SARAH POLLEY TURNED DOWN PLAYING MARIE, WHO WAS A DIFFERENT CHARACTER AT FIRST. Matt Damon was the actor Liman thought best understood what he wanted to do with the material. Pitt was offered the part, ultimately turning it down to work on Spy Game. BRAD PITT, SYLVESTER STALLONE, AND RUSSELL CROWE COULD HAVE BEEN BOURNE.

Back in 2000, he told Liman he wasn’t interested in writing a screenplay about Ludlow’s books because they were just about “running to airports.” Gilroy insisted on just taking the idea of an assassin with amnesia and working from there. Gilroy was credited as a writer on all four films, and directed The Bourne Legacy. TONY GILROY MADE LIMAN TOSS MOST OF THE NOVEL AWAY. DOUG LIMAN FLEW HIMSELF TO ROBERT LUDLUM’S HOME TO GET THE FILM RIGHTS.ĭoug Liman, the director of Swingers, Go and The Bourne Identity, piloted his first cross-country flight by himself to reach Ludlow at his home in Glacier National Park.

Here are 16 action-packed facts about the franchise. Loosely adapted from Robert Ludlum’s books, Bourne was marketed and critically acclaimed as a more intellectual version of a shoot-em-up, violent spy thriller. Matt Damon starred in the first three of the currently four films that consist of the Jason Bourne franchise: The Bourne Identity (2002), The Bourne Supremacy (2004), The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), and The Bourne Legacy (2012).

The jason bourne movies