Producer Frank Marshall denies the report that the push back in the movie's release date is to accommodate Damon's return.
- Jun 21, 2014
AceShowbiz - Matt Damon had revealed an interest to return to "Bourne" franchise and rumor recently floated around that he would reprise his role as Jason Bourne in the next "Bourne" film. Longtime producer of the franchise, Frank Marshall, was quick to squash the rumor.
Marshall told THR that the delay in the untitled new Bourne movie release was not to accommodate Damon's return. "It's simply not true," Marshall told THR, adding that the film would feature Jeremy Renner's Aaron Cross from 2012's "The Bourne Legacy".
"[Director] Justin Lin is working with Andrew Baldwin on an Aaron Cross script/story that they pitched us a few months ago," he continued. "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." The release date was pushed back from August 14, 2015 to July 15, 2016.
Damon himself said that he would only return if Paul Greengrass was attached as the director. "I've always been open to it if Paul Greengrass is the director," the actor told CNBC in May. "We've just never been able to come up with a story... It felt like such a good way to end it last time. Having said that, I love that character. I'd love to see what happened to him."
Greengrass directed "The Bourne Supremacy" and "The Bourne Ultimatum". Screenwriter Tony Gilroy took over the franchise in "Legacy" with Renner playing a new character.
