Several months ago, Matt Damon sort of confirmed that a fourth Jason Bourne film would be coming, most likely to be released in 2010. As his film projects keep coming, Matt is sort of rethinking the whole thing. Matt tells Parade Magazine in their March 12 issue (story via PR Inside) that he feels too old to play Bourne, that “after a tough fighting scene, the next day you wake up and feel your body more.”
Matt also confirms that the fourth installment is pretty much still in development, most likely because they’re not going to be working from a Robert Ludlum book, instead making a new Bourne story out of whole cloth. PR Inside has more:
Does Matt Damon think he’s too old to play Jason Bourne again in a possible fourth installment of the Bourne action films?
“Listen, when I did the first movie, I was 29 years old,” the actor, who first appeared in The Bourne Identity in 2002, tells Parade.com. “I am 37 now, and after a tough fighting scene, the next day you wake up and feel your body more. That’s just the way it is.”
However, Matt isn’t ruling out another return to the tough action hero after the box office hits of its two sequels, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum.
“We’re working on it,” he says. “This time it would be from an original script rather than a book by Robert Ludlum. But the director, Paul Greengrass, is busy and I am too, so we’ll see what happens.”
From The Press Association Hosted by Google
It really doesn’t sound like Matt is too excited about it. I can understand his ambivalence. Jason Bourne is Matt’s most famous character, and the original or “classic” trilogy of Bourne Identity, Supremacy and Ultimatum are so brilliant and wonderful, it would be messing with something great.
Matt has always taken his career very seriously, and though I’m sure he’s grateful for the Bourne films (and the paychecks), he probably wants to move on to other characters. It would have been really nice if Matt and the producers had realized that they ended Ultimatum on such a wonderful note, they should just leave it at that.
Note by Celebitchy: Damon can play Bourne well into his 40s, and I think he should. The Bourne films are in my opinion the best action franchise going. I was really hoping these quotes were old, as he said something similar while promoting the third film, but Parade bills it as a new interview.
Here’s Matt Damon filming scenes for his film The Human Factor in Cape Town, South Africa with Clint Eastwood on 3/13/09. Credit: BARM/Fame Pictures
CB I was going to say i’ve read those quotes before. He’s right the older you get the harder it is to get back up (I’m not even flying from rooftops)
The Bourne movie are really good. I have no objection to another Bourne. I hope it strays away from the vain of Fast & Furious 2 or Crank 2 or Transporter 3. That last Indie Jones movie Oy (HEY isn’t Stalone making a Rocky 17, what happened to that) No need to beat a dead horse.
Bit of a wuss. Look at old Harrison Ford dragging out at almost 70 to do another Indiana Jones. Buck up there Softie!!
He really seems to be in his element in the Bourne films. Pretty amazing stuff.
He doesn’t sound at all that he thinks he’s too old to play Bourne. He’s just describing the realities of life. It really does depend on if they can get a decent script. Without the plot being handed to them, it could be much harder. It also is going to be interesting to see where it heads, given the ending in the 3rd installment.
i really hope he does a fourth installment. i LOVE those movies, and i would love to see the backstory of him and nikki’s love relationship.
I personally think Nikki is the worst part of any of the Bourne movies! I think Julia Stiles was very poorly cast. 🙁 The best chemistry was between him and Marie in the first movie.
I loved the first movies with Marie- I was so sad when they killed her off.
As long as people keep watching those movies he might as well take advantage of their success.
Probably has more to do with concerns over a 4th movie vs “being old.” Anyone who has seen “Taken” knows an action film can make anyone look like a complete badass, even a 50+ year old.
Matt Damon IS Jason Bourne and its an awesome franchise. I say they should do the 4th one and see where it goes and then gauge if they should continue forward from there.
Can Bourne be another James Bond, in the sense of other actors playing the role?
I couldn’t tell if he was really complaining about being too old or as Raven said just describing the realities. Either way I’m not worried how bad he feels afterwards. Life hurts, he’ll heal. His public want to be entertained.
I just wish more men wore shorts that short. 😉
As an aficionado of Ludlum’s spy thrillers, I was dismayed at the choice of Matt Damon (26yo looking 20) to play the iconic spy. Daniel Craig plays James Bond in the way I always imagined Jason Bourne to be. A British made product tends to give this genre more legs somehow.
@Sunnyjyl – watch rugby… all the shorts are that short (Matt is playing a SA rugby player in the above photos). Better yet watch rugby league the shorts are even shorter.
The Bourne series is so well done. I am glad to hear they are possibly planning another film. I think that they could use his aging to benefit character development.
@Feebee Thanks for the tip. ;D
Maybe it’s the looking after the kids talking but wasn’t Keanu Reeves older when he did the last two Matrix movies? It’s doable.
Let’s hope he gets super-ripped for the last outing if he’s calling it a day after that.
I’m more worried about them trying to re-cast Bourne without Damon and Greengrass – it’s that pair that have steered it away for most of the cliches and kept it interesting. I hope they don’t do any more after they stop working on them – but I doubt it if there’s money to be made.
Damon is such a hypocrite! Why not just turn down the Bourne role – and its enormous paycheck? It’s just like his comments about how he is morally offended by excessively violent movies – yet every movie he makes features excessive violence. Maybe if Matt Damon could learn how to act, his career wouldn’t be dependent upon Bourne and Ocean’s sequels.