Universal may have left Matt Damon out from its next Bourne film, but the actor leaves the door open to doing one himself...
If I were to attempt to shoot my own instalment in the Bourne franchise, the result would probably look like a You've Been Framed outtake, only with extra plastic guns.
Fortunately, Matt Damon has director Paul Greengrass to fall back on, and Damon, still seemingly unhappy with the manner Universal went ahead with the idea of The Bourne Legacy (the fourth Bourne movie, that won't feature Jason Bourne at all), is reportedly thinking of making a Bourne picture without the studio's involvement.
First things first: we should point out that Matt Damon had said he wouldn't press ahead with Bourne 4 himself if director Paul Greengrass wasn't involved. And when Greengrass passed, it was understood that so had Damon. Hence, Universel brought in Tony Gilroy to put together a new Bourne film, without the involvement of either.
Damon's still not particularly happy about how Universal went about all of this, either. "No one told me, literally nobody called me," he told Empire. "People think I have inside information, but you can get a sense of where I am in the pecking order."
Damon points out that Universal doesn't directly own the rights to the Bourne property, leaving the door open for the actor to, say, go to a rival studio and create a sequel himself, with Paul Greengrass at the helm.
"I'd do it again with Paul," Damon said. "Universal doesn't actually own the Bourne character, the estate does. So, technically, I could go to Warner Bros... and Universal could read about it online."
As things stand, then, Bourne Legacy is pressing on with Michael Clayton director Tony Gilroy holding the megaphone, and an as yet unnamed actor in the lead.
Will Greengrass and Damon team up to make a Bourne movie away from Universal? We wouldn't place much money on it, and strongly suspect that this is Damon making a point. But if they did press ahead, given the strength of the pair's previous films together, the results would almost certainly be worth watching.
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