Matt Damon Talks Bourne and Soderbergh's Liberace Biopic« FirstShowing.net

Lately there's been a lot of chatter surrounding the offshoot from the Jason Bourne franchise thatMatt Damonhelped build with directors Tony Gilroy and Paul Greengrass. Though Damon and the latter filmmakerstepped awayfrom another sequel, recently it was revealed Gilroy wouldboth direct and writethe next installment ,The Bourne Legacy, butwithout the focuson amnesiac operative Jason Bourne. Well in an interview withEW, Damon cleared the air aboutrecent commentsthat made him sound out of the loop and bitter about the Bourne-less feature and even has news on the gestatingLiberace biopicfrom 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 Bournemovie. 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 asmart thing to do. It doesn’t interfere with Paul {Greengrass} and me doing a movie. As I understand it, if you think ofX-Menand thenWolverine, 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'veheardintermittentupdatesfrom directorSteven Soderberghsince the project was announced years ago withMichael Douglasattached to staras 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 Douglasrecently revealedhe was diagnosed with Stage 4 throat cancer. Well apparently Douglas isrecovering 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 onContagionwith {Steven} Soderbergh, and then I’m doing Cameron Crowe’s movie {We Built A Zoo} in the spring. And then we’replanning on doingLiberacein the summer with Michael {Douglas}. And I’ve talked to Michael and everything’s on schedule for him, which is great. Sowe’ve all cleared our schedulesand 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 doBourneor 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?

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