While the movie biz is known as a fairly cutthroat place, if studios smell money, all manner of bad blood can be put to one side – just look at Tom Cruise returning to Paramount for Mission: Impossible IV, only a couple years after he had a very public and rather bitter falling out with the studio.
Now Tony Gilroy, who rather dismissively called his screenplay for The Bourne Ultimatum a paycheque gig and publicly expressed his displeasure with the direction of the franchise, is now in negotiations to direct the fouth film in the franchise. Gilroy had a hand in the screenplays of all three Matt Damon Bourne movies, and was hired in June to write a script for the fourth. He also turned director with Michael Clayton and Duplicity.
The question remains though over whether Matt Damon will return. When Paul Greengrass left, Damon suggested that was it for him with the franchise, and that it would likely continue with someone else, and probably through prequel stories. However hiring Gilroy may be an attempt to lure him back. It’s also possible that Gilroy took the gig because he knew Damon was leaving, giving him more of chance to put his own stamp of the franchise, if he really was displeased with the direction it was going in previous instalments.
Universal is apparently working hard to get the movie going as soon as possible, as with lots of their films failing, the successful franchise has become increasingly important. However as yet, there’s no precise news on when we might see the film.