Paul Greengrass was just too loyal to his buddy Jason Bourne to direct a Bond movie
Paul Greengrass says he turned down directing a Bond movie out of loyalty to Jason Bourne.
The James Bond franchise and the Bourne spy series share a complex relationship; Robert Ludlum, creator of the Bourne Identity, was well-acquainted with Ian Fleming's iconic character when he began writing the Bourne series in 1980. As the Bond team solidified Daniel Craig's more contemporary take, evidenced by films like Quantum of Solace in 2008, filmmakers like Paul Greengrass began incorporating a more jittery, real-time style into the spy world, which could potentially benefit Bond.
In a recent interview with The Rest Is Classified podcast, Greengrass revealed that after directing The Bourne Supremacy, he was approached by the Bond team, then still under the Broccoli family's control, to direct a Bond movie. Given his recent involvement with the Bourne franchise following Doug Liman's direction of The Bourne Identity, Greengrass admitted he felt a sense of loyalty.
He compared the situation to a football fan not wanting to switch allegiances from Manchester United to City, expressing that he couldn't imagine directing Bond. Despite this, Bond continued without him, while Greengrass directed two more Bourne films, Ultimatum and Jason, in 2007 and 2016. The director and star Matt Damon have consistently expressed their desire for a future Bond film opportunity, as they found great enjoyment working together on the earlier films.
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