Last November, Universal Pictures announced a new “Jason Bourne” movie was in the works, with “Conclave” director Edward Berger in talks to direct. Big news, for both star Matt Damon and Berger, a German film industry veteran who only recently gained stateside traction for his take on “All Quiet On The Western Front.” But in a new interview with Cinema Daily US, Berger wouldn’t confirm if he’s shooting the upcoming actioner. So what’s the deal? Is “Jason Bourne 5” not as imminent as once suggested, or is Berger playing his cards close to the chest?
Berger was evasive about his apparent involvement with the project throughout the interview. “It’s really not clear whether…” he said when asked about “Jason Bourne 6,” and trailed off, though it certainly suggests, given the context of the conversation, that he may have meant to say, “whether I’m doing that film or not.” But then he gave a more concrete answer. “I’m not doing it right now,” he clarified. “And I really don’t know what I will do in the future.”
Well, the immediate future for Berger includes press for “Conclave,” his Vatican-set thriller, which is receiving early awards season buzz. But he’s already shot another film for Netflix that he’s in post-production on, too: “The Ballad Of A Small Player” starring Colin Farrell and Tilda Swinton. Prepping that one for a streamer premiere will keep him occupied for at least the next half-year or so. “There’s a bunch of [project] options and I have to bring out this movie, “Conclave” to the theaters, and I have to finish “Ballad” which [will] take me until next summer, and everything that goes beyond that is kind of beyond my comprehension,” Berger continued. That makes it sound like he’s simply too busy to consider “Bourne” as a distinct possibility right now. Why think about that project when so many other things are on his plate?
But even then, Berger’s comments about “Bourne” sound like the movie isn’t very deep into development. In fact, as he describes it, it’s more of a rough exploratory idea and nowhere near script phase, much less a basic story. “But you know, “Bourne” is a wonderful franchise, and if there ever were an—and I don’t have it— an element that hasn’t been told yet and a good reason to bring it back and for me, to have a good reason to have the feeling, ‘I can make the movie as good as Paul Greengrass did, because he did great, great films, and that’s a very high [bar] to jump over,” he explained. “And you really need a new agenda of bringing it back, otherwise, there’s really no reason [to do so]. 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.”
So maybe Damon’s comments on “The Late Show” this past February were a little too hopeful, because Berger makes its sound like “Bourne 5” isn’t anywhere close to shooting. And Berger also iterated that he only wants Damon to return to the role if Universal cooks up an excellent idea for a new film. “He’s not going to need money, he’s not going to need to make this,” Berger said about the actor and the Bourne character. “If he can have an inner journey, and if an actor finds that to play then that’s a wonderful challenge, but if you can’t find that, better not make a movie like that.”
For now, maybe it’s wise not to consider “Jason Bourne 5” an inevitability. But who knows? There’s an outside chance Berger has just been too wrapped up in other recent projects to circle back to whatever he apparently agreed to last November. Time will tell us the truth about this project.
