Damon ready to send Bourne into retirement

Miki Turner Entertainment writer

LOS ANGELES - In the late ’90s Matt Damon and his buddy Ben Affleck were the newly crowned kings of young Hollywood. The Cambridge, Mass., natives had leading-men looks, were clean cut, smart (Damon had studied at Harvard) and were seemingly unaffected by the glitz and glam even after becoming Academy Award winners in 1998 for “Good Will Hunting,” an original screenplay they had co-written.

But unlike the crowned heads of Europe, Hollywood reigns are largely contingent upon box office returns. And after a series of flops in starring vehicles such as “The Legend of Bagger Vance” and “All the Pretty Horses,” Damon, who had earned a best actor nod for his role in “Hunting,” discovered that despite his golden boy looks, he no longer had the keys to the kingdom. He might have gone the way of countless other one- or two-hit wonders, but a really cool amnesiac dude named Jason Bourne saved Damon from becoming Paulie Shore’s travel companion to the abyss at the turn of the century.

“These ‘Bourne’ movies totally saved my ass,” a casually dressed Damon said during an interview at his hotel to discuss his new film “The Bourne Ultimatum,” the third installment of the spy thriller franchise that hits theaters Friday. “After six months of no calls, after I got ‘Bourne’ I was suddenly getting offers to do other movies.”

The other films that he’s sandwiched in between “Bourne” and the “Ocean’s” franchise don’t exactly fall into the blockbuster category. “The Departed” was a big film in the sense that it was a Martin Scorsese project, but typically his films don’t have mass appeal. And the other films — “Syriana” and “The Good Shepherd” were both critically acclaimed, but made no money.

“I loved the scripts,” Damon said emphatically. “And I loved doing them even though they all were not going to be box office successes.”

‘He works so hard’
That’s why it’s nice that Damon has Jason Bourne to fall back on. Critics are already claming that “The Bourne Ultimatum,” directed by Paul Greengrass, is the best of the three. In this one, Bourne, now fully aware of who he is, has but one goal. He wants to go home and kick the collective butts of everyone responsible for him getting his butt kicked in nearly every frame of the previous two films, “Bourne Identity” and “Bourne Supremacy.”

NBC News video Stiles is back with an ‘Ultimatum’ Aug. 1: Julia tells TODAY host Matt Lauer about her character’s connection to Bourne, filming in Morocco and if there could be a fourth film. Today Show Entertainment

And, oh yeah, naturally everyone involved is trying to kill each other. It’s sort of like Bad Will Hunting and there’s literally not one dull moment — ever.  Plus, Damon’s portrayal of Bourne in full tapestry is superb.

“He works so hard,” said costar Julia Stiles, who has been in all three films. “It’s amazing. He sets a tone on the set where everybody wants to make these films as good as they can be and he is tireless. He worked for seven months doing intense physical scenes and then also paying attention to the arc of his character and the storyline and making sure that every line of dialogue is right. And I think that he and Paul really collaborate well together and that goes beyond what an actor usually does.

“He doesn’t just show up and say his lines. He invests a lot in his films.”

Damon’s other costar, Joan Allen, concurs. She says the coolest thing about working with Damon is that he “gets it” and that it doesn’t go to his head.

“He’s just so relaxed about it and good at the same time,” said Allen. “He’s just a really grounded person. I just respect his work ethic. He works really hard and doesn’t take himself too seriously. His ego is incredibly healthy, he’s smart and he’s funny. It’s always great to work with somebody like that.”

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