We honestly figured someone like Nikki Finke would be breaking this before us (and our source was a little surprised as well), but she’s been a little AWOL of late which leaves the door open.
Sources and friends close to the project tells us that Paul Greengrass has quit “Bourne 4” and walked away from the project. This actually happened more than a week ago, and we’ve been getting our ducks in a row before publishing this report (and again, we’re shocked Finke or the Wrap didn’t get wind of this yet and way before us).
If you’ve been following our Bourne reports of late, you know we’ve been hinting towards trouble on this project for some time now, but it’s not hard to discern even as an outsider.
Two scripts have been written for the project, which is not exactly a vote of confidence. One penned by George Nolfi (who co-wrote ‘Bourne 3’ and is currently busy working with Matt Damon on “The Adjustment Bureau“), and a few months ago, Universal hired another scribe, Josh Zetumer, to write what they are diplomatically calling a “parallel” script. Zetumer has been a Black List favorite for several years, and has “The Infiltrator” in development with Leonard DiCaprio’s company, Appian Way, and wrote Peter Berg’s “Dune” — he is hot to say the least.
A small part of the problem? Greengrass, who has been busy toiling away on “Green Zone,” was not consulted by Universal in the hiring of a new writer. This obviously did not make him happy, but that’s only part of the issue that’s been ongoing for some time (meanwhile, no one seems to love Nolfi’s version).
Matt Damon has already said that “Green Zone,” another Universal film that Greengrass directed, cost $100 million to make. But the price tag of this Iraq War-set thriller is actually much closer to $150 million — Greengrass has reshot several times (gets expensive) and has been tinkering away in the editing room for months spending Universal’s money and testing their patience. This was supposed to be a smaller movie that Greengrass made in between ‘Bourne’ films, something Universal let Greengrass make to keep him happy and part of the Uni/Bourne family, but you can bet when he said, “(expensive) Iraq War thriller,” the studio wasn’t exactly jazzed, even if Matt Damon was the star.
Going further back, “The Bourne Ultimatum” was a huge hit, obviously, but again was made in a similar fashion: very expensive and lots of reshoots because no screenplay was finished. Greengrass is now infamous for “finding the movie” or “figuring it all out” during the middle of production. As in, shooting lots of various things and letting the story naturally and organically come to the surface. He’s fine with continuing that approach on “Bourne 4,” but after the “Green Zone” expense, the buttoning-up of budgets across the board and the major overhead of ‘Bourne 3’ (that had to be a huge hit to be successful), Universal does not want to take that risk once again and the studio and director have been butting heads on that point ever since. Considering everything Greengrass did with the Bourne franchise, he hasn’t been happy how he’s been treated on “Green Zone” and how hard the studio has been riding him. It seems like the straw has finally broken the camel’s back.
So right now, they’re citing “creative differences” and we expect this to hit the trades at any moment.
There’s chatter about this all around CAA, and Universal surely doesn’t want word to get out. The conventional wisdom is that Greengrass and Universal can kiss and make up and in a few months they could be right back at it, but as a rather famous director said this weekend, “So, I guess they’re looking for a new ‘Bourne’ director, huh?”
What’s Matt Damon’s take on this? He’s “loyal to Paul” which means he’s likely not going to star in any “Bourne 4” film without him. Or at least not without his blessing and even then, it would have to be a spectacular script (and right now one of those doesn’t exist, but Universal has been exploring other options….).
So with the recent Comcast/Universal deal on the horizon (Comcast will likely buy 51% of NBC Universal from General Electric, i.e. proposing to take majority control of the movie company) what does that mean? Well, one of the first things Comcast apparently did was call Patrick Whitesell (Damon’s agent) within the last two weeks to ask if Matt was going to do the ‘Bourne’ film or not because it was going to figure in their valuation for the studio.
So there might be pressure there and it will probably behoove Universal to kowtow, kiss butt and make nice with Greengrass to bring him back into the fold. It could happen and it’s not unreasonable to think that it might. Meanwhile, Greengrass has been sniffing around a biopic of [redacted] that we can’t say anything else about.
Some have suggested Greengrass walking away is a “typical Paul move” and again, that he possibly could be back on the project in a few more months, but at the very least it does strongly indicate the tension and problems that have been brewing between the director and the studio for several months now.
“Bourne 4” is way off track. The studio, Greengrass and Damon’s schedule (which he kept open) was hoping to shoot the film in the fall of 2010. With no script, that’s unlikely going to happen (though anything’s possible). Damon said earlier this fall (before Greengrasss quit) that the film was probably 18 months away from even going before the cameras. During TIFF he said two years. — addition reporting by Kevin Jagernauth
Ha ha ha, even Greengrass is bored by the prospect of another extended episode of 24/video game with Matt running from one migraine inducing set-piece to another!
For Paul's sake, I'm really hoping Green Zone turns out good and takes bank. I loved the last two Bourne movies (it's what put him on my radar), but the idea of Bourne 4 always got a little groan out of me. Let's hope it doesn't brickwall him from major studio work after GZ.
I'd love to see him do something he's passionate about, so in the end, I'm down with this news (if it's totally true).
Why don't they just officially rename Greenzone to Bourne 4.
Problem solved.
Simples.
I really hope this isn't true and that Paul is still on board for Bourne 4. I mean Universal was nice enough to fund his war movie (Green Zone), which cost more than $100 million and we all know how bad war movies do at the box office. In my opinion, Paul owes Universal another Bourne film.
As much as I loved the Bourne Ultimatum, I felt the story wasn't as closed off as some may think. I definitely think theirs more story to tell in another Bourne movie. The first 3 films are great and this is one of the few rare trilogy where all films are good. I really hope Paul doesn't leave Bourne 4 because I'm almost certain Matt Damon would leave with him.
Besides, why should Paul care if Universal didn't tell him about hiring a new writer? I mean if the first script was bad than why would it matter considering the 3rd film didn't even finish filming with a proper script. I hope this is just a misunderstanding and that Paul returns to the directors chair for Bourne 4.
Heh, when I saw Greenzone trailer I thought it was basically another Bourne. Like Bash said, might as well call it Bourne 4: The Iraq WMD Chronicle. Methink they should leave the franchise alone & move on. It'd be hard to top Bourne Ultimatum anyway.
Playlist, what's the harm of telling us the individual that Greengrass is looking to do a biopic about?
Comparing bourne to that preposterous 24 show is a terrible sin itself, but also comparing bourne to a video game movie? Does the bourne trilogy have terrible action scenes, insipid dialogue, no plot? I'm pretty sure the bourne trilogy presents itself in quite a clever and intelligent fahsion with some of the most entertaining fighting/car/chase scenes i've scene in a long time. Then again, i appreciate a good movie when i see one, but if the bourne trilogy appears to you like a 'video game' then you either haven't seen it, or you have quite a low attention span/ maturity level. A possible third option is that you are an elitist snob who is just looking for attention, we get quite a few of those on the ol' internet.
Amazing how it works…Comcast calling Matt Damon to see if he's interested in a movie with a studio they might own. I wonder what percentage of GE, or even Universal, does the 'Bourne' franchise make up. And how many millions of dollars for GE is a thumbs up from Damon worth?
Great photos with the story too, adds a nice behind-the-scenes touch.
My vote is for another quality Bourne movie getting made. It's a great action fix.
While this is believable, I also remember when someone posted about the problems on the set of the first Bourne movie and how it was probably going to tank and kill the idea of doing two more movies… that never happened either. Greengrass is a good director but there are plenty of other good directors. They'll find someone and make a good movie…. or it'll be another Mummy 3quel and be a mess. Who cares? It's not like Bourne is as iconic a character as Indiana Jones or anything.
Agree with Tristan & Bash. Skip the headaches and officially rename Greenzone to Desert Bourne.
Am I the only one that doesn't like Paul "make an edit every .2 seconds" Greengrass? Bourne Identity was the best, then Paul came in and screwed up Supremacy (still a decent movie though), then redeemed himself with Ultimatum, but I still can't stand the way he shoots his films. The shaky camera and choppy editing during the action sequences make it impossible to see what is actually going on…it's just lazy film-making.
I also liked the way Bourne Ultimatum ended and would rather not have a 4th, but if it is a must, I am hoping this is true and we get a new director, but still manage to keep Damon.
The Playlist reports that sources close to the production are indicating director Paul Greengrass has walked away from Bourne 4 , leaving a project that was already kind of up in the air significantly up in the air.
Without Greengrass directing I am not sure if I would watch the fourth Bourne because his unique way of camera angles is what made Bourne different from the Bond movies. It made you feel like you were in the action….. Universal studio are stupid to realize that they make their money back plus release good films. Please don't turn Bourne into x-men, spiderman, superman, or the old batmans before the last two. I will not watch the film in protest for ruining it. *P.S. if you read the novels why don't you work off the theme of the "jackal"? You could have the Jackal trying to kill Bourne….. just a thought =)