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Over the course of two decades,

Harrison Ford had built an impressive resume.

I'm Deckard, Blade Runner.

With an equally impressive list of directors.

Behind the scenes, some collaborations were anything but.

Ridley would say, "Mate, I hired you

because you're good at what you do.

Just go do it."

Harrison's not like that.

He's a collaborator.

But after completing his latest trilogy.

Henry Jones. Jr.

And after Alec Baldwin

put Broadway ahead of blockbusters.

The game is up.

Harrison decided it was time

that he started calling the shots.

And on his next project.

Harrison had director approval.

The project, bringing Tom Clancy

from the printed page to the silver screen.

Everybody was reading Tom Clancy novels.

- The role-- - Get down!

Harrison was a perfect Jack Ryan.

You're going to jail, pal.

But to become Jack Ryan,

Harrison Ford would have to contend

with an eccentric author.

Tom Clancy dressed in fatigues.

In a Sherman tank out on the front lawn.

But would Harrison approve the right director?

- I have a problem. - Or would he once again

find himself at odds with another filmmaker?

I will fucking destroy you.

He'd sent a message.

The script was inadequate.

Director was incompetent.

I did not sign up for this.

Harrison might have called him Lurch behind his back,

or maybe not always behind his back.

This Aussie upstart director

who thinks he knows everything.

Ford would either take control or lose it.

He was aware that he had this authority.

He had opinions about every aspect

of the movie making process.

He said, "Roll the camera."

And I said, "No, Harrison, I'm not gonna do it."

You don't talk that way to me.

Ford had taken the wheel,

but would he crash and burn?

It would've gone through his window

and it would've decapitated him.

We are shut down.

You've gotta get outta Mexico.

The audience were just not happy.

It just was unrealistic.

This is impossible, we're never gonna finish.

Jesus.

I thought this is my last Hollywood movie

and probably my last movie ever.

The 1980s would be known

as the Decade of Blockbusters,

with Harrison Ford among those leading the charge.

Thanks to groundbreaking collaborations with--

George Lucas.

- And of course-- - Steven Spielberg.

Not to mention collaborations with legends

- such as-- - Ridley Scott.

- I don't work here anymore. - Mike Nichols.

- The Earth moved. - Roman Polanski.

You picked up the wrong suitcase.

Peter Weir.

"Witness," where he gets

his first Oscar nomination, right?

Ford had been the driving force

for countless filmmakers,

but was eager to take the wheel and chart his own path.

And I don't think he wants to direct,

but I think that he has things to say.

"Say" is exactly what Harrison was looking for.

"Say" in every aspect from script to director.

His success as an actor was not by accident.

I know what I'm doing.

He was not there to just read the script.

Ford wanted more influence and authorship.

He just needed the right project.

- Captain? - Yeah?

Harrison's combination of action star,

and thinking man made him a perfect Jack Ryan.

Jack Ryan, the CIA analyst

who always ends up in the field in danger.

But to tell that story,

we need to go back to the early eighties

where an aspiring novelist was first putting ink to paper.

Tom Clancy, before his success as a writer,

he was an insurance salesman.

You're in good hands with Allstate.

While supporting his family,

he was writing books on the kitchen table at night.

Every major publisher passed.

Clancy only found a home

when the tiny Navy focus publisher strayed from its lane.

In October of 1984, Tom Clancy's first book,

"The Hunt for Red October" hit shelves.

And I was a big fan of all that CIA spook stuff.

It was the story of a Soviet submarine captain

who looked to defect to the United States.

Clancy's novel immediately caught the eye

of film producer Mace Neufeld.

"The Omen" was his first feature film that he produced.

"The Hunt for Red October" was brought to Mace's attention.

He thought it was fabulous.

To say Mace was ahead of the Clancy curve

would be an understatement.

Mace Neufeld purchased "Hunt for Red October"

when it was still in a manuscript form.

And being an early adopter

certainly had its perks.

Mace told me that they got the rights for $5,000.

Mace would eventually attach

director John McTiernan and sell the picture to Paramount.

Paramount were very interested

and it was an ongoing discussion.

And then eventually it was green lit.

And when it came to casting Jack Ryan,

Mace knew there was only one man for the job.

It's dangerous out here.

Well, Mace had a very long relationship with Harrison.

They had worked together on "Frisco Kid"

years and years before.

What's more now, you ain't got no money.

I believe that Mace had talked to Harrison

about "Hunt for Red October."

"The Hunt for Red October"

had the potential to reunite Ford with his old movie dad.

Junior?

Sean Connery was cast as Ramius.

A game of chess.

As well as another famous movie dad.

It is useless to resist.

It was terrific to have James Earl Jones

to play Admiral Greer.

What's important enough to get you on a plane

in the middle of the night?

Everything was in place

to make an epic Harrison Ford movie.

From my understanding, yes.

And he turned it down.

Oh, it turns out

while Harrison wanted a larger role behind the camera,

he wasn't looking for a smaller role in front of the camera.

"The Hunt for Red October" is less Jack Ryan's story

because the Sean Connery character, Ramius,

is so, so prominent.

The only sound they will hear is our laughter.

So who landed the coveted covert role?

Alec Baldwin.

How did you know that?

Alec Baldwin was terrific in the Jack Ryan role.

You don't miss much do you?

But the role of movie star, not so much.

At that point, he was fairly young.

He was uncomfortable being a star.

Eventually Baldwin found his Jack Ryan.

I know how he's gonna get the crew off the sub.

When "The Hunt for Red October"

pulled into theaters in March of 1990--

"Hunt for Red October" was very, very well received.

The film was enormously successful.

The Jack Ryan adaptation grossed 200 million

on a $30 million budget, which can only mean one thing.

Paramount Pictures dearly wanted this

to become a tentpole franchise.

Clancy's Jack Ryan catalog had grown by three,

yet the spotlight felt squarely on "Patriot Games"

and "Clear and Present Danger."

The question Paramount faced, did Jack Ryan have legs?

When Mace was coming back from the premiere

with Frank Mancuso of Paramount,

they had a discussion about optioning "Patriot Games"

and "Clear and Present Danger."

Centered on the clash

between Ireland and England,

"Patriot Games" came at a price.

Paramount shelled out 2.5 million,

but not without one major caveat.

The Paramount lawyers were obviously smart enough

to own Jack Ryan in perpetuity.

And all that was left to do

was to pick which Jack Ryan story would be next.

John McTiernan had suggested

that the second film should be "Clear and Present Danger."

So "Clear and Present Danger" was on deck.

But Paramount and Mace did not agree with him.

"Patriot Games" dealt more with the family

and really setting up Jack Ryan's personal background.

It was felt that that would be the best story

to go with first.

Only John McTiernan didn't see it that way.

He felt that the subject matter was trite

and didn't have the same appeal

as "The Hunt for Red October."

Losing John McTiernan would be a huge setback,

but Paramount could still move forward

as long as they had the face of their budding franchise.

- Black coffee? - I think I need some coffee.

Alec Baldwin was walking into the offices

and charming the hell outta everybody.

But there was a problem.

He wanted to go to do the Broadway play--

Was it "A Streetcar Named Desire"?

- It was. - He wanted to change

the shooting dates so he could go do this.

Back in the '90s, you would claim a date

up to a year and a half

before you actually had the film ready.

They had locked their dates.

It was a big deal.

As for Baldwin's Broadway aspirations--

It wasn't possible to do both.

Cue the negotiations.

- Margie. - Rather than

look for a compromise,

Baldwin not only held his ground,

he came back with even more demands, including--

Total script approval.

Alec Baldwin thought he held

all the cards, only--

As much as Alec was great in "Hunt for Red October"

it was really Sean Connery's movie.

- Any more tea, anyone? - As a result--

I guess he expected that when he left the shop,

the shopkeeper would run out and say, "Okay, you win."

Yes?

But Paramount didn't.

So that's it?

What a bad mistake, what a mistake.

This left Paramount needing a new star.

Luckily Mace saw the writing on the wall

and had already begun discussions

with a potential successor.

Harrison was at Paramount on another movie

that was in prep.

It was a modern day Western,

bringing Ford back to his roots.

And then they had some issues in prep.

I think their budget was going one way

and so that was shut down.

- Which means-- - When it didn't move forward,

he became available.

Available was only half the battle.

The question remained, was he interested?

Paramount said to send him the script.

Harrison's only response? A number.

Harrison wanted 9 million.

That's nearly a third

of "Hunt for Red October's" budget.

The ball was in Paramount's court.

All Mace Neufeld's team could do was wait.

It was like a Sunday night.

And I get a call, Baldwin's out and Harrison Ford's in.

Who had final approval over the director.

Ford had gone from

every director's actor of choice

to the one choosing the director.

And it was just the beginning.

Harrison wasn't easy sometimes.

Paramount Studios had granted Harrison Ford

final approval over the director of "Patriot Games."

- Among the contenders-- - Kenneth Branagh.

Kenneth Branagh turned it down.

- The reason-- - He wasn't sure

if an Irish guy that grew up in England

should be doing a film that, you know--

Is about the British-Irish conflict.

Yeah, fair point.

One country the Irish didn't have a problem with, Australia.

I started making films when I was 18

and then I sold parts to my friends.

The more they paid me, the bigger the role.

Sounds like extortion.

But soon Noyce would find international acclaim with

-"Dead Calm." - Is there anybody on deck?

Not that I can see.

The film would introduce Nicole Kidman

to international audiences.

- John Ingram, my wife, Rae. - Hi.

And put Phillip Noyce on the map.

Execs at Paramount knew of him

and he was put forth for "Patriot Games"

And suddenly I'm on a plane

to Harrison's ranch in Wyoming.

But it wasn't "Dead Calm"

that caught Ford's attention...

- Wow. - ...but rather Noyce's

- political drama. -"Newsfront."

As well as Noyce's B-movie outing,

A low budget action film starring Rutger Hauer

called "Blind Fury."

Nice doggy.

The two films couldn't have been any more different,

but Harrison liked both of them.

More importantly,

the films showed Noyce's range.

Harrison responded to the combination

of being able to direct action,

but also having a political bent.

So I was pre-approved.

To celebrate, Tom Clancy invited Harrison

and Phillip to his home in Chesapeake Bay.

It had been a long trip and I was jet lagged

and made the terrible mistake of going to sleep.

This was perceived as being an insult.

And that was the end of my relationship with Clancy.

That might be for the best.

Hopefully Clancy would respond better

to screenwriter Peter Iliff, who was hard at work

adapting the final confrontation.

In the book, you're following the POV of the bad guys,

penetrating the property.

Harrison Ford and director Phillip Noyce

disagreed with this point of view.

They felt the point of view should be from Harrison Ford.

The rework scene would pull inspiration

from one of cinema's greatest invasion films.

Crowbars up.

My wife takes all the credit for this scene.

She calls it the "Home Alone" scene.

It was her idea.

I have to give my wife, Ruthanne, credit.

Well, write it like "Home Alone."

Okay, dear.

Ah!

But for Ford and Noyce,

the home invasion was just the tip of the POV iceberg.

Peter Iliff's script was an accurate reflection

of Clancy's fevered right wing story.

Harrison was more interested

in questioning the way that power was used.

Something wrong?

There was a great deal of work

that then continued on the script

once Harrison became involved.

No one wants to upset someone so well versed

on how people die.

Tom did not like what Harrison and Phillip Noyce

was doing with the movie.

Clancy went after the head of the studio,

who was one of the most lovely men I've ever met,

Brandon Tartikoff.

I always wanted to say this.

- Hello, viewers. - Hello.

Clancy railed into him--

This was the day of faxes, there was a fax.

Clancy faxed angry,

"You don't know what it's like to lose a child."

But Tom Clancy had made

one quite awful miscalculation.

Brandon Tartikoff,

his daughter, had been severely injured in a car crash

in Lake Tahoe over the winter holidays.

Certainly not the way

anyone wants to win an argument.

When Clancy found this out, he was terribly ashamed

he had written this fax.

And Clancy now has to concede

because he's embarrassed himself.

We reached a ceasefire agreement.

So he agreed to stop denigrating us

and to hold his words on the finished product.

While Tom Clancy was holding his tongue,

Harrison Ford had a lot to say about casting.

Okay, we'll see you soon. Bye.

Alec Baldwin and Harrison were different ages,

so we needed to recast his whole family.

We were at lunch talking about the wife role

and of course every name was brought up.

And he picked Annie Archer.

And although Gates McFadden

wouldn't be returning. Jack.

You're going to miss the plane.

This development would lead

to another opportunity.

I am sure, Commander, there are reasons for a First Officer

to want to demonstrate his energy and alertness

to a new captain.

As for Jack Ryan's daughter--

Thora Birch was cast as their daughter.

Granted, I was only nine.

It was very nerve-racking for me

because I was already a huge Harrison Ford fan.

I mean "Indiana Jones."

In my mind, like, "Wow, if I could pick a father to have

to be my real life dad,

I think I'm going with Harrison Ford.

Definitely going with Indiana Jones."

For the audition,

Thora was assigned the home invasion scene.

I was just, like, having this

rapid-fire conversation with myself.

Like, "Okay, just go crazy."

And so I went in screaming like a crazy ninny.

And, but then at the end of the audition, I saw Harrison,

he kinda, like, turned around and he had, like, a little tissue

and I think he was batting a tear.

That's what some say.

So I was like, "Oh, okay.

I made Harrison Ford cry.

This is good."

And stepping into the role

of Rebel Fighter, Sean Miller.

Inspector Robert Highland.

Sean Bean was very new.

None of us knew who Sean was.

With the cast locked,

Harrison would stay hands- on every step of the way.

Harrison had opinions about every single aspect.

If there was a pot, Ford's finger was in it.

There was always someone looking over my shoulder

and that someone was Harrison Ford.

But Noyce would remain the driving force

behind pivotal scenes such as--

The attack on the royal car.

Noyce had painstakingly laid out the scene.

Drawing every shot in the film,

then editing that and re-editing it and re-editing it.

And then finally shooting what you're left with.

This was all great until--

Harrison had some script changes he wanted made.

And I'll never forget,

it's lunch and he has me sitting in the very car

that the machine guns had been turned on.

The windshield's all splintered with bullet holes

and we're sitting in there

and he just wanted a place to sit

where he could talk to me about the script.

And I'm fiercely taking notes.

All of a sudden, Harrison came in

with all these new storyboards.

Every shot, every move has been talked about,

has been agreed upon

and has been visualized in a storyboard.

Phillip had the unenviable task

of telling Harrison Ford

what he wanted just wasn't possible. Right.

Oh.

I believe what we did was pretty close

to Harrison Ford's storyboards.

Noyce was not the veteran filmmaker he is today.

What choice did he have?

I came to Hollywood having made three or four films

in Australia, but I'd never met the Hollywood animal.

While confidence in the director's choices

seemed to be at an all time low,

the only thing that truly mattered was the footage.

The studio did not like some of the earlier dailies.

We had a little bit of a rough start in London.

The studio did not like some of the earlier dailies.

The studio began to wonder,

was it a matter of production finding their sea legs

or was it the man at the helm?

Specifically the scene where Polly Walker

executes Jimmy Boy.

And some of the other stuff from that week

with Cooley, the bookkeeper.

And to you.

Polly Walker's wardrobe was all wrong.

The studio wanted her to show up

not really drawing attention, 'cause she is a spy.

She's got this red wig,

but she had this bright purple outfit on.

They made Phillip Noyce reshoot a week.

It was very costly.

The reshoot, she's wearing gray tones.

Good morning, Mr. Cooley.

Despite eroding confidence

in the film's director, cameras continue to roll

on "Patriot Games."

There's a sequence where one of the Irishmen

is assassinated by one of his rivals.

We'd written the classic, really tense

sort of action sequence in there

and Noyce decided to shoot it very subtle.

So it seemed to me that setting the story to music

that was on the TV

was one way of invigorating the storytelling

of this particular sequence.

Ford thought the approach was, well--

- Crazy. - The problem was

beyond storyboards.

Harrison complained to the studio and the producer.

What is the problem?

But for once Phillip had a supporter.

So I thought that was an interesting choice

by getting more in the minutia, the fight of it.

I said no.

Again, I was just told to rewrite it as told.

But Phillip wouldn't fall so easily.

I said, "Well look, you know,

why don't I show him the cut sequence?"

Wanna come down, look over what we got?

And I did a couple of weeks later

and all the problems went away.

Phillip was earning Ford's trust.

As for the script--

Clancy's novel also didn't allow the Jack Ryan character

to question his own values, his own morality.

You walk up to the IRA's bagman

and in front of his guys, you threaten him?

But questioning the status quo

was never Peter Iliff's strong suit.

You know, I'm just taking orders, you know?

I'll write it, you know. You tell me to write it

this point of view, that's how you're gonna get it.

When it came to portraying the CIA,

Phillip Noyce didn't just want to rely

on Tom Clancy's novel.

It felt like it was really important

that Harrison should be taken to the CIA.

Turns out the CIA were pretty big fans

of Tom Clancy, not to mention--

Marquee name Harrison Ford.

So, doors do get opened.

Tony Farrow.

Production had unprecedented access.

We walked corridors

that probably no civilians ever even walked.

I took with me my 11-year-old daughter

and it wasn't appropriate for her to go on the whole tour.

So they offered a babysitter.

Seeing the CIA didn't have a playroom,

they had to improvise.

There were all these people coming up on the screen.

They were white, sort of heat signature.

Well, she didn't explain heat signature.

But that became basis for the sequence.

- That is a kill. - And what came next

would make everything before look easy.

You wanna know what it is?

The finale of "Patriot Games."

A fight to the death between Sean Bean's character

and Harrison Ford's character.

He's waiting.

The battle was to take place

above the Chesapeake Bay.

Sean Bean and Harrison somehow are at each other's throats

and they fall in the water

and they're so busy strangling each other

that you're seeing a shot of two bodies sinking.

And then disappear into the ocean

in a vice-like grip.

And you don't know who's gonna rise to the surface.

Leaving the audience wondering, "Who was it?"

Well, I thought I wanted to know, but now I'm not so sure.

Well, it's Harrison Ford.

The understated ending

was a victory for Phillip Noyce.

We previewed that ending

and the audience were just not happy.

Jack, you listening? They felt that retribution

had to be more absolute.

Three weeks before the film came out

there we were reshooting the ending.

To do that, they needed the cast.

Where are you taking me, Marty?

And the Chesapeake Bay,

which happened to be on the other side of the country.

There was a real problem, we didn't

know how we were gonna do that.

The solution, Paramount's own backlot tank.

We surround it with a wall of black, probably 70 meters.

Wave machines, rain towers, boats on gimbals.

Phillip had everything he needed

to give the audience exactly what they wanted.

Still, I hesitated in giving the audience

the absolute kill shot that they had demanded.

Mace suggested it was time

to workshop a new ending.

And they were talking about having the fight in the boat.

David Ellis, our second unit director, made the suggestion

that perhaps Sean could fall on the anchor.

And that way too, Jack Ryan is not killing him.

It's an accident within a fight.

To make the premiere,

reshoots went on all hours of the night

and Ford did all he could to keep spirits high.

More coffee, anyone?

I'd love some. Yeah, I remember

two o'clock in the morning

he said, "You could do with a cup of tea."

So he handed me this cup of tea,

which was straight Scotch.

Is everyone all right?

With a brand new ending,

"Patriot Games" was released in June of 1992.

The first review was from Variety

and it was extremely negative.

I read it in the newspaper.

But perhaps the review

should have landed in the literary column.

It attacked the film for the politics

of the original novel.

And generally the reviews were positive.

However, the film was not as successful

as "The Hunt for Red October," as it turned out.

Nevertheless, "Patriot Games" was a hit,

pulling in nearly $180 million worldwide

on its $45 million budget, which was more than enough

to green light Clancy's next book.

"Clear and Present Danger."

Ford was on board.

I want back in. But it remained to be seen

what would become of the film's polarizing director?

When John Goldwyn, head of production at Paramount,

offered me the second film, I jumped at it.

The director and star were to be reunited,

only this time Harrison's dominating presence

would only be the beginning of Phillip Noyce's concerns.

And that led to an enormous quarrel

between myself and Harrison.

In "Clear and Present Danger,"

Jack Ryan would take on Colombian drug traffickers.

To prepare, Director Phillip Noyce had traveled to Bogota.

That country of Colombia was not a safe place to visit

Because of the drug cartels.

Unfortunately, Phil was there

to research drug cartels.

We made contact with some journalists down there

and they arranged for me to meet some of the people

in the Cali Cartel, which was the rival

to Pablo Escobar's Medellín Cartel.

I went to visit this woman who was the chief money launderer

for the Cali Cartel.

- And these two are--? - They're brothers.

Phillip had created a cover story

for his fact-finding mission.

We were making a film about an American gem dealer

that had worked in Colombia.

So his cover was that he was making a

- different movie? - Does that make any sense?

I don't know.

When she asked me about the character,

I forgot who the fictional character was

that we were supposedly making the film about.

And the next minute I feel the barrel

of an Uzi pressed into the back of my neck.

She said, "I don't know who you are,

but you better get outta here."

Unscathed and full of ideas,

Phillip Noyce returned to the US

eager to get to work on the script.

Harrison, Mace Neufeld, the producer and myself

all agreed we needed to do substantial rewriting.

Because even with the series screenwriter Don Stewart

returning for a third outing.

There was a lot of detail in the novel

that Don Stewart hadn't captured in his first pass.

So what we did, we divided the script up into three parts.

Steve Zaillian was tapped to write the scenes

with the president.

Let's turn this thing around.

While Donald Stewart tackled the scenes

- with James Earl Jones. - There's one of them now.

And that left one element

and that was the action sequences.

And those writing duties went to John Milius,

whose work ranged from "Conan" to "Apocalypse Now."

He was brilliant. He was outstanding in every way.

With the new script in place,

it was time to bring back the old cast.

The great James Earl Jones was coming back.

Watch your back, Jack.

Jones wasn't the only one returning.

Ann Archer was back as Cathy Ryan.

Well what does that mean?

Along with Ford's onscreen daughter, Sally.

When they asked me to return,

'cause I was just thrilled.

Until I read the length of the part and then not so much.

- Bye, honey. - Bye, dad.

New characters would mean new additions

to the cast.

That was my first Hollywood experience.

I was very nervous, which was good for Ritter.

I'm not gonna be the only one left without a chair

when the music stops.

Phillip Noyce says, "I think he looks too young.

Don't you?"

We're gonna get him some glasses.

We're gonna shave his hair a little bit.

We're gonna gray it.

All right, he's old enough now

to be the Deputy Director of Operations.

I call it the way I see it, that's my job.

And when it came to casting John Clark,

the no nonsense operative.

Revenge is a very, very, very dangerous motivation.

We'd worked with Willem Dafoe before

on John Milius's "Flight of the Intruder."

Well, don't worry, it won't affect my decision.

So it was fantastic to have Willem come on board.

Looking forward to taking some leave

with that young wife and kids?

Also joining the cast, Ann Magnuson,

who was an unorthodox choice at the time.

I wanna pump the paw of the paparazzi

who popped it.

I had been appearing on an ABC sitcom

called "Anything But Love"

with Jamie Lee Curtis and Richard Lewis.

I'm having a Kodak moment.

While the odds were against her,

Magnuson only needed to impress one person.

Harrison made the final decision.

Thank you, Harrison.

Inhabiting the role of the duplicitous villain,

- Felix Cortez. - Cortez. Cortez.

- Joaquim de Almeida. - Phillip asked me

if I could put myself on tape, well dressed.

And I put myself on camera.

And that's how I got the job.

No more senseless violence.

With the cast assembled,

it was time to start filming and--

I guess they're supposed to be in Colombia,

even though it was shot in Mexico.

Yeah, that's probably for the best.

I feel an Uzi pressed into the back of my neck.

You know, we wanted to create the violence.

We didn't wanna actually find it.

What they found

was the road ahead wasn't getting any smoother.

Production struggled to secure a location

affectionately known as--

We called it The Kill Zone.

A highly sophisticated attack on four or five SUVs.

Because even with Milius and Noyce

making constant changes to the script--

He came to the set.

He was working with Phillip on that script.

The location scouts had found the perfect street,

and with rocket launchers and explosives in tow,

all production needed was a quick yes from the city.

What they got was a quick--

No.

Hard to believe

the people didn't want to convert their local businesses

into a kill zone.

We looked all over South America, no.

Mexico City, no.

Quito, Ecuador, no.

I realized that it was gonna be impossible

to film in a real location.

We had to construct our own street.

We actually built that whole street.

Way out in the middle of nowhere

on a soccer field in Mexico City.

It was pretty much built with telephone poles

to support the facades of the street.

With the street built,

all that was left was blowing it up.

- We hired-- - Joe Lombardi

- and Paul, his son. - Who had been responsible

for those extraordinary explosions in "Apocalypse Now."

The Lombardis had yet to meet a set

they couldn't obliterate.

What do you think?

They designed these rocket propelled grenades

that really were rocket propelled.

It's crazy.

But then they were guided towards their target

by a line.

Did blow up as a car would blow up.

Real explosions.

Those real explosions caused real concern

when Harrison Ford insisted on really doing his own stunts.

Harrison always wanted to be as close to the action

as possible.

Ultimately, the dangerous sequence

forced Phillip Noyce's hand.

But a director's nightmare

is that you injure one of your actors.

And the recurring nightmare is that I kill one of them.

I said, "It's just too dangerous

for you to do this particular shot, Harrison."

Ford's response--

I did not sign up for this.

Sometimes there was things between Harrison and Phillip.

And that led to an enormous quarrel

between myself and Harrison.

Neither side would budge until eventually--

Mace Neufeld calls me in and he says,

"Listen, I can finish this film without you,

but I can't finish it without Harrison."

Harrison is the boss.

I mean, there's nothing you can do.

So he drove in the scene.

Go!

It was all him.

Fortunately, nobody got hurt on that.

After watching the dailies,

Phillip realized how valid his concerns were.

And we saw something

just in front of the windscreen fly past.

It was a huge pole

that ended up a hundred yards

over the other side of the football field

that we were filming on.

It would've gone through his window

and it would've decapitated him.

As it turns out,

building and blowing up a street takes time.

We only had four days on paper to do it.

It just was unrealistic.

As word of the drama in Mexico

made its way to Hollywood,

Paramount decided it was time to put their foot down.

We're in a little cafe with Phil Noyce having breakfast.

And he got this message from the studio.

"Due to new projections for overruns

in the first unit schedule

and the budget of the entire film,

and per today's conversations with Mace Neufeld..."

Nothing good involves the word "per."

"...the following is to be instigated immediately."

You've gotta be out of here.

They gave us an end date

and they said, "Okay you guys,

you've gotta get out of Mexico."

By Monday or any expenses occurred by the production

will be charged against you.

And I said to Phil, "What are you gonna do?"

So I looked at this message

and I'm thinking, "Okay, well this is impossible.

We're never gonna finish."

"Clear and Present Danger"

had run over schedule and over budget.

As a result, Paramount had given the production

mere days to leave Mexico.

So I looked at this message

and I'm thinking, "Okay, well this is impossible.

We're never gonna finish."

And then it rained.

You would think Phillip was a dust bull farmer,

but the rain was a miracle,

delaying the production's stateside return.

We had one sequence that required finishing,

which was Harrison running across the building,

hopping onto the helicopter and flying out of there.

Even Paramount agreed this scene was essential.

But we couldn't film it 'cause it was raining.

The rain delay gave Phillip the window

he needed to shoot the interior scenes.

Pick us up at the Lindo Coffee Factory.

All these action scenes with the soldiers.

Paramount didn't want him to shoot all these scenes.

Rain saved me, saved all of us from a massive mess.

Well, this is good news.

And it didn't just rain one day.

And how long will you be staying?

A few days.

It rained for nine days.

So during that nine days,

even though we were meant to be out of there after two days,

we filmed for another seven days.

Giving Phillip Noyce time

to film crucial scenes that had eluded him.

I will take care of the one that got away.

But that was great

'cause then I did all my ending altogether.

Including the pivotal final battle

between Cortez and Ryan.

But even though Harrison and Noyce

clashed over Ford's insistence

on doing his own stunts throughout the production...

I said, it's just too dangerous.

...Harrison had one surprising request.

He didn't want me to do the scene with him.

He wanted my double to do the scene with him.

Needless to say--

Joaquim was, he was mad about that.

I went to Phillip Noyce

and I said, "No, I want to do the scene

because a double cannot look back.

I want to do the scene. I don't give a shit."

He was mad.

But it was a matter of safety.

They didn't want him to get hurt.

And by him you would assume

they're talking about Joaquim.

Harrison was afraid

that Joaquim being inexperienced in a close quarters fight,

would injure Harrison.

Now, is this another of your theories, Ryan?

Eventually Harrison relented.

I don't know what said to him, but it was right.

While Joaquim literally won the fight,

Harrison always wins the war.

I'm behind Phillip and Harrison next to me

and I ask production person,

"Can you get me a glass of water?"

And he looks at me, "Oh, here, I haven't touched it."

So I take it, I put it-- Blah! It was vodka.

Right over Phillip.

Oh, they put water in your room,

but I wouldn't trust it. I'd stick with the bottled stuff.

I said, "Phillip, I'm sorry."

The potential prank war

would be cut short as the thing that brought them time...

- And then it rained. - ...had ended,

leaving them only one day left to shoot.

Harrison's extraction from the roof.

Ford muscled through the pain.

He was climbing up ladders

and running across a tiled roof,

so it didn't seem to slow him down.

And with clear skies,

it was time to roll cameras.

It also meant production was on borrowed time.

We actually split into two groups.

I took off with Don McAlpine

and we went up into the coffee country and we blew,

we blew up the house.

Start the music. Finding a house to film

can be a challenge, but finding a house to film blowing up.

Now, that's impossible.

The lady that owned it

had gone through a very bitter divorce.

Which was great news.

Well, for production.

Target is set.

We approached her about, you know,

maybe destroying the house.

She said, "Go for it.

I hate this place."

Target is acquired, and lift.

Two birds, one bomb.

But it wasn't that simple.

Unfortunately, we might as well have done it

through visual effects.

When the explosion erupted, the house was there one second,

and then a 10th of a second later

it had disappeared completely into a cloud of dust.

Boom.

Nothing was flying through the air.

It was just obliterated by dust.

Mother of God!

So we ended up having to add debris and so on to the shot

to make it look real.

But at the moment, Phillip had his hands full

with the extraction scene.

He said, "Roll the camera."

And I said, "No, Harrison, I'm not gonna do it."

Get outta my chopper.

The helicopter was gonna go up at an angle

and I wanted to make sure that Willem had a safety line.

Come on!

Once the safety checks were complete,

the scene was shot.

But Ford's patience with his director had reached its end.

For whatever reason, I asked for another take

and he didn't want to do it.

No.

But it was clear the honeymoon was over.

We need to talk.

After two tumultuous productions,

tensions between Harrison Ford

and director Phillip Noyce were at an all-time high.

I asked for another take and he didn't want to do it.

Phillip's hands were tied.

Harrison is the boss.

There's nothing you can do.

Which means--

We didn't do take two.

In March of 1994,

principal photography was wrapped.

On those two films, I had a free reign.

I mean, the only person that disagreed with me

- was Harrison Ford. - Good morning.

After some time in the edit,

Phillip thought it best to loop in Harrison.

He felt that we needed a greater connection

between Willem Dafoe and his character.

What can you do to help me?

Eventually Ford proposed a new scene.

And when Harrison pitches something, one listens,

especially when he's the lead in your film.

And so we filmed another scene

at Paramount in the foyer

of the Sherry Lansing cinema there.

- Sorry I'm late. - That was doubling as a hotel

- in Bogota. - - Phillip quickly incorporated

the new scene for Ford's approval.

And this time--

He's not happy with the cut.

And he wanted Paramount

to send an editor up to Jackson Hole, Wyoming,

for him to be able to, you know, try out a few things.

Which would ostensibly

cut Phillip out of the process.

I thought, well, this is the time

to play the only card I've got here,

which is to demand that we test.

If this didn't work,

the next time Phillip would see the film

would be in theaters.

So we took the film to test,

and the test went through the roof.

It was a much needed win for the director.

The movie started in the eighties

and went as close to a hundred as you could get.

And if it's not broke--

Harrison was happy.

The studio were happy.

As a result, the shadow of Ford

slowly lifted from Phillip Noyce.

And I got to finish the film exactly as I wanted.

In August of 1994,

"Clear and Present Danger" exploded into theaters.

"Clear and Present Danger" did extremely, extremely well.

The film turned its $62 million budget

into a $215 million box office haul.

It's also well-reviewed.

Good news for Phillip Noyce and the franchise.

Harrison and I were contracted

to make a third Jack Ryan story,

"The Sum of all Fears."

Here we go again.

If you don't recall

Ford's third Jack Ryan adventure, there's a reason for that.

There was no next Clancy movie.

I don't know what happened.

Harrison was having difficulty with the script.

He just had trouble with the story.

If made, not only would it be

the darkest Jack Ryan story,

it would be the darkest Harrison Ford film.

The premise--

The explosion of an atomic bomb

and the killing of tens of thousands of Americans.

But Phillip was determined to salvage the script.

I went with a writer to Harrison's apartment

for about three weeks

and then spent several hours each day

talking about the adaptation.

Eventually, Harrison just said he wasn't willing to commit.

Ford's departure was a huge setback

for the franchise,

but Paramount believed they just may have found a successor.

Paramount proposed Ben Affleck as the new Jack Ryan.

- Are you Ryan? - Yes, sir.

But for Phillip Noyce,

there was only one Jack Ryan.

What is this, the paper chase?

And so I had, I withdrew as well.

I mean, I loved seeing that

"Clear and Present" was playing every night at midnight

or thereabouts for years.

Could you play that again?

I know that because I have residuals.

And it should, it's a great film for that genre.

Together, the unlikely trio

of Tom Clancy, Phillip Noyce, and Harrison Ford

redefined the action thriller.

Get down!

They were films that were ahead of their time.

And despite the clashes between star

and director over two films--

That he's involved in every aspect of the films

that he makes, but he wields that power with dignity,

restraint, respect.

That is inspirational, not challenging.

As for Ford,

Harrison wanted to continue making sophisticated thrillers.

And having played the hunter,

decided it was time to play the hunted.

I didn't kill my wife.

I don't care.