Could this be true? No Matt Damon for the upcoming production of THE BOURNE LEGACY? It’s indeed true! Speaking to Hollywood Elsewhere, the films writer/ director Tony Gilroy (DUPLICITY, MICHAEL CLAYTON) explained the details. Gilroy said he will be taking the name of the Eric Van Lustbader book in name only, the book’s story would not be used, thus making it a completely original screenplay. Gilroy says,
“This is not a reboot or a recast or a prequel. No one’s replacing Matt Damon. There will be a whole new hero, a whole new chapter…this is a stand-alone project. The easiest way to think of it is an expansion or a reveal. Jason Bourne will not be in this film, but he’s very much alive. What happened in the first three films is the trigger for what happens. I’m building a legend and an environment and a wider conspiracy…the world we’re making enhances and advances and invites Jason Bourne’s return [down the road].
“Everything you saw in the first three films actually happened, and everyone who got into will be rewarded for paying attention. We’re going to show you the bigger picture, the bigger canvas. When you see what we’re going and see what we’re doing it’ll be pretty obvious….but Jason Bourne’s activities in the first three films is the immediate trigger.”
The project sounds like a clever idea to breathe a little bit of new life into the trilogy. I can’t help but think that since the first three Bourne films were so clever and inventive, that Gilroy will have some big shoes to fill vacated by Damon. This is just speculation but it might also be hard for audiences to connect with a new hero in such a shadow of the old. Spin offs are common place for television and can also be successful but can film spin-offs be too? THE SCORPION KING did well at the box office but X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE didn’t perform that stellar. No release date has been set for THE BOURNE LEGACY but they can count on my ticket being sold.
