Clear and Present Star

Alec Baldwin--oh so hot, including a spread in the current Newsweek--is in “discussions” with Paramount about stepping back into the shoes of author Tom Clancy’s fictional hero Jack Ryan for the studio’s adaptation of Clancy’s “Clear and Present Danger.” If a deal can be set, Baldwin will continue the role of the fictional CIA analyst he plays in “The Hunt for Red October.”

“He did a wonderful job and we certainly want him,” says producer Bob Rehme, who holds movie rights to the Clancy drug-war themed thriller with partner Mace Neufeld and Paramount. But Rehme also says there was “nothing up front”--no advance deal made for Baldwin to remain in the Ryan role beyond “Red October.”

Rehme tells us that the studio is “clearly anxious” to move fast on its next Clancy film. So fast, in fact, that filmmaker John Milius is currently doing double duty: Wrapping up post-production on his July release, “Flight of the Intruder,” while writing the “Clear and Present Danger” screenplay.

“We’ll have a script this summer and hope to go into production next year,” Rehme says. “It will be a very big film involving locations on a couple of continents, but there aren’t any underwater scenes and not as many special effects--so it’ll be easier than ‘Red October.’