This is starting to get interesting. Many people seem to be down on The Bourne Legacy, the Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass-free spin-off of sorts on the popular action thriller trilogy. This fourth edition has The Hurt Locker star Jeremy Renner, who will also bring the action to Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and The Avengers.
Tony Gilroy, who worked on all three Bourne films, will be directing the film and Universal has already recruited Rachel Weisz as the female lead, but now Variety reports a villain is in talks. Edward Norton is circling the role, but no plot details have been revealed. It is only known that Renner will play an assassin seeking his identity under the same program Damon’s character went through.
I think Gilroy is quite talented as a director after Michael Clayton and Duplicity, and this possible casting is so out there that it at least piques my interest. Norton hasn’t been too villainous, only in The Italian Job. It will be interesting to see if the film takes the focus away from Renner, considering how Damon was the main player in his films. The bad guys were hardly memorable for me, so I’m looking forward to what sort of impression Norton makes.
Norton will next be seen in Wes Anderson‘s Moonrise Kingdom, which is aiming for a similar summer 2012 release as The Bourne Legacy.
What do you think about Norton possibly taking on Renner in the new Bourne?