Not to rehash every nitty gritty detail in the failed attempt at a fourth Jason Bourne movie starring Matt Damon, and a third directed by Paul Greengrass, but 'Bourne 4' seems to have had a lot of people try and fail to crack the story (maybe because it was more or less resolved with "The Bourne Ultimatum.") Back in the fall of 2009, it emerged that two people were writing scripts for the project, George Nolfi ("The Adjustment Bureau," 'Ultimatum') who was the preferred choice of Damon and Greengrass, and newcomers Josh Zetumer ("RoboCop") hired at the behest of Universal. You can read the long version of the story here, but the short version is that neither took off, the project collapsed: fast-forward three years and we got "The Bourne Legacy." But it seems Damon didn't give up.
Chatting with Deadline about his upcoming "Promised Land," the actor revealed that he approached a pretty big name to try and figure out where to take Jason Bourne next. "I quietly went to Jonah Nolan, because he and his brother Chris did such a brilliant job on Batman and that whole mythology," Damon said. "I just said, 'Can you put your brain on this? I can’t figure it out.' And he took a run at it and he couldn’t crack it either. Paul and I have been talking about it for years. And we can’t quite see what the movie would be. If we could get line of sight on that…"
So while we'll have to imagine what a Bourne movie penned by the guy behind "The Dark Knight," "The Dark Knight Rises" and "The Prestige" might have been like, it is intriguing to consider that he couldn't figure out a worthwhile way in. Again, Damon insists that if Greengrass wants to do it and they can figure out the approach, he's game to return to the series, but if/when that happens, remains to be seen. But do you think a Nolan penned 'Bourne' would have worked? Who should they ask next to try and figure it out? Let us know below.