Filmed in Georgia: 'The Sum of All Fears' produced by Savannah's Stratton Leopold

Two things stand out talking to Stratton Leopold, the preeminent producer of several major Hollywood films and the owner of Savannah institution, Leopold's Ice Cream: One, he can craft the perfect scoop of butter pecan and, two, he has the scoop on the complexity and challenges of making a major film.

Leopold makes evident that it's close to a miracle that any great film is ever made. And yet, he produced an excellent one in "The Sum of All Fears," based on the 1991 Tom Clancy thriller, featuring reluctant and recurring intelligence officer, Jack Ryan. The Cold War-style story pits terrorists against well-meaning politicians in the U.S. and Russia by exploding an atomic device during an American football game. Political chaos follows, threatening WW III.

Clancy’s book is a dense read of intertwined plots and military hardware, so complex that no film could reproduce it, unless it ran many hours long ― making it unfit for any movie market, domestic or foreign. In fact, it's more accurate to say that the film is “loosely based” on the novel. Clancy himself said he appreciated the movie but it really wasn't the book he wrote, and that was true. The plot had to be drastically simplified, including removing the personal dramas of the central characters and changing the locus of the atomic blast, cutting about one third of the 900-page book.

The fits and starts of moving production

Among the major changes: the terrorists. Clancy’s book goes to great lengths demonizing Islamic extremists bent on destroying the West. By the time Leopold saw the script, Islamists had been changed into remnants of the German Nazi die-hards. Because the script for the film was still evolving and unknown to outsiders, Leopold was inundated – albeit politely – by the Council of American-Islamic Relations, an organization not known for diplomacy but rather heavy-handed, acerbic opposition to anything that criticized Islam. He couldn’t reveal that they had been completely cut out of the film."The Sum of All Fears" cost $68 million to make, with a cast of 120, including A-listers Ben Affleck, Morgan Freeman, Alan Bates and James Cromwell. Recreating an atomic explosion in Baltimore, as it does, the special effects were extensive and expensive. Leopold said he contacted the RAND Corporation to determine if the explosion and damage they planned to show was realistic.Leopold's job as executive producer was to keep the production on track and within budget. A hands-on kind of guy, he was on location daily, arriving early and leaving late during the 90-day shoot in Montreal, Quebec, from January to June 2001 ― just three months before real-life militant Islamist extremists within the al-Qaeda network flew American planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania. According to Leopold, films like "Fears" require elaborate preparation ― from finding good locations, building sets, lining up costumes, and casting actors ― long before the cameras roll in what would become nine weeks of filming followed by 26 weeks of post-production.

"We sat around for days eating great food and waiting for the phone to ring," Leopold said. When they said 'Go,' it was a mad scramble to resume preparations and start filming. "I even told James Cromwell, ‘Don't touch the walls (of the set). They're still wet paint!‘"

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Research and preparation

Leopold was just beginning all this in Montreal when a Paramount executive called and said, "Stop everything." The studio considered pulling the plug on the film entirely, because the budget was too high as it had been originally set to star Harrison Ford. Ford had played Ryan in the two previous Clancy adaptations, "Patriot Games" and "Clear and Present Danger." At the time, Ford had an unavoidable conflict with another true-to-life film about the loss of the Russian submarine Kursk.

Eventually, Leopold got to visit government offices and facilities to ensure they were replicating them correctly. This included a visit to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, where, among other things, external windows are offset so that foreign entities cannot intercept the sounds of voices within the building. The production team also ended up in the White House, for a general tour, with Affleck tagging along. Even Washington, D.C., was not immune to being star-struck as White House aides, particularly the young women on staff, went berserk over the opportunity to meet and get a photo with Affleck.After even meeting briefly with then Vice President Dick Cheney, Leopold recalled their secret service escort said abruptly, "We have to leave."  Leopold said, "Well, wait a minute..,." and the Secret Service agent said, " No. Now!"  and showed them the door.

Whatever his political preferences, "Fears" was a big step forward for Affleck, who had won an Oscar with "Good Will Hunting" which he co-authored with Matt Damon when they were both new to the scene. He had had a good part in "Shakespeare in Love" and then the lead in "Reindeer Games," a clever hold-up mystery, but this level was something new. Now he was in the big leagues.

For Stratton, the beat goes on. He has recently produced – but not yet sold – the true story of heartbreak and comeback in the country music world, starring Beau Bridges called "The Neon Highway."

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Movies made by Georgians Sum of All Fears Morgan Freeman Ben Affleck Stratton Leopold