Matt Damon Once Shared He Was ‘Hurt’ When He Saw ‘The Bourne Legacy’ Being Filmed
Matt Damon recently added another entry to his Bourne films with the titular movie Jason Bourne. But Jeremy Renner’s Bourne Legacy may have further motivated Damon to do a sequel he thought he’d never make.
Matt Damon once shared why he returned for another Jason Bourne movie
Although Damon was fine with the way the original Bourne trilogy ended, there was hope that he’d return for another film. For years, Damon would interact with fans who’d ask him about reprising his role. Movie executives would invite Damon over for dinner to try and persuade him to continue the franchise. But Damon remained on the fence.
The Bourne franchise would once try to continue in Damon’s absence, however, with The Bourne Legacy. The spin-off saw Jeremy Renner play agent Aaron Cross, who went on his own adventures that were loosely tied to Damon’s movies. Renner once confided that although Legacy would be a new take on the franchise, it’d be familiar enough for fans to enjoy.
“There’s similarities and then there’s differences,” Renner once told MTV News. “I can’t get into what those are because it gives away plot points and I don’t want to spoil anything for anybody. But I think the picture will stay congruent enough with the franchise that Matt has been in charge of, and now I hope to make the fans happy and take them on another little road.”
Renner asserted that Damon had always been very complimentary towards him, but they exchanged few words about Legacy.
Damon, however, wasn’t sure how his own Bourne movies could continue after Legacy.
“You know what? They might have taken the Bourne series out back and shot it in the head,” Damon once told Playboy (via Parade). “If that’s the end of it, that’s just the end of it. I hope not.”
But Legacy also had a hand in convincing Damon to do Jason Bourne. A turning point came when Damon went to shoot the movie Elysium. He visited the set of Renner’s Legacy at the time, and his reaction to the film’s production shocked even him.
“I thought I was completely at peace with the three movies, and I was so happy with how good they were and what the whole franchise had done for my career and my life,” Damon said in a 2016 interview with The New York Times. “But when I saw their production offices, it hurt me in a way that surprised me.”
‘The Bourne Legacy’ sequel was scrapped after Matt Damon returned to the franchise
The Bourne Legacy was gearing up to do a sequel at one point in time. Fast & Furious director Justin Lin was tapped to film the next Legacy movie, with Renner expected to return as Aaron Cross. But Lin revealed not too long ago that the project was scrapped after Damon and Jason Bourne director Paul Greengrass returned.
“It was after I left for Fast 6 and Donna Langley reached out and said, ‘What do you think about Bourne and I was like, ‘Oh man!’ and like, Renner’s amazing. And to this day, I still kind of miss what we were working on. I think Matt was done at that point. In the middle of doing that, Matt and Paul Greengrass decided to come back,” Lin said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast.
Lin was excited about what he had in mind for the Legacy sequel. So much so that he hoped to include them in future films.
“I think back fondly on it, and there’s actually some stuff in there that I hope to be able to bring to life in other projects because it was such a great time working with Andrew Baldwin on the script and Jeremy, just hanging out and talking about his character was great,” Lin added.
