Bourne4 Tagged Articles at Cinematical

If you happen to be a handsome ex-CIA agent who out of a rabid sense of patriotism let the US government turn you into a tech-savvy killing machine with no memories and a penchant for throat chopping people in all manner of office building and slum around the world, Matt Damon would like you to call Universal Studios and give them a heads up as to what your life is like. See, Universal wants to make a fourth Bourne film, as does series star Damon, but they currently have no idea how to plausibly bring the guaranteed money maker back to the big screen.

Damon explained to Empire in a recent interview the holding pattern America's new favorite ex-spy is in, "you can't see the guy saying "I don't remember" any more, because he's lost and regained his memory three times already! And he's not like Bond, who goes on individual missions. I mean, you could make Bond movies forever, because you'd start each film at the beginning of a new mission. But Bourne isn't built that way, unfortunately."

If your first thought is to somehow have Bourne go back to working as a G-man, toss it out right now; that's already been considered and dismissed by Damon and co. However, I'm pretty confident they haven't thought of the following. If they had, Revenge is Bourne would already have a trailer.

While doing press for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, producers Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy talked up a couple sequels that have nothing to do with one another other than the fact that they probably don't need to be made. First up is the long-rumored Jurassic Park 4, which is a project that seemed to be permanently stuck in development hell. Finally, Kennedy admitted that we've probably seen the last of those dinosaurs: "No... I don't know. You know, when Crichton passed away, I sorta felt maybe that's it. Maybe that's a sign that we don't mess with it." Maybe ...

... but then that means Michael Crichton's life was worth more than Robert Ludlum's life, because folks have no problem continuing the Jason Bourne franchise. In fact, during the same press junket, Frank Marshall said that The Parsifal Mosaic (which doesn't include the Bourne character, and focuses primarily on the threat of nuclear war and a spy who falls for another spy) is a potential source for the fourth installment. Also, Marshall stressed that Matt Damon is not signed on yet, but said that once George Nolfi finishes the script, they hope Damon will hop onboard. Finally, the fourth film will not be based on The Bourne Betrayal, as it was written by a friend of Ludlum's. Says Marshall, "We want to stay true to the original character." Sooo, let's adapt a book that doesn't feature Bourne then and call it a Bourne story, right? Is that staying true to the original character?

[via Coming Soon]

There aren't many movie franchises that have managed to keep their fans happy as time goes on, with maybe the exception being those Bourne movies. I always thought one of the stand-out traits of the spy franchise was just how darn good all three films are. So it's no surprise that Universal wasted zero time in chucking the latest installment of the franchise into production. Variety now reports that Universal has hired George Nolfi, one of the co-writers of the third installment, to pen the latest addition to the super-spy flicks.

Confirmation of a fourth film appeared last spring, but both Greengrass and Damon were a little cagey on details -- plus the two had already started work on their Iraq drama, Green Zone. According to Variety, Universal is going full steam ahead with the project, and are considering it their "top priority" for the coming year. Nolfi only has a few credits under his belt, and sure, he did help write Ultimatum, but the bad news is that he was also behind the laughably awful Timeline and Ocean's 12, (arguably the weakest of the 'paper thin' trilogy).

Bourne 4 will be the first film that will not take its title from one of Robert Ludlum's novels, so I can only guess that Universal wasn't interested in using any of the newer titles or storylines. Bourne 4 is expected to arrive in theaters in 2010. What sort of adventure would you like to see Bourne take on this time around?

One flies, one runs and the other whips:

For a film that hasn't released anything official in weeks, we all love to talk about Justice League of America. I'm convinced I'll enjoy writing about this film more than I'll enjoy watching it. So the AFI awards were held in Australia the other night, and Moviehole reports JLA director George Miller was in attendance to NOT talk about Justice League. Well, that's not entirely the case -- he did say the film was still very much on track, with filming to begin early next year. So ... where's the greenlight? Additionally, Miller said the film will have a different name when it goes before cameras. A different name? How do you make a Justice League film and not use the words 'Justice League' in the title? Either Miller was alluding to a fake title being used in order to hide the production (a la Rory's First Kiss, aka The Dark Knight), or he's out of his f**king mind. You make the call.

Will there be another Bourne film? A fourth installment? Ya know, the one where Jason Bourne forgets ... his house keys! Coming Soon sat down with producer Frank Marshall, who was fairly optimistic when asked about a fourth Bourne flick. He says, "There were only three books written. I know they've written a fourth but it wasn't written by Ludlum. Look, we would love to continue the franchise. We just need a great story, and we're not going to do it unless we have a great story, but we are working on coming up with one, and Matt said to me, 'Look, you hand me a great script, I'm in.' Unfortunately, we're not able to do any writing at the moment, but we're all thinking about it." Here's my question: Why would they need a fourth book from Ludlum? It's not like the first three were ever taken into consideration.

Finally, in another interview with Frank Marshall over at MTV (the man is sleeping around with every movie site, it appears), he finally revealed who Cate Blanchett and Ray Winstone will be playing in this summer's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Do you wanna know? Do you really wanna know? Okay, here goes: As far as Blanchett's character, Marshall said she's "playing the villainess in Indiana Jones" and that she "makes a great villain." We all knew she was the villain, but there's your confirmation. And Winstone? Marshall described his character, Mac, as "a sort of cross between villain Belloq and friend Sallah. He plays an archaeologist competitor to Indy. Friend and competitor." Also confirmed was Jim Broadbent's character, who will play a "Yale colleague of Dr. Jones that sort of replaces Marcus Brody." Myself? I'll be playing the guy who cannot wait to see this freaking thing.