Tom Hardy Wanted for WITHOUT REMORSE; Kevin Costner Will Tie Paramount's Tom Clancy Films Together

The upcoming military thriller directed by Christopher McQuarrie (Jack Reacher) is reportedly courting The Dark Knight Rises star to play the lead role of John Clark, while Costner's character will help tie this film with Kenneth Branagh's Jack Ryan reboot

His code name is Mr. Clark. And his work for the CIA is brilliant, cold-blooded and efficient ... But who is he really? In a harrowing tour de force, Tom Clancy shows how an ordinary man named John Kelly crossed the lines of justice and morality --- to become the CIA legend, Mr. Clark. It is an unforgettable journey into the heart of darkness. Without mercy. Without guilt. Without remorse

John Kelly is coming off a soul-shaking tragedy, his pregnant wife has died in a traffic accident. Shell-shocked, Kelly finds his bearings after picking up a young female hitchhiker, a prostitute on the run from brutal employers who were using her as a drug mule. Together they help each other heal, eventually falling in love, and try to bring down the drug lords who are exploiting other girls in similar fashion. But when Kelly screws up, he ends up shot up and she ends up dead. After a detour to save a group of American POWs behind enemy lines, Kelly begins to systematically exterminate the entire gang and any pimp who ever crossed the dead woman’s path.

Shawn Ryan (The Shield) wrote the script for Paramount's adaptation of Tom Clancy's popular spy thriller Without Remorse. The book tells the first story of Vietnam veteran John Kelly who is later recruited into the CIA. Taking on the last name Clark, John becomes one of the US government's most lethal weapons and the leader of the international anti-terrorism task force Rainbow Six. The role of Clark has already been brought to life twice on screen, once by Willen Dafoe in the Harrison Ford led film Clear and Present Danger and once by Liev Schreiber in the 2002 film The Sum of All Fears (pictured).

Christopher McQuarrie, who is currently working on the Lee Child adaptation Jack Reacher starring Tom Cruise, has signed on to direct the film. Tom Hardy (Warrior, The Dark Knight Rises) is reportedly their top choice to play John Clark.

The studio is also developing another Clancy adaptation, titled Jack Ryan, which will star Chris Pine (Star Trek) in the title role and Keira Knightley as his wife. Kenneth Branagh (director of Marvel's Thor) will act as the film's villain and will also direct. Ryan is Clancy's most longstanding protagonist and has previously been played by Alec Baldwin in The Hunt for Red October, Harrison Ford in Clear and Present Danger and Patriot Games and Ben Affleck in The Sum of All Fears.

Kevin Costner has signed on for the role of CIA Agent William Harper, the man who recruits and mentors both Ryan and Clark, and will serve to tie the film franchises together into one cinematic universe similar to how Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury was applied to Marvel Studios' movies.