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Matt Damon Talks About Bourne & Soderbergh's Liberace Biopic

by Ethan Anderton
October 27, 2010
Source: EW

Lately there's been a lot of chatter surrounding the new offshoot of the Bourne franchise that Matt Damon helped build with directors Tony Gilroy and Paul Greengrass. Though Damon and the latter director stepped away from another sequel, recently it was revealed Gilroy would both direct and write the next installment, The Bourne Legacy, but without the focus on amnesiac operative Jason Bourne. In an interview with EW, Damon cleared the air about recent comments that made him seem a bit out of the loop and bitter about the Bourne-less feature and even has news on the gestating Liberace biopic from director Steven Soderbergh.

First with Bourne, when the actor mentions that, "Nobody bothered to call me," he wasn't saying that he hadn't been aware of project and the franchise continuing without him. Here's what Damon had to say about his comments and his future with the Bourne franchise:

"I was in a roundtable and they were, like, badgering me about the next Bourne movie. And I was like, 'I don’t know, guys, they didn’t call me. They’re doing another movie with Tony.' I think it’s a smart thing to do. It doesn’t interfere with Paul [Greengrass] and me doing a movie. As I understand it, if you think of X-Men and then Wolverine, it’s just that process in reverse. Tony doesn’t want to hurt the Bourne story. So as I understand it, Jason Bourne is alive in the world that Tony’s going to create. I don’t appear in it, but it’s very much that world. As far as Paul and I are concerned, as long as there’s room for us to come in and do another one, we’re thrilled."

So though Damon isn't doing another Bourne sequel now, apparently he and Greengrass aren't adverse to coming back to the series down the road, and that's definitely some good news. The real question will be whether audiences want to follow another character in the Bourne universe, with a Bourne title, but no Jason Bourne in the story. I guess we'll have to wait and find out.

On the Liberace biopic front, we've heard intermittent updates from director Steven Soderbergh since the project was announced years ago with Michael Douglas attached to star as the iconic pianist. Since Damon is still lined up to play Scott Thorson, one of Liberace's bitter companions, the actor had some relieving news about the gestating project which has had an uncertain future since Douglas recently revealed he was diagnosed with Stage 4 throat cancer. Well apparently Douglas is recovering just fine, is primed to get back to work, and has cleared his schedule to shoot the Liberace biopic next summer. Here's what Damon had to say about that and his upcoming slate:

"I’m doing a few weeks on Contagion with [Steven] Soderbergh, and then I’m doing Cameron Crowe’s movie [We Built A Zoo] in the spring. And then we’re planning on doing Liberace in the summer with Michael [Douglas]. And I’ve talked to Michael and everything’s on schedule for him, which is great. So we’ve all cleared our schedules and are all really excited about that happening. And then the fall’s wide open. So I’d love to do something with Paul, whether we do Bourne or something else. I know he’s been looking for something."

So there you have it. Bourne isn't entirely out of the question for Damon or Greengrass sometime down the road and Soderbergh's Liberace biopic is on track to shoot next year. It's great to hear that Douglas has recovered so quickly and is eager to get back on screen. Meanwhile, Damon has quite an impressive variety in the films on his future slate, and I honestly can't wait to see every single one of them. How about you?

Filed under Movie News, Opinions

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