Despite all his statements he made during the promotion for last year’s The Bourne Ultimatum, Matt Damon will be returning as the amnesiac assassin for a fourth installment, reuniting with the last two Bourne films’ director, Peter Greengrass.
Oddly enough, the news that the film was in the pipeline at Universal Studios was buried midway through a Variety article on the studios upcoming production slate.
Although there are two remaining novels featuring Robert Ludlum’s character that have yet to be adapted, it may be awhile before the Damon and Greengrass will have the spy back in action. The pair is currently collaborating on the Iraq war drama The Green Zone. Greengrass’s next project will take him to another conflict, with the Vietnam War drama They Marched Into Sunlight. Meanwhile, Damon is signed to star in Steven Soderberg’s The Informant and is in negotiations for Clint Eastwood’s The Human Factor. Unless Universal fast tracks the film, things may not get moving on the Bourne sequel until close to 2010.
The article gave no indication if Tony Gilroy, the screenwriter on all three previous Bourne films, would be coming back for a fourth go-round. Although he lost in both categories last night, Gilroy’s nominations for both a Best Original Screenplay and Best Director Oscar may mean he will have plenty of other opportunities to pursue as opposed to returning to Jason Bourne’s shadowy, covert world. Gilroy is currently in pre-production on his next film, the thriller Duplicity.
