Actor Matt Damon returns as a troubled former CIA assassin in the latest edition of the hit Bourne movie series this month, reprising a role he says was physically tough to get ready for over a decade and a half since he first took it on.
Jason Bourne — the fifth instalment of the franchise — hits movie theatres in the UAE on July 28, starring Damon as a conflicted, restless hero who resurfaces at the Greek-Macedonian border a decade after going off the grid.
At the movie’s European premiere in London, Damon said it was a “lot of fun” to be back in Bourne’s shoes as he returned to work with familiar faces. But physically — preparing for a movie that features intense fight scenes and a major car chase — was challenging, the actor said.
“It was hard to get ready for it, much harder than when I was 29 — I’m 45 now, so it’s whole different animal,” Damon, who sat out the fourth movie in the series, told Reuters on the red carpet. “But you know, that’s a good problem to have.” Asked who would win a tussle between Bourne and another legendary cinematic spy, James Bond, Damon was non-committal./sBut he had little doubt about who he would back as the next actor to play the MI6 spy: British actor Idris Elba.
“I like Idris — yeah, I think he’s brilliant,” said Damon.
“I’ll watch him in anything and he makes everything he’s in better. He would make that franchise better.” In the latest Bourne edition — based on the novels by Robert Ludlum — co-star Julia Stiles returns as fellow operative “Nicky Parsons” while Alicia Vikander, a longtime Bourne fan herself, debuts as a prodigy hacker in the CIA director’s team.
“The Bourne franchise was one of my absolute favourites — I’m a big fan,” Vikander, dressed in a silver sequinned dress, gushed on the red carpet. “It was a real pinch-me moment when I actually saw myself, saw the film for the first time a week ago and I was like ‘Oh my God, I actually got to be in one of them!’”
