Damon talks reprising Jason Bourne role at 45

After nine years, Hollywood mega star Matt Damon is reprising his hit blockbuster role as the infamous memory-loss-stricken CIA assassin Jason Bourne in the franchise series’ upcoming film.

The upcoming “Jason Bourne” film marks the fourth installment of the popular Bourne series and is slated to hit local theaters on July 27. The movie comes nearly a decade after “The Bourne Ultimatum” and 14 years since the franchise’s first flick, “The Bourne Identity.” 

Damon, along with his new costar, Swedish actress Alicia Vikander, were in Seoul to talk about the upcoming movie.  

“It was very exciting for me to come back as this character, I love this character very much and it’s had a huge impact on my life and my career,” said Damon during a press conference at the Four Seasons hotel in Seoul on Friday.

“It’s definitely more difficult to play Jason Bourne when you’re 45 years old than when you’re 29 years old. Because you still have to run as hard, you’re being pursued diligently … so that part was a challenge,” he continued.

“But to get together with a group of people and familiar friends, the same creative group and to make another movie together is really rare in our business, so the older I get the more I appreciate the chance to get to do something like that.”

“The big draw to me was the clear aspect that I was going to be a part of the Bourne franchise ... it was kind of a pinch-me moment when I stepped on set for the first time,” said Vikander.

“This is a film where we are able to set some really interesting subjects with social and political elements and backgrounds, but above anything, it’s an entertaining movie,” she added.

Damon has once again teamed up with famed director Paul Greengrass who directed both “The Bourne Supremacy” and “The Bourne Ultimatum.” The Hollywood star stated that had Greengrass not been the director for the upcoming new Bourne installment, he would have never agreed to reprise the role of Bourne.  

“To be reunited with Paul Greengrass was really the main reason for making this movie for me,” Damon explained. “I always said that I wouldn’t do it without Paul, and I’m really glad that I laid down that ultimatum so many years ago. He’s just a brilliant filmmaker.”

“We made another movie in the intervening years that wasn’t a Jason Bourne movie, called ‘Green Zone,’ and I am constantly looking for things to make with Paul because I just love him and I love his whole style and his approach, and I think it leads to really good work,” he added. 

The actor also went on to assure fans that the upcoming film will be more action-packed and thrilling than all its predecessors. In particular, Damon described a car chase down Las Vegas as one of the film’s highlights. It was a scene that forced the production crew to shut down a few city blocks every night at midnight for days.

“There is great action in this movie. There are some really great fight sequences that we worked really hard on ... and also we have a car chase in this movie that is bigger than anything we’ve ever done,” says Damon.

“We filmed this incredible car chase in which we actually totaled 170 vehicles,” he said.

The new Bourne film also stars Tommy Lee Jones as Robert Dewey and Julia Stiles, who is reprising her role as Nicolette “Nicky” Parsons.

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)