What makes Jason Bourne such a compelling character? It’s a pretty intense role.
Generally with these studio movies, the larger the budget, the more simple the characters become. Once you go north of a certain dollar amount, the studios really don’t want to take risks. They want everyone to understand that the good guy wears a white hat and the bad guy twists his mustache. With the Bourne films, the studio allowed us to make this guy more complicated. He’s a deeply flawed character, so I was in a good mood going to work every day because I had something to play.
Considering the success of The Bourne Identity, did you have any anxiety about making a sequel?
I didn’t want to do it unless we could make it as good as the first one … A friend of mine warned me that I have to be very careful about the sequel stuff because there have only been three sequels in history that are as good or better than the original — the New Testament is better than the Old Testament, Huckleberry Finn is better than Tom Sawyer, and The Godfather II is better than The Godfather.
So what sold you on this sequel?
First of all, Paul Greengrass wanted to direct. Once I started to talk to him about his vision of the movie, I couldn’t say no. And his movie Bloody Sunday is one of my favorite movies from the last decade. On the script side, there are moments that are bold for a sequel. I’d say it’s a story about atonement and an attempt at redemption.
What was Greengrass’s vision of the movie?
He often shoots with a hand-held camera, which gives the film a documentary feel, rather than feeling theatrical or staged, and I think that has a huge impact on the film and on me as an actor. I was never doing anything unnatural to facilitate one of his shots.
Do you typically have a say in who’s going to direct a film that you’re going to be in?
I had a lot of say in this one because I wasn’t contractually obligated to do it and they couldn’t do it without me. I’d had a really good experience with the studio on the first one because they allowed us to do a second round of re-shoots, which was very costly for them. Having worked at some other studios, I knew that that was very rare and very good of them. In the initial meetings we had about this film, Paul’s name came up and everyone kind of agreed that if we could get Paul, that would obviously be the best thing for the movie. So when we were lucky enough to get him, it was a big step toward signing me on and getting the studio to green-light the movie.
It’s a very physically demanding role. How did you prepare for it?
It’s really about getting in shape. Physically, the most important thing that came out of the first movie was an idea that director Doug Liman had, which was that the character should walk like a boxer; he should stand and have the bearing of a boxer. Neither one of us really knew how to accomplish this other than to have me start boxing, so I boxed for about six months. It really did change me, and not only physically. I developed a more self-assured gait and changed the way I would just sort of stand there and listen to someone. It was subtle, but really right for the character. So before we started filming The Bourne Supremacy, I started boxing again for three months.
What was your experience shooting on location in places like Paris and Berlin?
Paris is a very tough place to shoot. They ask for permits, and you have to tell them exactly where every truck is going to be parked. Berlin was incredibly accessible — we shot for four or five months there. The only drawback to living in Berlin at that time of year — November through February — was that there wasn’t a lot of sunshine. It starts to get light around 9.30 in the morning and then we’d lose the light by about 3.15 or 3.30 every day, so our shooting time was limited.
In addition to The Brothers Grimm and Ocean’s Twelve, you’re also working on The Informant and Syriana. Are you a workaholic?
It’s still hard for me to turn down work because for so many years I was desperate to get a job. Syriana was just one of those scripts that was exceptionally interesting. I would’ve regretted saying no to that.
Will you be making a third Bourne film?
There is a third book, The Bourne Ultimatum. but we’d really have to get a great script. I personally don’t know where to take the characters from here. Maybe there’s a rocket scientist out there who can figure it out.