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Will Our Pint-Sized Bad-Ass Be Replaced?

By Dustin Rowles | Posted Under Trade News | Comments (16)

bourn555e.jpg

Deadline reported yesterday that Universal has offered the Bourne franchise directing gig to Tony Gilroy, who wrote the previous Bourne films and also directed Michael Clayton and what I thought was an underrated Duplicity.

With Gilroy on board, Matt Damon is now put in an awkward position. He stated previously that he wouldn’t make another Bourne film without Paul Greengrass (who directed the last two installments), but Universal is insisting that they’ll make it with or without him. Damon then will be forced to choose between his loyalty to Greengrass and his allegiance to the Bourne character, which made Damon the international superstar he is now. Does he let that franchise go to shit with someone like Matthew McConaughey or Sam Worthington, or does he return, reasoning that Tony Gilroy is a decent compromise.

It looks like Universal is playing chicken with Damon, and I’d like to believe that, if Damon calls their bluff, Universal will drop the movie. But then again, there’s hundreds of millions of dollars involved, and if the Atlanta Braves can let institutions like John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, and Greg Maddux leave for other teams, then I doubt Universal will have a problem handing the franchise over to that Lautner kid. Bottom line, motherfuckers. That evil little bottom line will bend you over anally probe you when you’re least expecting it.









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Comments

Given the deep connection I have with the Jason Bourne character as portrayed by Matt Damon (our similarities are eerie), I don't think I'd be comfortable watching another actor play him.

Sorry.

Donut, out.

Posted by: FordbiddenDonut at October 5, 2010 11:14 AM

I agree with you Rowles about “Duplicity,” I loved “Michael Clayton” I thought it was very cerebral and entertaining. I’ve said it long ago that Damon should forget about trying to be anything other than Jason Bourne, he was born (no pun intended) for it.


p.s. Hunter Mahan, you suck!

Posted by: Pookie at October 5, 2010 11:23 AM

I've said this before and I'll say it again: Bourne Redundancy.
If Damon makes this movie, I will make him eat those words.

Or I'll just skip it like I did the third installment.

Posted by: Uda at October 5, 2010 11:23 AM

What! ForbiddenDonut what do you mean about you and Damon’s Jason Bourne character have similarities? What, you were involved in Treadstone too?

Posted by: Pookie at October 5, 2010 11:30 AM

What! ForbiddenDonut what do you mean about you and Damon’s Jason Bourne character have similarities? What, you were involved in Treadstone too?


Posted by: Pookie at October 5, 2010 11:30 AM

Give my talents and skills, probably, unless there's a better explanation.

Posted by: FordbiddenDonut at October 5, 2010 11:37 AM

what I thought was an underrated Duplicity.

Aw, that's sweet. I was in that movie and I have a hard time defending it. I think it mostly needed more editing.

As for Damon and Gilroy, I think Damon might go back for him, even if it isn't Greengrass. Gilroy was awesome to work with, and so was Damon (I worked on the continually pushed back The Adjustment Bureau with him) and I feel like the two of them would work well together. So I'll be interested to see what happens.

Posted by: KatSings at October 5, 2010 11:52 AM

Even if they do make another one I won't watch it. The first 3 go really well together (and are preferable to an all-day watching marathon than the LOTR franchise in my house) and that's it. Plus the ending was so effin awesome.

Posted by: grace b at October 5, 2010 11:52 AM

KatSlings

You may be my new hero.

No #4 please.

Posted by: grace b at October 5, 2010 11:53 AM

Pookie,

Golf is the second-to-last sport I would've guessed you cared about (just ahead of Men's Lacrosse). Fuck Hunter Mahan, indeed.

Posted by: Kballs at October 5, 2010 11:58 AM

Kballs I love golf, as a matter of fact my teevee stays on the golf channel 24 hours a day. Actually my home is surrounded by ShadowGlen golf course in Texas.

Posted by: Pookie at October 5, 2010 12:13 PM

Ugh! It took me three times to watch the third Bourne movie because I kept falling asleep. We don't need another one. He found out who and what he is, where he came from etc, blah, yada. Where does it have to go? The Bourne Mediocrity 4: The Damoning.

Posted by: PaulterA at October 5, 2010 2:08 PM

Or maybe he can get married to one lady and have a child with another lady and call it The Bourne Paternity: Bourne out of Wedlock.

Posted by: Pookie at October 5, 2010 2:22 PM

I wonder why Damon feels so strongly about Greengrass. I hated the direction and camerawork on the second and third films. They were literally nauseating, and the fight sequences were incomprehensible.

Don't get me wrong--I like an awful lot about those movies. But I won't see another Greengrass movie on the big screen.

That said, I thought Michael Clayton was overrated, and I didn't buy Tilda Swinton's character at all. Duplicity wasn't as bad as the reviews would have it, but it banked awfully heavily on star power and chemistry, with very little to support those intangibles. So I'm not sold on Gilroy, either.

Posted by: KateNonymous at October 5, 2010 3:15 PM

Ok, after years of reading this site I am finally deciding to post. You know what would be a good direction for this movie, actually following the plot of any of the Bourne books. I have heard people bitch and moan about upcoming super-hero movies not paying enough attention to the source material but never once about how the Bourne movies basically had NOTHING to do with the original books. It was like someone walked into Universal, pitched the movie, gave Tony Gilroy a copy of the book, he read the first fifteen pages, lit the book on fire and said “hey I have a good enough idea of what is going on to write three films worth of pages.” I can understand updating the premise a bit to correlate with modern times, cell phones, email, digital cameras and all; but to kill off what is basically the main plot point of the second two books (Marie) in the first few minutes of the second film is a pretty big stretch. I bet Ludlum is rolling around in his grave. I hope someone in his family made some fat cash off of those films.

Posted by: JimmyBeam at October 5, 2010 7:44 PM

Duplicity was, I fear, rated exactly where it should have.

Bourne? I'd go there again. Fo sho.

Posted by: Lbees at October 6, 2010 1:43 AM

The studio will go ahead without him... and kill the franchise right out of the gate.

Damon has good instincts so far -- I think he'll pass.

Unless Gilroy writes the script and it's so fucking kick-ass no one in his right mind would turn it down... and while Gilroy IS a motherfucking god scribe... come on.

I could end up eating these words, and if it's THAT good, I'll do so happily. Otherwise...

Posted by: Maryscott O'Connor at October 7, 2010 1:33 PM