Matt Damon’s ‘The Bourne Identity’ Was Once Re-Written into a Movie That ‘I Didn’t Want to Do’
When Matt Damon was brought on board The Bourne Identity, he found the film to be much different than other films in its genre.
But when the film was once re-written, Identity became everything he didn’t want to see in action movies.
Matt Damon felt that Jason Bourne wasn’t a conventional action hero
As many know, Damon once made an unexpected move into the action genre. But Damon’s decision to join director Doug Liman’s Bourne films would pay off. He went on to earn massive praise for his performance from fans and critics alike. Each of his Bourne movies have also been commercial hits, pulling in hundreds of millions of dollars at the box-office.
The films are often known for being just as thought-provoking and cerebral as they are high on thrills. Because of the nature of the Bourne movies, Damon found them different from typical action films in Hollywood. And the Good Will Hunting star was glad the studio let him take the character to interesting places.
“This was a studio that allowed and endorsed us to make this guy much more complicated than in a conventional action film. He’s a deeply flawed character and they didn’t back off that so I was in a good mood going to work every day because I had something to play, and something to do, rather than kind of twiddle my thumbs through a bland good guy role,” he once said according to MovieHole.
‘The Bourne Identity’ once changed into a movie that Matt Damon didn’t want to do
The Bourne Identity went through a lot of changes both after and during its production. Even on the script level, the screenplay was being fine-tuned into the film that would eventually hit theaters. Tony Gilroy, the film’s writer, veered away from the source material. But he still drew from a few elements he liked about the book.
“He kept the things he wanted in while at the same time going in a totally different direction because he felt that what the books were all about was kind of passé,” the Oscar-winner once said in a press conference according to Movie Habit.
But when Gilroy became unavailable to finish writing the film’s third act, he needed to be replaced. But instead of just finishing the third act, the replacement writer changed the script entirely.
“The writer who got hired to come in though went back to the book and did a page one re-write of Tony’s stuff,” Damon contunued. “So when I went to France I got this script that was unrecognizable from Tony’s script and unrecognizable in a way I was really uncomfortable with. It became the exact kind of movie I would pass on, that I don’t want to do and that I avoided doing because there was the perfect number of explosions and everything.
Eventually, Damon and the studio simply decided to go back to Gilroy’s script. This became the version of Identity that audience saw in theaters.
Matt Damon once compared ‘The Bourne Identity’ to an Alfred Hitchcock film
The Stillwater actor had great pride for the Bourne franchise from the moment he was brought on board. Damon considered The Bourne Identity to be a special kind of action movie, comparing it to Hitchcock’s films.
“The main point with The Bourne Identity is that it’s an action movie that’s character-driven. The violence isn’t gratuitous, the action in the movie is actually driving the story, and in between the action sequences there’s tension that’s building,” he said. “It’s just like one of those Hitchcock films that I love.” he said. “I think it’s tough to find an action movie that can be a relief from the genre, but there’s definitely room for movies like The Bourne Identity to come out that are just really great, surprising and fun.”
