Matt Damon is still optimistic that Bourne 4 will happen. But the actor, who’s starring in the upcoming Invictus for Clint Eastwood, made it very clear that he wouldn’t do the movie without director Paul Greengrass. (Greengrass, who directed both Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Ultimatum, dropped out of the fourth film which did not yet have a greenlight last week.) “I feel like someday it’s going to happen,” Damon said at the premiere of Invictus on Thursday night (that film bows Dec. 11). “We just don’t have a script right now and so there’s no reason to try to put a round peg into a square hole. People like the franchise, including us, but the only reason to do another one is if we can make it great.”
He adds, “Paul’s got to go to work, you know? He’s ready to do another job, and it wasn’t the right job now. I get it. I wouldn’t do it without him but I don’t feel like he’s done with it totally. I think he’d change his mind if a good script came along. If there was a great Bourne idea, he would love to do it. It’s a big part of his life, too. We’re still going to keep working together — and hopefully on another Bourne movie too.” (Greengrass and Damon also worked together on Green Zone, which is due out in March 2010).
Josh Zetumer, the young screenwriter who did a last minute polish on Quantum of Solace and is the writer behind the upcoming adaptation of Dune, is currently in the middle of writing a script for Bourne 4. It’s a parallel effort to the work George Nolfi did on the film but Nolfi exited the project to direct Damon in The Adjustment Bureau, which he will wrap in New York next week. — Reporting by Carrie Bell
Photo Credit: Jordan Strauss/WireImage.com
Oh thank god. Thanks for saying that, Matt. Stand your ground. Don’t screw up the Bourne series.
The Bourne series is terrible – just a bunch of name dropping – Milan! Paris! London! and no actual interesting plot – just one long drawn out boring one about his amnesia – I’ll admit the second movie was pretty good, but the rest were snooze-fests and the shaky camera angle is LAME
There’s a difference between not being smart enough to follow the plot and there actually not being a plot FYI.
Thanks AJ for calling out the craptastic shaky camera angles. Just shaking a camera around does not create real action or suspense, and way too many directors employ this over-used technique.
haha Zach; right on.
Why has nobody mentioned Doug Liman who directed the first (and still best) Bourne movie!!?? I’d love to see him take another shot at it!
D.Liman is said to be impossibly difficult and arduous to work with. Hundreds of takes, insecure, perfectionist, obsessive. The final product is usually polished, but at the expense of much sanity. This is what keeps people from hiring him – the sanity committment.
DOUG LIMAN is the director of the first and best film in the franchise. Lets start the campaign now . . . draft Doug Liman for BOURNE 4
Rumor has it that Frank Marshall took over as director on the first film due to Liman being impossible to work with.
There’s a reason Matt Damon, and many other actors, don’t want to work with Liman again.
Once you get past the fact that the movies DO NOT follow the books, it is a fun ride-Kuddos to Matt for keeping true to the new Jason Bourne
They should bring in carlos the jackal as a story line. That would be a good way to give a nod to the books since the movies strayed so far away from them.
Greengrass is as important to the Bourne franchise as Damon is. His directing style make these flicks a cut above the standard spy fare.
I’m not sure I see the big deal about Greengrass. I didn’t like how he handled the blurry fight scenes in Supremacy where I couldn’t distinguish who was who.
Good news! i dont wanna see another Bourne film unless Greengrass is directing. Doug Liman is the only acceptable alternative, but I’d prefer Greengrass.
I thought the last two stunk, so I could care less if Greengrass were to come back and direct another ‘shaky camera’ style installment. They should get Doug Liman, the person who directed the 1st movie, which is BY FAR, the best in the series.
I won’t watch any more movies that are filmed with hand-held cameras including the Bourne series or the Bond series. They make me sick to my stomach with all the bouncing around. I get the whole you’re there experiencing it idea, but I can go to Six Flags for the bouncy ride. I want to enjoy the movie, not throw up.
Diane,
You are just old.
hahahahahahaha
The only Bond movie with shakycam was Quantum of Solace… Casino Royale sure didn’t have any shakycam and the world was better for it.
But the only franchise where the shakycam works is the Bourne series.
BTW, the biggest offender when it comes to shakycam is Peter Berg. Friday Night Lights, The Kingdom, Hancock — they are all unwatchable due to the fact that the cameramen were apparently riding mechanical bulls when filming the movie.
Good for Damon, I’d rather see no sequel at all than one by some hack director hired on a whim and on the cheap. Not even sure Doug Liman could do the series justice after what we’re used to with Paul Greengrass.
agreed
“I thought the last two stunk, so I could care less if Greengrass were to come back and direct another ’shaky camera’ style installment. They should get Doug Liman, the person who directed the 1st movie, which is BY FAR, the best in the series.”
I liked the other two movies and I like Greengrass but I also loved Liman’s style too so I wouldn’t mnd if he came back.
I’m inclined to agree with Matt Damon. No Greengrass means no Bourne 4. Identity was good, Supremacy was great, and Ultimatum was absolutely fantastic. I’m content with Bourne remaining a trilogy.
Don’t have any clue what you’re all griping about – the shaky camera, etc. – I love the Bourne series and Matt Damon in it. Great action. Great music. I want them to do another one.
Use your eyes, Chazz.
Quite while you’re ahead I would say. I absolutely love the Bourne movies, but when studios just trying to draw out movies because they are popular they get old and usually the stories get weak. Bourne is one of the only series’ that I can think of where the stories and acting continue to be be top quality from movie to movie. Ultimatum was a great movies, and it had a good ending. I say leave it there.
DOUG LIMAN directed the first and best film in the franchise. Lets start the campaign now – draft Doug Liman for BOURNE 4.
I agree the first one is the FINEST is the franchise. Simple, straightforward, not all that jumpy crap that makes me want to throw up.
SONG OF THE YEAR:
Namedropping? Really? Lol, you stupid-a***d American.
I hate greengrass’s direction. The constant cutting and shaky camera makes me want to throw up my souvlaki lunch.