No matter how much praise The Bourne Identity and its two subsequent sequels drew for injecting fresh blood into the action genre with their slick, arresting editing and intelligent narrative, Jason Bourne has and always will owe a debt to James Bond – even if one could argue that the likes of Casino Royale and Skyfall were in turn informed by Universal’s blockbuster tentpole.
Whatever side of the fence you fall on, Matt Damon believes the studio’s Bourne franchise could take a leaf out of 007’s book when it ultimately recasts its title role, something Damon himself wouldn’t be opposed to.
Doing the press rounds for Paul Greengrass’ imminent franchise revival, THR quizzed Damon about the possibility of one day moving on from the series:
[zergpaid]“The only control I can exercise is over the [Bourne movies] that I’m part of. I’m the curator of them as long as I’m involved and that’s why I battled so hard to make sure that we got the same creative people [including director Paul Greengrass] to get involved in this one.”
In the nine years that lapsed between Ultimatum and now, both Damon and Greengrass were adamant that they would never return to the world of CIA skulduggery. But return they have, recruiting the new faces of Tommy Lee Jones, soon-to-be-Tomb-Raider Alicia Vikander, Vincent Cassel and Riz Ahmed for the summer blockbuster.
When the day comes to call time on his tenure as Jason Bourne, though, Damon reaffirmed that recasting the title role is to be expected, telling Empire that:
“I wouldn’t be up in arms if they found some young kid to play Bourne, but I’ve still got some miles in my legs. I don’t know how much I want to keep jumping on and off trains and doing fake karate, but there’s an argument for doing it while you can.”
Jason Bourne is due to arrive in theaters on July 29. If and when Matt Damon passes on the torch, who would you like to see assume the role of Bourne? Let us know by commenting below.