Matt Damon talks about Snowden's influence on the Bourne franchise
It’s been eight years since we last saw Matt Damon as Jason Bourne. Apparently, that time lag was no accident. In a recent interview with BuzzFeed, Damon said that he and director Paul Greengrass would talk every few years about new Bourne, but it wasn’t until recently, in the wake of Edward Snowden’s NSA whistleblowing and the Greek austerity debates, that they felt the world had changed enough to merit a new story.
“We always looked at those movies as really about the Bush presidency, and so we kind of had to wait for the world to change,” Damon told BuzzFeed. “Without giving too much of it away, it’s Bourne through an austerity-riddled Europe and in a post-Snowden world. It seems like enough has changed, you know? There are all these kinds of arguments about spying and civil liberties and the nature of democracy.”
According to Damon, the new film will begin in Greece, both the birthplace of democracy and the center of much recent political turmoil in Europe.
No word yet on whether a Snowden-like character will actually appear, or whether the movie will simply address privacy concerns — perhaps the way Captain America: The Winter Soldier did. The next Bourne sequel is currently set for a July 2016 release, and will reportedly see Damon joined by Tommy Lee Jones and 2015 breakout star Alicia Vikander.
Head over to BuzzFeed for more.
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