MovieChat Forums > The Bourne Identity (2002) Discussion > Did anyone else doubt Damon could pull i...

Did anyone else doubt Damon could pull it off?


When I heard Matt Damon was going to play Jason Bourne, I was more than skeptical that he would be a convincing action star. But he was great in the role.

Anyone else pleasantly surprised?

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Fact Damon was in it really put me off (he had been in his fair share of flop's up to that point since the success of GWH 3/4 years earlier), and missed the whole Identity thing (also I thought it was just a cheap James Bond rip off, as I had no idea of the books or anything so to me when I heard the name "Jason Bounre" I was all "come on!!!!"), but got sucked in with Supremacy.

Now I can not imagine anyone else as Bourne, especially when you look at the list of names they looked at for the part.

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Flops?


Some didn't do to hear but the reviews for those films weren't bad.

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He had a few sleeper hits (Ripley and Dogma), but he was not in high demand at the time he got the part of Bourne.... Titan AE was suppose to be the future of animation, and flopped, and Beggar Vance was a disaster (and this was at a time when anything Will Smith touched turned to gold).

Yes he was in Saving Private Ryan, but really its Hanks that makes that movie, and bar being the title character, his role in that movie is pretty small..... Oceans he only got because Mark Whalburg wanted to do the Italian Job.

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@Neoblackdragon ...the reviews for those films weren't bad.
Usually when people call a movie a flop they're referring to its box office returns, rather than its reviews.

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But those were Indie small time films not meant to be blockbusters. They have a cult following.




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I used to think he was kind of a Streisand.

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Brilliant.

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@mikekrit62 I didn't think he was right at all - the nerdy guy from Good Will Hunting playing an assassin? Not interested.

Then I watched an interview on TV in which he was promoting the movie. They showed a clip, which was part of his fight with the French assassin, and the clip sold me. I watched the movie in the theater, figuring that everything other than that fight scene would be a bonus, lol.

Plus Matt Damon himself was self-deprecating and funny in the interview, which didn't hurt.

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If I had read the book(s) first, then I would've seriously doubted this casting decision.

DISPLAY thy breasts, my Julia!

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I certainly doubted him, but this was really the film and performance that made me take notice of Damon as an actor. I love his work and would like to see him win an ACTING Oscar one day.

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Damon did great in this role of this movie, which I agree. But his talent may have grown too strong between Identity and Supremacy films, which might be a problem.

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This movie is where I first heard of him... since I first saw it, I've seen some of his older stuff.

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