Edward Berger (Academy Award winner for “All Quiet on the Western Front,” also known for “Conclave” and the upcoming “The Ballad of a Small Player”) could have stepped into a glossy studio sandbox with “Ocean’s 14.” The director admits the temptation was massive — the chance to work with Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Julia Roberts, and Matt Damon in one ensemble. Ultimately, he walked away, but in a recent interview with THR, Berger further explained why he left the alluring offer, stressing that he respected what Steven Soderbergh (who directed the modern “Ocean’s” trilogy) built and knew it wasn’t for him. “If I had invented ‘Oceans,’ I would have done it in a heartbeat. That’s a great franchise… I would have loved to be Steven Soderbergh 15 years ago and invented the ‘Ocean’s’ [franchise]. But, unfortunately, I’m not Steven Soderbergh,” he said, laughing.
He admits the lure was real, especially for someone who never imagined having access to an A-list ensemble. “It was a massive temptation. I come from a small place. I’ve never thought I could have this opportunity, and suddenly, you theoretically can make a movie with [Pitt, Clooney, Roberts and Damon]. But then you realize it just comes from inside of you. If you betray yourself, then eventually the movie will feel empty because it didn’t come from an inner conviction. And then the audience will know.”
For Berger, the lesson goes back to his own career trajectory. He contrasted his debut with his second feature, where he learned the hard way what happens when you pursue an opportunity without conviction. “My first did really well. The first movie always comes from inside; no one will send you a script because you have to write it,” he explained. “I made the next one and had a much bigger budget, but I didn’t quite believe in the film. I didn’t quite crack it. The second one was just mediocre. That really got me down, and it probably took me ten years to find out why it was not great.”
He says the issue wasn’t effort or craftsmanship. “I did everything right. I worked hard. I shot it well. Then I realized, at some point, it was because it didn’t come from inside of me. It was an opportunity, and I thought I had to grab. I didn’t make the movie because I had to. I made the movie because I could. That probably would be the same with ‘Ocean’s.’ If I had the opportunity to do ‘Ocean’s,’ it would feel like I did it because I could — and that’s a great, great gift — but not because I had to.”
That same philosophy carried into Berger’s stance on ‘Bourne.’ When Universal Pictures announced in fall 2023 that he was in talks to direct a new “Jason Bourne,” he initially downplayed it a few months later, saying, “I’m not doing it right now, and I really don’t know what I will do in the future,” and noting he was focused on “Conclave” and “The Ballad of a Small Player” at the time. More importantly, he stressed the franchise itself wasn’t ready: “There’s no story yet… you can only bring it back if you have something new to tell. Something new to add, and that would probably be Matt Damon’s only reason to come back.”
Those comments sounded skeptical, but in his latest remarks with THR, Berger sounds slightly more open. “I’m developing a Bourne movie, and I will do it if Matt wants to do it,” he said with this one caveat. “If we can really have the feeling that we are adding something new to the great ‘Bourne’ films that were already. That will be necessary to make Matt want to do it, and to make me want to do it. I would love nothing more than to make a big-budget, expensive, fun movie that embraces the audience. But these movies are also hard to find because I still don’t want to make something that I feel other people have treaded 20 times.”
In 2023, we revealed that Damon and longtime producer Frank Marshall had been trying to self-generate a new ‘Bourne’ for years. They enlisted Scott Z. Burns, who wrote “The Bourne Ultimatum” and did crucial uncredited work on “The Bourne Supremacy,” to draft scripts. Several versions were drafted, but nothing materialized enough to spark anyone, and eventually Universal shifted to Berger.
For now, Berger’s focus is on “The Ballad of a Small Player” with Colin Farrell and Tilda Swinton, which has premiered on the current festival circuit. But his dual choices — saying no to “Ocean’s 14,” softening on ‘Bourne’ — underline the same point: he’ll only say yes if the movie feels necessary.
And just to underline how fluid it all remains: the most recent script for “Bourne 5” was written by Joe Barton, the writer behind Netflix’s “Black Doves” and “Giri/Haji.” But that version hasn’t been greenlit, which means the project is still very much in active development at this point.
Rodrigo Perez is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Playlist, which he launched in 2008. He has worked in entertainment journalism since 2000, including at MTV, and has written for SPIN, IndieWire, Pitchfork, Complex, Magnet, and various music, film, and entertainment publications over the past two decades.
