Top drawer screenwriter
Tony Gilroy (
Michael Clayton, Duplicity)
has been brought back by Universal to write the fourth installment of the
Bourne franchise, now said to be titled
The Bourne Legacy. Gilroy will also put together a 'Bourne Bible' that we believe sets out a clear plan for the future of the series.
The Bourne Legacy is pegged for a 2012 release, and won't be based on
Eric Van Lustbader's 2004 novel. They are just simply nicking the title, which is pretty much what they did with the latter Ludlum novels anyway. Gilroy is dubbed 'the key screenwriter' behind the films series to date and his hiring is very encouraging for the future of a franchise that I guess is still somewhat up in the air right now.
Matt Damon has let it be known that he doesn't want to carry on the series without director
Paul Greengrass, whilst Greengrass has said that his two movies
The Bourne Supremacy and
The Bourne Ultimatum were the lot for him and he has nothing left to say with the character. The double whammy of losing the star and director left Universal scrambling and earlier this year
they talked about going the prequel/reboot route but with the hiring of old hand Gilroy, presumably they are looking ahead and not behind. My suspicion is that they think they can convince Damon/Greengrass or just Damon to return if Gilroy can write a killer script (and we've seen in the past that he can) or they will simply re-cast Damon with somebody else, and carry on where he left off. My choice for this has always been
Mark Wahlberg, not just because of him being the same age and sharing a physical likeness to Damon (though it helps), he is a good action hero in his own right and has tons of similar movies (
Shooter, Three Kings) on his CV - I think he could easily slip into the role where Damon leaves off. This is definitely a franchise that you feel needs to move forwards and not backwards.
And if Greengrass doesn't want to return then Gilroy is an easily replacement for him as he is now a proven director in his own right. Or even
The Bourne Ultimatum co-screenwriter
Greg Nolfi who has just directed Damon in
The Adjustment Bureau, or even Gilroy's friend
Stephen Soderbergh who has worked with Damon a bunch of times and with his tireless working schedule, could probably fit a
Bourne movie in quite easily. There's plenty of options for Damon if Greengrass doesn't return, plenty of directors he has worked with before and trusts. We wouldn't at all be surprised if he did a U-Turn and returned.