BOURNE 4 Tries Again...

Merrick here...
Writer/director Tony Gilroy, who scripted the three BOURNE theatrical movies to date, has been brought in to beat a fourth installment of the franchise into shape - a task which also includes his creating a "franchise bible" to guide future sequels. The new film is currently called THE BOURNE LEGACY. Despite sharing its title, the picture evidently won't use Eric Lustbader's BOURNE book (available HERE) as source material.

“Bourne Legacy” is a book written by Eric Lustbader in Ludlum’s “Bourne” book series, but the effort will not be based on this book. Instead, Gilroy will craft a new story for his treatment, and will also disregard the two scripts already written by Josh Zetumer and George Nolfi (the two were hired last summer to write parallel scripts for the fourth installment). The scribe, a veteran of the franchise who worked on all three movies, will also write the franchise “Bible.”

...says THR HERE. Many shenanigans have swirled around BOURNE 4 with a script or two already having been written, the departure of Paul Greengrass from the project, an implication that Matt Damon would not return unless Greengrass was directing the picture, and indications that The Powers That Be would reboot the whole shebang with a younger actor in a pic more closely resembling an origin story. Gilroy's assignment to this treatment may well change the equation for Greengrass, Damon, etc. - it'll be interesting to see if his being around will bring this project the gravity it needs to stay together. Anyone out there see the 1988 BOURNE IDENTITY TV miniseries starring Richard Chamberlain? Is it any good? I've heard pretty decent things about it (it's available HERE)...

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