Acclaimed largely for the Jason Bourne films, Matt Damon has cemented his name in the action genre even though only a handful of his movies follow the gritty and suspenseful plotlines. Following his stint as the amnesiac spy, Damon drew parallels with only one movie that reminded him of his time as Jason Bourne.
The $108 million budgeted film, The Martian, was directed by Ridley Scott. Thus, Damon had entrusted his faith to the genius filmmaker’s instincts. The actor was concerned because he had portrayed a similar role the year before. Nevertheless, the 2015 movie came to fruition as another of his box-office bangers.
Matt Damon wasn’t sure about The Martian
A year after Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, Matt Damon returned to playing a stranded astronaut in 2015’s The Martian by another great filmmaker. Hence, the 53-year-old actor contemplated if it would affect his acting portfolio. Enacting two roles in the same context was much of a gamble for Damon, besides the fact that he was mostly alone in the scenes.
Therefore, talking to Smithsonian Magazine in 2015, Damon was asked if he related the role of Mark Watney to any other projects he’d worked on. He correlated two of the Jason Bourne sequels to his experience in The Martian, claiming all three required him to lead the solitary scenes. He said,
“The closest thing would probably be the Bourne movies. I end up on my own, usually, in those, at least in the second two. But that was the appeal of this. It was so different from anything I’d ever done before. I have these long monologues to nobody. I never would’ve considered doing it had it not been for a world-class director. It’s a very risky thing to do, but I had faith in Ridley being able to strike the right tone for it.”
The Martian was a commercial success, raking in $630 million worldwide, per IMDb. However, if not for Alien creator Ridley Scott, Damon clearly expressed he wouldn’t have agreed to the risky part. On the other hand, his work in the Jason Bourne franchise revolutionized the spy genre in the early 2000s.
Also Read: Matt Damon Won’t Return to Jason Bourne 6 if 1 Condition isn’t Met: 5 Stars Who Can Replace Him
What led Matt Damon to quit the Jason Bourne franchise?
For an iconic film series that has Matt Damon as the face of the franchise, it was tricky to have him replaced for a sequel. After his third successful run as the CIA spy struggling with amnesia, Damon felt done with the films. What he usually speaks of in high regard, the actor had a rather dull experience working in The Bourne Ultimatum, per GQ. Damon criticized the script and the poor production.
Moreover, Paul Greengrass, who helmed the second and third sequels, getting replaced in the fourth installment, The Bourne Legacy, encouraged Damon to quit the series. Fortunately, both the Jason Bourne veterans returned for the final Jason Bourne in 2016. Notably, the Jason Bourne series inspired another legendary franchise, that is, the James Bond movies.
