A month or so back Paul Greengrass announced his departure from the then-in-development Bourne Identity 4. As a result, Matt Damon also resigned from the picture. The filmmaker, who helmed "Bourne Supremacy" and "Bourne Ultimatum", reportedly didn't feel Universal were giving him enough time to put a fourth "Bourne" together. Rather than put together some rushed, still-pink sequel, Greengrass walked.
Shortly after Damon told reporters we've unlikely seen the end of Jason Bourne - just the one that looks like Will Hunting. According to the Oscar Winning actor, Universal were toying with the idea of a reboot - fixing on the younger, I.D-switching years of a pre-amnesiac Bourne.
Damon, speaking to Cinema Blend for "The Green Zone" this week, says he's certain the series will continue, even suggesting it could take a cue from another popular action movie series that's gotten by with using different actors in the same role.
''I think that they have a good way to do a prequel with someone else, and basically make it about the Bourne identity, the actual identity. What any studio is interested in is making it like an evergreen, so it can just go on, and on, and on, and it never will with our character because he's going to resolve himself and he's resolved his issues now. He's got his memory back three times. I don't think anybody wants to see me say, "I don't remember" again. But I think what we could do, is like, you know, so you can do some movies with another actor, anyway, whether it's Ryan Gosling or Russell Crowe or Denzel Washington, and he's Jason Bourne. And then at the end of his one movie, or two movies, or three movies, you see them getting ready to pass the identity on to me, so it just becomes like a 007, it becomes a name that they give this certain person who's uniquely positioned. Right? And so then, if Paul and I come back and do a fourth one in 10 years, right, we'll pass it on to someone else, and then it can kind of go on.''
Greengrass, reuniting with Damon on "Green Zone", also spoke about the canned sequel.
''...Contrary to reports, there was never an argument with the studio of any kind at all. ...I did spend some time thinking that I might [take on the project], and sort of getting myself to a place, you know, 'what would it be,' and that was really it. It's only when you do that that you actually find, 'you know what? I'm sort of gone. I'm on top of things.' We had a really nice discussion, they were completely understanding, and I said, 'You know what? We'll make some other movies.'"
