A new Jason Bourne movie is in the works, but nobody’s talked to Matt Damon yet
All Quiet On The Western Front's Edward Berger is in talks to direct
Hollywood, especially in these IP-obsessed days, has a funny habit of moving forward with ideas before any of the obviously necessary pieces are in place. It’s like you announce that you’re going to make a car, but you don’t really know how or if or when you’ll be able to get wheels. Hollywood’s latest car is a new Jason Bourne movie, and the wheels this time are Bourne series star Matt Damon—who seems crucial to the whole concept, but apparently is not.
This comes from Deadline, which says that All Quiet On The Western Front director Edward Berger is reportedly in talks with Universal to take over a new Bourne movie. The project is only in “early development,” but the idea is for Berger to both direct and “oversee development” of the movie. That means there are no writers or Matt Damons attached, but Deadline’s sources say that Damon “would be first approached to return in the iconic role once a script is finished.” In other words, they’re going to bring in Berger, they’re going to find writers, they’re going to write a script, and then they’re going to ask Matt Damon if he’s interested.
What if he turns it down? All of this work and planning goes in the trash? We know they can’t just cast someone else to play a Jason Bourne-type character, that would be absurd. Of course, the real explanation for this is probably that it puts more pressure on Damon to accept whatever Universal wants to do if the studio has already put in this work, but Damon’s recent career suggests that he at least has a pretty good handle on the kinds of things he wants to do. He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy they could trick into making a Bourne movie if he didn’t want to do it.
Anyway, if this does end up happening, here’s a reminder that already let Paul Greengrass make a “Jason Bourne comes out of retirement for one last adventure” movie that was literally just called Jason Bourne. With that premise and “a new guy does the Jason Bourne thing” already used up, what else is there?