‘Jack Ryan Shadow Recruit’ Kevin Costner Refused Original Jack Ryan Role; 'Bodyguard' Star Never Had Sequels, But He Almost Guarded Princess Diana!

'Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit' features the latest incarnation of the popular Tom Clancy character. This time it is Chris Pine who will take the mantle, with Kevin Costner as his mentor.

However, Costner could have played the role himself, right with the very first Jack Ryan movie, "The Hunt For Red October." (The role eventually went to Alec Baldwin). Costner shared this little-known fact with Collider:

"There's a couple things. I might have been offered Superman 25 years ago, not that I was! But you can tell 25 years have passed because then they offer you Superman's dad. (Everyone laughs.) So, I was offered the Jack Ryan series back in the very beginning, and I couldn't do it. I think it was Hunt for Red October was the first one. I couldn't do it because I had already postponed Dances With Wolves for one year, and now I had a chance to do this Red October but I had already assembled this crew and I'd put my money into it, and then they offer me really a lot of money, more than I had ever seen to do Hunt for Red October, and I said, "You know, 'No' doesn't mean more, it's just no." And it was like oh, that silly little Indian movie. And then I started to think it was this silly little Indian movie! But I went off and did that, and then never caught back up with the thing. It seemed like different people played Jack Ryan or something like that. I think Jack Ryan passed me. I have to be the guy who says, "You better hurry up, I mean it, she's right behind you!" 

Since "Jack Ryan" has the potential to be a franchise movie, Costner was asked about the possibility of having a sequel. If he agreed to return, it would be, shocking as it may seem, his first! Hard to believe that he has never signed any multi-film contract. He elaborates (also from Collider):  "Well, really, I think that the second one depends on the first one, so I'm not really that apprehensive. I think they're not going to want to make one if it's not good, and I'm not going to want to make a second one if the first one's not good. So I won't be tied to something that's not working, that won't happen. If it's not working, why would any of us want to do it?"

Costner had monster hits in the 90s, and it was revealed that he was offered to do a sequel. One of them was for "The Bodyguard." The sequel was very ambitious, and the person he was supposed to guard, no less than THE Princess Diana. In an interview on the TV show 'Anderson' (transcribed by Telegraph UK) he reveals: "Diana and I had been talking about doing Bodyguard 2." (Costner was the producer of the film) "I told her I would take care of her just the same way that I took care of Whitney.

"She wanted me to write it for her. I said: 'I'll tailor it for you if you're interested.' She goes: 'I am interested.'"

Unfortunately, the script was finalized a day before Diana's untimely death.