The Bourne Legacy,” the fourth movie in the popular black-ops franchise, has all the elements you’ve come to expect from the series. Except one, that is: Jason Bourne himself.
Isn’t that like going to see a movie called “Erin Brockovich” only to discover it’s about someone named Todd?
Not exactly. The movie, opening Friday, doesn’t feature the titular character, but its story line runs concurrently with the events portrayed in 2007’s “The Bourne Ultimatum,” the trilogy capper starring Matt Damon as an amnesiac CIA operative.
Tony Gilroy, who wrote all the films and steps into the director’s chair with “Legacy,” admits relaunching the franchise without its star is a risky move.
“It’s a pretty enormous gamble,” he says. “It’s the crown jewel of Universal’s franchises, and you’re going to take a title that has a character’s name in it and you’re going to introduce an entirely new hero?”
That new hero is Aaron Cross, played by Jeremy Renner, an intelligence agent who is part of a secret government program called Outcome that uses pharmacology to enhance soldiers’ brains and bodies. After the events in “Ultimatum,” in which Jason Bourne tears up New York City evading his former handlers, Outcome’s head (Ed Norton) decides to shut down his program and kill all its members.
Easier said than done, especially when it comes to Cross.
Taking the story in a new direction was less a choice than a must after Damon bowed out following the departure of director Paul Greengrass, who’d helmed “Ultimatum” and 2004’s “The Bourne Supremacy.”
“For those who love the franchise, I’m not replacing Matt, nor would I want to,” Renner says. “Matt is always the face of Jason Bourne and always should be. I liked this script because it was a very interesting way of continuing the story while honoring what came before.”
On his way out of the door, Damon had some uncharacteristically harsh words for Gilroy, saying in a magazine interview that the writer’s script for “Ultimatum” was “unreadable,” forcing the production into “chaos.” Gilroy reportedly also clashed with Greengrass during production.
“To the franchise’s credit, it’s been no secret that it’s been a complicated 13 years of making [the movies],” Gilroy says. “There have been lots of ups and downs, but the films have a real consistency and integrity to them.”
Gilroy, too, wasn’t all that keen to return. His involvement grew incrementally. After talks with Damon collapsed, Universal tried to figure out where to go from there, with little success. The estate of Robert Ludlum, author of the books upon which the movies are based, asked Gilroy if he had any ideas.
One thing of which Gilroy was certain going forward: “You cannot under any circumstances replace Matt Damon,” he says.
Treating the Bourne franchise like James Bond, in which a new actor takes over the lead role every few years would have been “an absolute disaster,” Gilroy contends.
“I never believed that that would be successful at all,” he says. “The whole thing we’ve been selling for 10 years is this honesty and this real personal identification with this character.”
Working with his brother Dan, Gilroy came up with the idea of enlarging the world of Bourne, expanding the mythology and adding characters. The conceit allowed a new story to be told, but in a world in which Bourne is still alive and still played by Damon — albeit off-screen.
Finding the new lead was no easy task. The filmmakers and studios wanted someone mostly unknown and auditioned a long list of hopefuls.
Their choice, Renner, is an up-and-comer, thanks to “The Hurt Locker” and “The Avengers,” but he still isn’t quite an above-the-title name. “The Bourne Legacy” could change all that, cementing his place among the A-list action stars, as the first Bourne movie did for Damon.
“Jeremy’s got danger and gravitas, and a real kind of masculinity, and he’s also got empathy and vulnerability and great emotional sensitivity,” says Rachel Weisz, who plays a government scientist that goes on the run with Cross. “Jason Bourne doesn’t ever know who he is and he’s searching for his identity, Aaron Cross knows exactly who he is and is very different.”
If viewers don’t reject a Bourne movie without Bourne, a sequel could follow. Renner is reportedly signed up for two more films, and Weisz says she’s game to return if asked. Gilroy says there are definitely more stories to be told.
“As blocked as everything was at the end of ‘Ultimatum,’ this feels wide open,” he says.
That said, he has no idea where a next movie might go, though he guesses it would likely pick up where this one leaves off, instead of going into the past or focusing on a new character.
“We keep telling people we don’t have a master plan and haven’t worked all this out, and no one will believe us,” he says.
Yeah, that’s just what someone steeped in the shadowy world of intelligence would say.