UPDATE: According to Variety, Universal Pictures has denied that Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass are in talks for the next Bourne film. It is possible that it's just a smoke screen, but for now you might want to put your Jason Bourne/Aaron Cross dreams on hold.
The original report is below.
Back in 2007 after the release of The Bourne Ultimatum, Matt Damon let it be known that he was not interested in playing Jason Bourne again without director Paul Greengrass at the helm of the project. Because Greengrass decided that he didn't want to make a fourth Bourne movie, it appeared that the Damon era of the franchise was over, and the reigns were handed over to writer/director Tony Gilroy and new star Jeremy Renner. Now, six years later, it appears that things are returning to the way they once were. According to sources over at Twitch, Universal is now in talks with both Damon and Greengrass to come back to the series.
The big question this raises, of course, is what happens to Renner's new character, Aaron Cross, who was introduced in last year's The Bourne Legacy. The site says that this new development isn't "an either/or scenario," suggesting that the next film will see both action heroes working together to try and take down the program that turned them into government-programmed killing machines.
This news comes just a few weeks after it was reported that Universal has hired Anthony Peckham to write the script for the fifth Bourne movie, which doesn't currently have a title. At the time we wondered why Gilroy - who has been a part of the franchise from the beginning - was not mentioned as being a part of the project as a director, but that could now be explained by the possibility of Greengrass' return. It's also worth mentioning that Damon has experience working with a Peckham script, as the screenwriter previously wrote Clint Eastwood's Invictus, in which the actor starred.
Greengrass and Damon last worked together on the 2010 Iraq War film Green Zone, but the two have since gone separate ways. Greengrass will soon be releasing his new film, the based-on-a-true-story thriller Captain Phillips, while Damon was most recently featured in Neill Blomkamp's Elysium, which came out earlier this month. The actor will next be seen as part of the amazing ensemble in George Clooney's The Monuments Men (which also features John Goodman, Bill Murray, Bob Balaban, Jean Dujardin and Cate Blanchett), as well as Terry Gilliam's Zero Theorem (though the latter is just a small part).
Until this story is confirmed by the studio it should probably just be seen as rumor, but do you think this is exciting news? Would you be interested in seeing not only Greengrass and Damon return, but a team-up between Damon and Renner? Answer our poll below and let us know your thoughts in the comments section!
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