Here’s the thing about Tony Gilroy’s THE BOURNE LEGACY: it needs to have a strong lead. Matt Damon carried the first three films and whoever gets picked will have awfully big shoes to fill. Plus they’ll have to kick a lot of ass. I mean lots.
If the rumors are to be believed, writer/director Gilroy is meeting with quite a few of Hollywood’s young and talented for the Jason Bourne spin-off. As we reported before, the new actor won’t be playing Bourne himself, rather another assassin-spy who can break a few necks in his own right.
The list of rumored choices are:
Tobey Maguire
Josh Hartnett
Jake Gyllenhaal
Paul Dano
Joel Edgerton
Michael Pitt
Oscar Isaac
Luke Evans
Garrett Hedlund
Michael Fassbender
Benjamin Walker
Alex Pettyfer
Taylor Kitsch
Quite an eclectic group, huh? And quite a few big name stars in the mix, too. How would you feel about Jake Gyllenhaal taking over the franchise? What about Tobey Maguire, a man who’s already had his own uber-successful series? Then there’s choices like Michael Pitt and Paul Dano, definitely not the first names you’d think of when it comes to action. Personally, I’d love to see the series move in a different direction. No one can top Damon so they shouldn’t even try. Test the boundaries, take some chances, mix things up. Come on, Universal, make Paul Dano an action star!
Variety claims that no frontrunner has emerged from the pack and that Gilroy is hoping to get screen tests with all the actors before making his decision. The movie is set to start shooting this fall and will open August 2012.
THE BOURNE LEGACY is going to be interesting. Sure we’ve lost Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon but it’s looking more and more likely that both we’ll return for another BOURNE film at a later date. So how long will we get to spend with whoever they choose for this film?
