Green Zone
Directed by Paul Greengrass
Starring Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear, Amy Ryan, Antoni Corone, Nicoye Banks
Rated R
Release date: March 12, 2010

“Someday this war’s gonna end…”
— Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore from Apocalypse Now

“You know they’re all kids in Washington? It’s like Bugsy Malone, but with real guns.”
— Judy Molloy from In The Loop

“The reasons we go to war always matter. They always matter.”
— Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller from Green Zone

Green Zone: The Truth Ultimatum

The front between myth and reality evaporates as the search for the truth rages on in Paul Greengrass‘ Iraq War thriller, Green Zone.

In Green Zone, Greengrass has decided to merge his serious political films, such as Bloody Sunday and United 93, with the wildly entertaining Jason Bourne films he has directed: The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum. At first, the result is one of supreme imperfection, but I have come to the conclusion that Greengrass has directed the first truly great thriller with the Iraq War as background. I have to remember that this is Greengrass’ version of the truth that he has taken from Brian Helgeland‘s screenplay. Helgeland’s screenplay is adapted from Rajiv Chandrasekaran’s Imperial Life In The Emerald City: Inside Iraq’s Green Zone. Chandrasekaran is a reporter and editor for The Washington Post. The screenplay is more inspired from his wonderfully insightful book than a straight adaptation.

It seems like the moment that it was announced that a fourth Jason Bourne movie would be made to follow The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum that was not based on a Robert Ludlum novel, everything started going wrong and falling out of place.

Through the many problems, the biggest was of course when director Paul Greengrass decided to leave the movie and move on to other things (Read: “˜Bourne’ Trilogy Director Paul Greengrass Walks Away From “˜Bourne 4″²). Since Greengrass did not direct all three of the previous films, so long as the studio kept their hands on star Matt Damon, all could still be sunshine and rainbows, right?

It’s being reported that director Paul Greengrass has decided not to direct Bourne 4, the next movie in the series that has featured The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum. The Playlist was the first to break the news to us and the information was later confirmed by the trades complete with a full statement from Greengrass.

Details of the departure aren’t completely clear yet, but it looks as though many different reasons came into play. First of which was Universal’s decision to bring in a new screenwriter to pen a “parallel” script when the original screenwriter became busy with another project without discussing it with Greengrass first. The other reason that the director has given is that he’s just not feeling it anymore and that he’s ready for something new. Whether this is true or if he is just extinguishing flame is anyone’s guess.

Continue reading to check out Greengrass’s full statement.

The Bourne Trilogy
Blu-ray Collection
Directed by Doug Liman & Paul Greengrass
Starring Matt Damon, Joan Allen, Julia Stiles, Franka Potente, Chris Cooper
Universal Home Entertainment
Release date: January 27, 2009

Between the new Daniel Craig James Bond films, and the Bourne trilogy, we’re kind of in a golden age of smart spy movies. And while the Bourne films may not have as long a history when compared to Bond, they’ve made up for it by bringing a new dynamic to the spy film, bringing a darkness and realism to the genre that hasn’t really been seen before. And with a fourth film in the works, it seems will be seeing more of our favorite amnesiac action hero for a while.

The three Bourne films — The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum — each have a similar story: Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) follows various clues to try and discover the secrets of his past, inevitably running into a shadowy government agency, fighting against another deadly assassin, and getting into an action packed car chase.

Universal Pictures has reached a long-term deal with Ludlum Entertainment to have exclusive rights to using author Robert Ludlum‘s popular character Jason Bourne in future installments of the Bourne franchise.

As we all know, all the usual suspects, including Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass, are returning for the currently in-development and untitled Bourne 4 for a 2010 release. The studio is also developing a movie based on a book owned by Ludlum Entertainment called The Sigma Protocol and the agreement includes a first-look producing deal for Ludlum Entertainment to develop other properties in its library with Universal.

Universal’s President of Production Donna Langley and Co-President of Production/Executive Vice President Jimmy Horowitz had this to say about the deal…