Matt Damon slams Bourne director/writer
By Alexandra Heilbron on December 13, 2011 | 14 Comments
Matt Damon, who appears on the cover of the new issue of GQ, dissed the writer of all four Bourne movies, Tony Gilroy. In an interview with the magazine, the A-list actor lamented that Gilroy was given a sweet deal in which he wasn’t required to turn in his best work, and so therefore, handed in a shoddy script for the third film, The Bourne Ultimatum. “It’s really the studio’s fault for putting themselves in that position,” Damon told the mag. “I don’t blame Tony for taking a boatload of money and handing in what he handed in. It’s just that it was unreadable. This is a career-ender. I mean, I could put this thing up on eBay and it would be game over for that dude. It’s terrible. It’s really embarrassing. He was having a go, basically, and he took his money and left.” Damon explains that the final shooting script was written by George Nolfi and Scott Z. Burns, who had to share the screenwriting credit with Gilroy. Ironically, Gilroy not only co-wrote the fourth movie, The Bourne Legacy, starring Jeremy Renner, but was hired to direct it as well. Damon later felt remorseful about his remarks, and called GQ to apologize, saying, “If I didn’t respect him and appreciate his talent, then I really wouldn’t have cared. My feelings were hurt. That’s all. And that’s exactly why I shouldn’t have said anything. This is between me and him. So saying anything publicly is f–king stupid and unprofessional and just kind of douchey of me.”
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What he is saying? I dont get it
I’d like to see a fourth installment of the Bourne series performed exclusively by the Matt Damon Team America World Police Puppet.
Well saying it and retracting it doesn’t make it disappear. Dumb dumb harsh comment actually. I expected better from him.
MATT !!! DAMON !!!
Matt seems like a stand up guy.. So he made a mistake, God forbid. I think he was just upset and needed to vent about it but did it in the wrong fashion. Its ok Matt I forgive you. : )
ugh ive never understood why people like him, he’s never done it for me
Let’s be honest. An actor is only as good as the script, the direction, and the talent. Damon is talented, the director has shown he has talent leaving the success of the actor and film on the writing. If the writer hands in a sub-par script and fails to accomplish the goal, the actor has a right to an opinion. Should he say it, NO, he’s a celebrity, do I agree with him, absolutely. Gilroy failed the task and needs to know. I like the fact that Damon stated that bc he knew Gilroy is talented the comments were based on disappointment of performance, not calling Gilroy a Hollywood bitch who sold out. It was a wake up call from a concerned actor to a talented writer. I would like to blast co-workers that I know are talented but over the years have became lax in caring and pride.
He’s not retracting the statement (saying it’s not true), he just regrets saying it in public rather than just to the writer’s face.
I didn’t hate the bourne ultimatum, but I don’t remember any of the dialogue.
I really liked all the Bourne movies and Damon as Bourne. When I heard they were making another I thought, awesome! Then I hear it’s without Damon……not so excited now. Maybe I’ll rent it, but really? A Bourne movie without Damon as Bourne? No thanks. And why would they make a Bourne movie without having the Bourne character? It doesn’t make sense.
I guess sometimes honesty is NOT the best policy.
At least it turned out to be a good movie.
So thats the story behind the bourne ultimatum movie. It wasn’t necessarily Matt’s acting. I actually felt that too that it wasn’t as good a script as it couldn’t been!
Danielle; You must read the book to understand…
I love the Bourne movies. I think that they are well-done action movies. I really don’t know if I will like them without Damon but I just saw that Edward Norton and Rachel Weisz are in it. That’s enough for me to go see it!