, non-sequel, non-adaptation movie of 2018 so far in the US and in Australia. With that kind of financial success, a sequel has been greenlit and is scheduled for release in May 2020.

MORE: A Quiet Place is a masterstroke of suspense and thrills

But a shorter season order of eight episodes means Jack Ryan is less of a time commitment than the 22 episodes most seasons of The Office were, a show he spent nine years on — which gives him plenty of time to develop other project ideas.

“The success of (A Quiet Place) has been overwhelming,” Krasinski says. “I think I’m actually still processing it. I don’t know if I’ve processed it. It’s so incredible and I feel so unbelievably fortunate.

“I really love playing Jack Ryan but I’m more than excited at all the stuff I get to do outside of the show as well. I’m really looking forward to what I get to do next as a director and writer.”

Whatever that is, if he ever needs to consult with the CIA again, at least now he knows where the visitors’ entrance is.

Jack Ryan starts streaming today on Amazon Prime Video.

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Originally published as John Krasinski talks Jack Ryan, A Quiet Place and the CIA