Actors Matt Damon (L) and Ben Affleck attend HBO's "Project Greenlight" Season 4 where they revealed this year's winner at Boulevard3 in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles on November 7, 2014. "Project Greenlight", which ran for three seasons before ending in 2005, is returning to HBO in spring 2015 with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck as Executive Producers. UPI/Jim Ruymen |
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LOS ANGELES, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Actor Matt Damon has confirmed he will once again play action hero Jason Bourne on the big screen, with director Paul Greengrass set to helm the film.
The announcement comes after months of speculation about whether Damon would star in the next Bourne picture. The actor stepped away from the franchise after 2007's The Bourne Ultimatum, saying he didn't want to make any more of the films without Greengrass, who helmed Ultimatum and its predecessor -- 2004's The Bourne Supremacy. Doug Liman directed the original 2002 movie The Bourne Identity.
After Greengrass announced he wouldn't direct another Bourne installment, screenwriter Tony Gilroy was tapped to helm 2012's The Bourne Legacy, which starred Jeremy Renner as a new character operating in the world established in the first three films.
Damon confirmed his casting in the next Bourne flick to E! News Friday night during a party to celebrate Project Greenlight, his producing collaboration with his longtime friend Ben Affleck.
"Well, [Damon's] going to be doing a Bourne movie next fall when I've just completely lost any semblance of physical fitness. So....," Affleck, who will soon be seen playing the Caped Crusader in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, told E! News.
"Yes, next year," Damon responded when asked for clarification that he would, indeed, be reprising his iconic role of Bourne.
"It'll be in 2016 when the movie will actually come out. Paul Greengrass is going to do another one and that's all I ever said. I just needed him to say, 'Yes,'" Damon explained.
