Perhaps it was inevitable, and maybe too good to be true. Latino Review has been on a hot streak of movie scoops of late, but perhaps their latest just got stymied. The rumor, as of late last night, was that the 5th Untitled Bourne Film, now delayed until summer 2016, was held over because Matt Damon would be returning to the fold as Jason Bourne to cross paths with new ‘Bourne’ franchise actor Jeremy Renner. Longtime Producer Frank Marshall has said in the past having Renner and Damon in the same ‘Bourne’ film would be his ultimate dream, but apparently that’s not happening for the next movie.
“It’s simply not true,” Marshall told THR today, noting that Jeremy Renner’s Aaron Cross from “The Bourne Legacy” is still the main character here. “[Director] Justin Lin is working with [screenwriter] Andrew Baldwin on an Aaron Cross script/story that they pitched us a few months ago. I talk to Justin all the time and the script is not ready. It’s a summer movie, and if we don’t start preproduction now, we can’t make next summer. Therefore, it’s a wise decision to move to 2016.”
To be fair, this goes in line with what we just said when the announcement was made about the movie’s delay. The studio and filmmakers weren’t ready with a script and to be ready for summer 2015, they’d have to shoot now. Clearly that was not going to happen and the writing was on the wall a few months ago when “Sherlock Holmes” writer Anthony Peckham was replaced by Baldwin (clearly the draft of that first script just didn’t land well with anyone).
Of course producers can always be lying –or at least that’s the line that every blogger uses these days when the narrative of a situation doesn’t go their way, but this isn’t the first time a Damon rumor has popped up and been refuted. Just earlier this year, a report surfaced that said Damon and Paul Greengrass were returning to the series, and that proved to be false. Damon keeps holding to the maxim he’s always held: “hey, we’ll do it if we have a good idea and Paul Greengrass directs.” Greengrass, on the other hand, maintains he’ll never direct another one again. Look, we wouldn’t be surprised if Damon eventually comes back for one of these films, but we do believe that the ‘Legacy’ has to continue with Aaron Cross first.