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The early 2000s unleashed Matt Damon’s brooding assassin Jason Bourne, who lost his memory, but retained all of his skills to survive the agents sent by a shady CIA program to silence him. The Bourne Identity (2002) became a box office hit when it was released, and it went on to reinvent the action genre, but getting the movie made wasn’t an easy feat. Damon and director Doug Liman, who recently reunited for Apple TV+’s The Instigators, had to fight to keep the unique vision that was put into the production. Script rewrites, conflicts between Liman and the studio, and a poorly tested ending meant getting this spy classic into theaters was messier than a failed hit job by the amnesiac assassin.
Doug Liman Made It His Mission To Secure the Rights to ‘The Bourne Identity’
Some passion projects have taken years for well-established filmmakers to make, from Guillermo del Toro digging out Frankenstein from development hell to Kevin Costner’s ambitious four-part Western epic that didn’t quite go as planned. As for Doug Liman, he began his quest to get the rights for The Bourne Identity after he became a successful indie filmmaker with his debut Swingers. In a 2017 interview with Den of Geek, he talked about loving the 1980 spy novel since he read it in high school. Liman crashed a wedding to get in contact with Warner Bros. president Terry Semel when that studio had the rights, but when that plan didn’t work, the director pivoted to set up a meeting with the author when the rights went back to Robert Ludlum.
Liman had gotten his license to fly, and he chose to pilot a small plane from New York to Glacier National Park in Montana, where he would meet Ludlum. “The mountains are higher than the plane could fly, so I had to fly through the valleys,” he said in the interview, adding, “which are loaded with clouds. You have to try to avoid the clouds and avoid the mountains, and you’re like a Martini being shaken.” Because he was an hour and a half late, Ludlum had called the National Guard, but the high-flying journey impressed Ludlum, and he gave the young director control of the book’s rights.
Matt Damon Wasn’t an Action Hero Before ‘The Bourne Identity’
Stacey Snider, chairman of Universal Pictures, was quoted in The Wall Street Journal about how she was “intrigued by the pairing of an independent-minded filmmaker with a familiar studio genre” and was “getting tired of movies that all look the same.” This mindset was how she gave Doug Liman his big break to direct his most expensive film yet. The indie director wasn’t the only risk, as Matt Damon’s casting was just as daring. His critical and commercial success in the late ’90s didn’t mean he could be the leading man/action hero of a potential franchise. The Bourne Identity had the prospect of advancing Damon’s career, but the script became a source of stress.
Screenwriter Tony Gilroy said in an interview with The New Yorker that he was hired after a script had already been written. In a meeting with Liman, Gilroy shared ideas to refocus it away from action set pieces, leading to Liman and Universal being eager to get Gilroy on board. In an EW article from 2002, a screenwriter was brought in to rewrite the character-driven story Gilroy had completed by adding explosive action. “There was a fight on the subway where the subway derails, and these guys on motorcycles are firing rockets at the moving train,” Damon recalled in the article. The changes were so abundant that he wasn’t sure if he wanted to do the project. Gilroy had to return to rewrite the rewrite. Solving that problem led to what was the bulk of the behind-the-scenes drama.
Doug Liman and Universal Weren’t on the Same Page
Veteran producer Frank Marshall had to keep everything on schedule, which led to conflicts as Liman favored thinking of new story ideas rather than sticking to the script. He applied this disorganized approach to his earlier films, but he was on a $60 million studio production now. In another 2017 interview with Den of Geek, Liman had “always wanted to make a James Bond movie.” He had his chance, even if anxieties were filling up inside him. “There was someone on the set who had the Mission: Impossible ring tone on his phone,” he said, “and every time his phone rang it drove me nuts because I was afraid my movie was never going to be as good as Mission: Impossible. It was never going to be as good as James Bond.”
The innovative handheld camerawork he put in became a highlight of The Bourne Identity, but the escalating bad blood between Doug Liman and Universal could have derailed everything. For one circumstance, there might have been a good reason for the studio to be upset. According to New York Magazine, Liman had “paid the crew overtime to light a forest so he could play paintball.” Damon was forced to be the middle man to voice Liman’s ideas as his own, saying, “I would be his surrogate because at least I could be heard.” While tensions increased with the studio, one scene needed to be captured that Liman didn’t know if he could pull off.
A Scene Between Matt Damon and Franka Potente Made Doug Liman Nervous
Liman explained to The Ringer how part of his pitch to Universal had been to “imagine if you were dating Jason Bourne.” The intimacy placed a greater difference between James Bond’s hookups with his Bond Girls and Jason Bourne’s complicated romance with Marie (Franka Potente). Liman shared with The Ringer how he was, “terrified, truly terrified,” because he had never done a scene like it before, even if it was pretty tame. Franka Potente proved to be the MVP, giving Damon and Liman shots of Jägermeister to relax during filming. Once completed, viewers watched Jason gently dye and cut Marie’s hair before they kissed, a stark contrast to his brutal and brisk methods for opponents. The studio and Liman didn’t clash over this, but Universal almost stopped a pivotal scene that provided insight into the men the CIA brainwashed.
Clive Owen’s Death Scene Was Almost Cut From ‘The Bourne Identity’
In a 2008 Variety interview, Liman didn’t get the footage he wanted of the death of Clive Owen’s hitman, the Professor, and was denied a re-shoot by Universal. With four minutes of film in the camera, he defied them, personally capturing the close-ups and wide shots of the actors. The studio saw this act of disobedience as one step too far, even if the death scene was critical to understanding Bourne. “Look at this. Look at what they make you give,” the Professor said, his dying words humanizing the men that have been weaponized by the CIA; these final words had a full circle moment in Ultimatum when Bourne repeated them to Edgar Ramírez’s pursuing hitman. When shooting ended and a cut was made, The Bourne Identity was screened for test audiences, who disliked the ending.
Test Audiences Wanted a More Exciting Ending for ‘The Bourne Identity’
An $8 million new ending was needed for The Bourne Identity, which became the Paris showdown that infused the finale with more energy as Bourne went after Treadstone. The Wall Street Journal article that mentioned Stacey Snider’s comments on Liman also described how the tumultuous production endured multiple changes in release dates, from September 2001 to February 2002, then May 2002, until June 2002. When it became a box office hit, earning $214 million on a $60 million budget, director Doug Liman didn’t get to enjoy The Bourne Identity as it turned into a franchise.
“I lost my baby,” Liman said in the interview with New York Magazine about getting banned from directing the sequels, despite him being the one who brought the rights to Universal. Damon and Tony Gilroy returned, but director Paul Greengrass was the new addition. Doug Liman didn’t get to direct The Bourne Supremacy, but he did leave an indelible mark. Liman and Damon have since worked together on The Instigators, but what they did on The Bourne Identity was an innovative thrill ride that modernized the spy movie and action movie genre.
The Bourne Identity
- Release Date
- June 14, 2002
- Writers
- Tony Gilroy , W. Blake Herron , Robert Ludlum
The Bourne Identity is available to watch on Peacock in the U.S.
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