Playing "Games"

While Alec Baldwin was giving current train wreck Charlie Sheen career advice...He used the opportunity to also talk about being replaced as Jack Ryan  after The Hunt for Red October on his blog at The Huffington Post--the reason for the switch has always been rather murky.

"John McTiernan, who directed 'The Hunt for Red October,' told me that during the period of the previous few months [after 'Red October' hit theaters], he had been negotiating to do a film with a very famous movie star [Harrison Ford?] who had dropped out of his film days before so that he could go star in the sequels to 'The Hunt For Red October'.


John further told me that Paramount owed the actor a large sum of money for a greenlit film that fell apart prior to this, and pushing me aside would help to alleviate that debt and put someone with much greater strength at the box office than mine in the role

I sat there mildly stunned because not only was I in an active negotiation with Paramount, but for them to negotiate simultaneously with another actor was against the law. All of this served to explain why the studio would not close my deal over what I thought were some relatively arbitrary issues surrounding the dates of production [for Patriot Games. ]."

Baldwin adds that he doesn't blame McTiernan but instead then-studio executive David Kirkpatrick,  who replaced both Baldwin and McTiernan.

I had no idea it was illegal to negotiate with 2 actors at once for the same role!!?--Without a signed contract the studio can do whatever it sees fit, If his claims of illegality are true...Why did Baldwin not sue the studio?