Since Jack Ryan’s going to be in diapers in his next screen jaunt, and producers don’t want some middle-aged chap’s golden globes peeking out through the sides of said poop-storer, don’t expect to see George Clooney in the role.

Despite apparently being very interested in slipping on the threads previously worn by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford & Ben Affleck, respectively, Clooney’s not going to get a look-in when Paramount begin casting their new Jack Ryan movie. Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura (“Transformers”) says the one-time Batman is – in more polite terms – just too darn old for the role.

di Bonaventura says the script (the first Ryan movie not to be based on one of Tom Clancy’s novels) has been written for a man in his thirties (Even Ben Affleck was in his ‘late’ thirties when he did “The Sum of All Fears”), which Clooney unfortunately isn’t.

“It’s for a young Jack Ryan”, the producer tells MTV. “I love George, but it’s not written for a man of his age”.

Thirties, hey? Maybe the oft-rumoured Ryan Gosling will be in with a shot? (But please, please, for the sake of the franchise, don’t go the Channing Tatum route). Um, who else might be good…. Scott Porter (“Friday Night Lights”)? … Orlando Bloom, maybe? (Nah, bit too wussy)… what about Nick Lachey? (Now you know I’m joking).. Oh, you know who might work? Paul Walker. I know he doesn’t quite have the acting chops, but he’s got the action chops, and his involvement might just open the film up to a wider demographic than literary/spy-movie fans. Someone like James Franco, whose name has also been brought up in relation to the role a couple of times, might also have cross-over appeal.

di Bonaventura, also relaunching the ‘Axel Foley’ franchise, is excited to be back in the Jack Ryan business. “It’s a great character. Very different [from] Bond or Bourne. It’s the analytical side of him and the everyman side of him that makes him… special.”

Apparently the script is quite good, so expect the new ‘Jack Ryan’ to head into the starting position pretty soon.