HOPE #METOO HAS LASTING CHANGE: JOHN

As the #MeToo movement has taken the world by a storm, bringing the spotlight on the issues of sexual harassment, especially at workplaces, Hollywood actor John Krasinski hopes it’s not just a temporary phenomenon.

“I think the fear in any movement like this is that it would be just temporary. And I think (it’s) really exciting to see that we’re really trying — certainly in our industry, but I hope in every industry — to really bear down on how to make permanent change and not just make it something that we’re talking about for a period of time,” he says.

The #MeToo movement has gone viral since last year as a hashtag on social media used to demonstrate the widespread prevalence of sexual assault and harassment, especially in the workplace. Many Hollywood and Bollywood celebrities have supported the movement.

Krasinki, who is married to actor Emily Blunt, a strong advocate of women empowerment and gender equality, says that while a lot has been said about sexual harassment, it’s important to find the important pieces of the whole conversation in order to move forward.

“It’s a vital, important movement for sure. For me, the important thing is sifting through all that has been said and finding out the really important pieces to move forward and actually bring great change,” says the actor. whose series Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan will soon go live.

Krasinski is all set to redefine the famous Tom Clancy character Jack Ryan. He was intimidated by the fact that the character was earlier played on the big-screen by Hollywood veterans like Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford.

“It was definitely intimidating. I mean those are not just any actors; those are huge movie stars. It was intimidating (but) the way I sawitwasthatitwasabitofa free pass because we were changing the format so dramatically,” says Krasinski.

“That really was one of the key reasons why I decided to do the part... because of this idea that ‘maybe movies is not the best format’ for Jack Ryan, because it’s only two hours whereas Clancy books are really thick and very deep with details and specifics,” he says. The Jack Ryan books, authored by Tom Clancy, were bestsellers in the ’80s and ’90s.

He adds that the longer format helped him to explore the character in a way that the other actors couldn’t. “So, because they were changing theideaofhowtodoitso drastically, I feel like I am already lucky enough to be doing something different than them,” said the actor who directed and starred in the critically-acclaimed film A Quiet Place.