When it comes to the Bourne characters, I’m like a teary Meryl Streep in Sophie’s Choice, except instead of choosing between my children I’d have to select my favourite covert super spy: Matt Damon or Jeremy Renner? Damon is the original Bourne, the character that rewrote the action handbook for movies since the turn of the century. He even unveiled James Bond as really just a has-been. Daniel Craig’s a great Bond, but that franchise no longer sets the bar for the genre. Then Renner stepped in when the Damon trilogy wobbled to a close and reminded us why we love Robert Ludlum’s franchise. All seemed right, until Damon resurfaced with a possible new movie. This has left fans in anguish: with Damon back in, is Renner out?
Seems not, but don’t expect them to show up in the same film any time soon. Collider cornered producer Frank Marshall on this topic at a recent HBO event and he confirmed that Renner is still in the franchise, but on a different track to Damon. That means a crossover is unlikely. Marshall also explained why it took so long to get Damon and director Paul Greengrass back:
“It was really the challenge of finding the story. If you look back five or six years ago, when we were maybe going on, we just didn’t have a story. It’s taken this long for us to come up with a story that everybody responded to. Now, we’re moving forward.”
I’m glad to hear this. The Bourne trilogy didn’t collapse, but it didn’t exactly build up to a magnificent crescendo either and by the end it was all just a bit too convoluted for most fans. But not enough to not welcome the character back. Sadly Marshall didn’t say much more about Bourne or Renner’s trajectory, so I guess we should just watch this space.
Collidor also asked if Marshall would be involved with the proposed Indiana Jones reboot, since Disney now owns the franchise. Marshall is a founder of Amblin and had his fingers in pretty much every property Steven Spielberg created. That includes Indy, but Marshall says he has no idea what the plans are, nor if Harrison Ford will be involved. Frankly I feel Crystal Skull showed both that Ford is too old for the series abd that we won’t accept anyone else in the role. Maybe Disney will surprise us, but perhaps Indy is best left in the past.
Marshall also mentions The Goonies 2. Director Richard Donner has been shopping to have a sequel made and Marshall confirms that there are discussions. But there is no script yet and the project won’t go ahead without a good story:
“Yeah, [the story is] very important. You don’t want to disappoint the fans by just doing a schlocky movie. You want to do a real legitimate movie. It’s not going to be a sequel. In the Amblin spirit of Goonies, that’s what has to be.”
I’m glad to hear that. The Goonies was a great bit of fun and to spoil that with a cheap sequel wouldn’t be right.
Last Updated: January 9, 2015
Lourens Corleone
January 9, 2015 at 13:35
I’d accept Chris Pratt as a new Indy.