Universal StudiosYou know the rumor about Matt Damon possibly returning for the next film in the Bourne franchise?
Just a rumor, sorry.
"It's simply not true," executive producer Frank Marshall told The Hollywood Reporter, bursting the bubble of those who were hoping that Damon didn't want to sit back and let Jeremy Renner have all the super-spy fun.
The fifth movie in the series, first based on and now inspired by the novel series by the late Robert Ludlum, will instead again focus on the Aaron Cross character played by Renner in The Bourne Legacy.
Meanwhile, the "news" that Damon will not be reprising the role of Jason Bourne comes on the heels of Universal Pictures' announcement that the release date for the as-yet untitled next chapter in the saga has been bumped from Aug. 14, 2015, to July 15, 2016.
Justin Lin (Fast & Furious 6) is on board to direct the screenplay from Andrew Baldwin.
"I talk to Justin all the time and the script is not ready," Marshall also told THR, refuting the speculation that the date was pushed back to accommodate Damon's schedule. "It's a summer movie, and if we don't start preproduction now, we can't make next summer. Therefore, it's a wise decision to move to 2016."
Damon had previously said that he was "open" to another Bourne movie if Paul Greengrass, who directed the sequels The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum, was once again behind the camera.
And the British filmmaker, who most recently helmed Captain Phillips, told Deadline in December about the possibility of returning to the franchise: "I can't speak for Matt, but I agonized for a long period of time about it. In the end I felt I had given it my all in two films I'm very proud of and didn't want to make another if I didn't believe it could be as good if not better."
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